How many points in Contrée (Coinche)? Bidding, doubling and scoring

What changes compared with Belote

Contrée (or coinche, or belote contrée) keeps the card values of Belote but replaces taking with bidding. All 8 cards are dealt at once, then each player in turn bids a contract or passes: a value (80, 90, 100 … up to 160), a capot or a générale, in a suit, at all-trumps or at no-trumps. The highest bid wins, and the team that made it must fulfil it.

The contracts

A bid must always be higher than the previous one. Defenders may double (they expect the contract to fail); the bidders may then redouble. A double closes the bidding.

All-trumps and no-trumps

At all-trumps, every suit counts as trumps: the jack is worth 20 and the nine 14 in every suit, and the deal is worth 258 points. At no-trumps, no suit is trumps: the ace is worth 19, the ten 10, the king 4, the queen 3, the jack 2, and the deal is worth 130 points. Depending on the table, no-trump points are doubled (260) or all-trumps and no-trumps are scaled back to 162. The counter leaves the scores free precisely to respect your convention.

Scoring a deal

1. Each team adds up its cards and, if it took the last trick, 10 points, plus belote-rebelote (20) if it holds it.
2. Round the points made to the nearest ten (a 5 rounds up).
3. Contract made: the bidders score their contract plus the points they made; the defenders score their points.
4. Contract failed: the defenders score 160 plus the value of the contract; the bidders only score their belote.
5. Doubled: the points scored are doubled; redoubled: quadrupled. A doubled contract that fails therefore gives (160 + contract) × 2 to the defenders.

Example: Nico and Pat bid 110 in diamonds and make 122 (rounded to 120). They score 110 + 120 = 230, the opponents score 40. Had they made only 90, the opponents would have scored 160 + 110 = 270.

End of the game

The game is played to 1,500 points (sometimes 2,000 or 3,000). The team that reaches the target at the end of a deal wins; if both pass it at the same time the higher one wins, and on a tie another deal is played. A common convention: a team that reaches the target while defending doesn’t win until it has made a contract.

Variants

• Coinche: same game; the double is called “coinche” and the redouble “surcoinche”. Scoring is identical.
• Contract only: some tables score only the value of the contract when it is made, without adding the points.
• Failure at 162 + contract: instead of 160, the defenders get 162 plus the contract.
• Minimum bid of 90: or contracts in steps of 5 in some regions.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that the contract adds to the points: 110 made with 120 in cards is 230, not 120.
• Counting the belote to save a contract: depending on the convention, the belote counts or doesn’t count towards the contract. Agree it first.
• Rounding before comparing: with the contract: compare the raw points, then round to score.
• Losing track of the lead: the deal passes to the right every deal, even when everyone passes. The counter tracks it for you.

Frequently asked questions