What is the difference between Coinche and Belote?

Both are 2-versus-2 trick-taking games with the same 32-card deck and the same upside-down trump ranking. The difference is how trump is chosen. In Belote, players simply take or pass on a face-up card. In Coinche (Belote Contrée), there is a full auction: a team bids a target number of card points and names the trump, and opponents can 'coinche' to double the stakes. Coinche is the more strategic, bidding-heavy version.

What does 'coinche' actually mean?

To coinche is to double the opposing team's contract during the bidding, the same idea as a contrée or double in other games. It signals 'we don't think you can make that bid.' It ends the auction immediately and doubles the points at stake. The bidding team can reply with 'surcoinche' (a redouble), which quadruples the stakes.

What are No Trump and All Trump contracts?

As well as naming a suit, you can bid No Trump (Sans Atout), where no suit is trump and nobody can cut, so the aces dominate; or All Trump (Tout Atout), where every suit behaves as trump, putting four Jacks and four Nines at the top. Both change the card values and add variety and risk to the auction.

How many points do you need to win a game of Coinche?

The classic target is 1000 points accumulated over many hands, though some groups play to 2000 for a longer match. Each hand is worth 162 points (152 in card values plus 10 for the last trick), a capot is worth 250, and coinche or surcoinche can double or quadruple a hand, so scores can climb fast.

What is belote-rebelote in Coinche?

It is a 20-point bonus for holding both the King and Queen of the trump suit. You declare 'belote' as you play the first of the pair and 'rebelote' as you play the second. The bonus is always credited to whoever held the pair, regardless of which team wins the hand or whether the contract is made.

How to Play Coinche (Contrée)

Coinche, also called Belote Contrée, is the auction-driven cousin of Belote: a sharp four-player partnership game where you bid a points target, name the trump, and try to deliver. Add the famous "coinche" double and the upside-down trump ranking, and you have one of France's most strategic card games. This guide walks you through the deal, the bidding, trump and no-trump contracts, belote-rebelote, and exactly how the scoring works.

What is Coinche?

Coinche (full name Belote Coinchée or Belote Contrée) is a trick-taking game for four players in two fixed partnerships, played with a 32-card deck (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in each suit). Partners sit opposite each other, so each player is flanked by an opponent. It is built on Belote, but replaces Belote's simple "take or pass" with a full auction in which one team commits to a points target and chooses the trump suit. The goal is to win valuable tricks, fulfil your contract, and be the first team to a target score.

If you enjoy bidding-and-trump games, Coinche sits alongside Spades and Tarneeb. Its point-card cousins from southern Europe, the Italian Briscola and Scopa, share the same valuable-card DNA, and its closest relative is plain Belote.

The deck and card ranking

Coinche's defining quirk is that cards rank and score differently depending on whether their suit is trump.

Trump suit, high to low: Jack (20 points), Nine (14), Ace (11), Ten (10), King (4), Queen (3), Eight (0), Seven (0).

Non-trump suits, high to low: Ace (11 points), Ten (10), King (4), Queen (3), Jack (2), Nine (0), Eight (0), Seven (0).

In trump, the Jack and Nine jump to the top with big values; everywhere else they are nearly worthless. The four suits together hold 152 card points; add the 10-point last-trick bonus and each hand is worth 162 points in total.

The deal

The dealer shuffles, the player to the right cuts, and all 32 cards are dealt out: a packet of three to each player, then two, then three again, so everyone ends with eight cards. Unlike Belote, no card is turned face up, because the trump is decided by the auction. The deal rotates after each hand.

The bidding (auction)

Starting to the dealer's right and going around, each player either passes or makes a bid higher than the last. A bid names two things: a number of card points your team promises to take, and the trump suit (or a special contract).

Minimum bid: 80 points (sometimes written 82), and bids rise in steps of 10: 90, 100, 110, all the way up.
Suit contracts: name any of the four suits (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) as trump.
No Trump (Sans Atout): no suit is trump, so nobody can cut. Card values shift and aces rule.
All Trump (Tout Atout): every suit behaves as trump, with four Jacks and four Nines leaping to the top.
Capot: a bid to win every single trick, the highest contract of all.

The auction ends when three players pass in a row. The highest bidder's team becomes the "declarers" and must take at least their bid in card points; the trump named in the winning bid is fixed for the hand.

Coinche and surcoinche (the double)

This is the move that gives the game its name. During the bidding, a defender who believes the declarers cannot make their contract can say "coinche" (a double, the same idea as contrée). This ends the auction immediately and doubles the stakes on that hand. If the declaring team is confident, it can reply "surcoinche" (a redouble), which quadruples the stakes. The higher the multiplier, the more a failed contract hurts, so coinche is a bold bet that the bidders have overreached.

Playing the tricks

The player to the dealer's right leads the first trick; thereafter the winner of each trick leads the next. The play obligations are strict:

You must follow the led suit if you can.
If trump is led, you must play a higher trump than any already in the trick when possible (overtrump).
If you cannot follow suit and an opponent is winning the trick, you must trump in if you hold a trump.
If your partner is already winning the trick, you may discard freely instead of trumping.

The highest trump wins the trick; if no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit wins. Each team stacks its won tricks and tallies the card points at the end of the hand.

Belote-Rebelote and the last trick

If you hold both the King and Queen of the trump suit, you earn a 20-point bonus. Announce "belote" as you play the first of the pair and "rebelote" as you play the second. This bonus is always scored, no matter who wins the hand. Separately, the team that wins the final trick earns the 10-point dix de der ("ten of the last"), the bonus that lifts the 152 card points to 162.

Scoring the hand

At the end of the hand, each team counts its card points plus the last-trick 10 and any belote-rebelote. The declarers must reach their bid.

Contract made: the declaring team scores its bid plus the card points it actually took; the defenders score the points they took.
Contract failed: the declaring team scores nothing, while the defenders score 160 plus the value of the bid. (Belote-rebelote is still credited to whoever held it.)
Coinche/surcoinche: these results are doubled or quadrupled, so a failed coinched contract is a painful swing.
Capot: winning all eight tricks is worth 250 instead of 162 and ends the hand decisively.

The careful card-counting here will feel familiar if you enjoy point-trick games like Seep or bidding games such as Oh Hell.

Winning the game

Teams play hand after hand, keeping a running total. The classic target is 1000 points (some circles play to 2000 for a longer match, or fewer for a quick game). Because bids, doubles, and capots can swing a hand wildly, a single bold coinche can decide the whole match.

Quick strategy tips

Only bid high when you hold trump strength, especially the Jack or Nine, plus side aces; you have to deliver the points, not just win tricks.
Treat coinche as a precision weapon: double only when the opponents' bid looks beyond their hand.
Lead high trumps early to draw out the opposition's trumps and protect your aces and tens.
Since partners cannot talk, let your card choices signal where your strength lies.

Coinche rewards repetition: the more you play, the sharper your read on when to bid, when to pass, and when to coinche.

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