العربية

How to Play Baloot — your first hand, step by step

Baloot is the card game of Saudi majlis gatherings: four players, two teams, eight tricks, and a race to 152. This walkthrough takes a complete beginner through one full hand in plain words. When you want every rule and number, the complete Baloot rules guide has them all.

Before you start: the table

• Four players, two teams. You and the player opposite are partners for the whole match.
• 32 cards: 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in each suit — everything below the 7 is removed.
• Everything goes counterclockwise — the deal and the play.
• The goal: first team to 152 game points, across as many hands as it takes.

Step 1 — The deal and the face-up card

The dealer gives everyone five cards (commonly three then two), then turns one card face up in the middle of the table. Don't ignore that card — the whole next phase revolves around it.

Step 2 — Bidding: Sun and Hokum in plain words

Now the table answers one question: who buys this hand, and how will it be played? Starting with the player to the dealer's right, each player either passes (you'll hear "bas" — بس) or claims the hand:

• Hokum (حكم) — "I'll take it, with a trump suit." The buyer takes the face-up card and its suit becomes trump: any card of that suit beats every other suit.
• Sun (صن) — "I'll take it, no trump at all." Every suit is equal; the highest card of the led suit simply wins. Sun is the bolder call: it outranks Hokum in the bidding and scores roughly double.

If all four players pass, the bidding goes around once more — this time a player may call Hokum in a suit other than the face-up card's. If everyone passes twice, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer redeals. Once someone buys, the hands are completed to eight cards each: the buyer takes the face-up card plus two from the deck, everyone else takes three.

And understand this before your first buy: the buy is a promise. If the buying team doesn't outscore the defenders, all the hand's points go to the other team. (Many tables add extra calls here — Ashkal, the doubling ladder — common variants for later.)

Step 3 — Playing the eight tricks

The player to the dealer's right leads any card; play continues counterclockwise, one card each. The two habits to build immediately:

• Follow suit if you can. If hearts are led and you hold a heart, you must play one.
• In Hokum, trump when you can't follow. No card of the led suit means you must play a trump if you hold one — with the well-known mercy at most tables: if your partner is already winning the trick, you may discard instead (a common variant).

The highest card of the led suit wins the trick — unless trumps appeared in Hokum, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner leads the next trick. After eight tricks the hand is over, and the team that took the last trick earns a 10-point bonus ("the floor", الأرض).

"Highest" is the part to memorize, because Baloot reshuffles the order: in Sun (and every non-trump suit) it's A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7. In the Hokum trump suit it becomes J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 — the humble Jack of trumps is the strongest card in the game. The full points table is in the rules guide.

Step 4 — Counting, and the road to 152

Each team adds up the card points it captured, plus the last-trick bonus, plus any project bonuses (below). Card points convert to game points by dividing by ten with conventional rounding — a hand is worth 16 game points in Hokum and 26 in Sun in total. If the buying team's total doesn't beat the defenders', the buyers "lose the buy" and the defenders take it all. Then the deal passes and you play again — first team to 152 game points wins the match.

Projects, in one minute

If your dealt cards contain certain combinations — three in a row of one suit (Sira), four in a row (Fifty), five in a row (Hundred), four Aces in Sun (Four Hundred) — you can declare a project (مشروع) on the first trick and reveal it on the second for bonus points. When both teams declare, only the stronger side scores — the common rule; values vary a little by region. As a beginner, just remember to say it on the first trick; the window closes after that. Details are in the rules guide.

Common beginner mistakes

• Buying every hand. The buy is a promise, not a flex — pass freely until you can judge a hand's real strength.
• Leading Aces into Hokum. In Sun your Aces rule; in Hokum a side-suit Ace can be trumped by a 7.
• Forgetting the trump order. Playing the trump 9 like a low card — it's the second strongest in the game — gives away points and tricks.
• Missing the project window. Declarations belong to the first trick; realizing on trick three that you held a Fifty should only happen once.
• Ignoring your partner. Half of Baloot is reading your partner's plays — which suit they're strong in, what they want you to lead. Watch their cards as closely as your own.

Glossary — terms you'll hear at a real table

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading: Baloot rules — the complete guide · Baloot on Karooty · All Karooty games