What is the minimum bid in Tarneeb?

The minimum bid is 7 tricks and the maximum is 13. Since there are only 13 tricks in a hand, bidding 7 commits your partnership to winning more than half. Each new bid must be higher than the previous one, and once you pass you cannot bid again that hand. The last remaining bidder becomes the declarer and names the trump suit.

Who chooses the trump suit in Tarneeb?

The player who wins the bidding auction chooses the trump suit, also called the tarneeb. After the other three players pass, the highest bidder names which of the four suits will beat all others for that hand, then leads to the first trick. Choosing trump is a major advantage, which is why players bid for the right to do it.

How do you score to 41 in Tarneeb?

If the declaring partnership takes at least as many tricks as it bid, it scores the number of tricks it actually won and the opponents score nothing. If it falls short, the bid amount is subtracted from its score and the opposing team scores the tricks they collected. The first partnership to reach 41 points wins the set.

What is a kaboot in Tarneeb?

A kaboot is winning all 13 tricks in a single hand, a complete sweep. In a common scoring variant, if your bid was under 13 and you sweep, you earn a 3-point bonus for 16 points total. Bidding 13 and making it scores 26, while bidding 13 and missing costs 16 points. Confirm the kaboot rules with your group before playing, since they vary.

Are tricks counted per player or per team in Tarneeb?

Tricks are counted per partnership. Tarneeb is played by two fixed teams of two, with partners sitting opposite each other. Either partner can gather the team's won tricks, and the bid is measured against the combined total the two of you take together, not what each player wins individually.

How is Tarneeb different from Spades or Callbreak?

In Spades and Callbreak the trump is always spades, while in Tarneeb the player who wins the bidding chooses any suit as trump. Tarneeb also uses a partnership bidding auction and plays to a 41-point target across multiple hands, rather than a fixed five rounds. This makes the bidding phase a bigger part of the game.

How to Play Tarneeb: Bidding, Trump and Scoring to 41

Tarneeb is a fast, strategic trick-taking game played across the Middle East, where two partnerships bid for tricks, the high bidder names the trump suit, and the first team to 41 points wins. This guide covers the complete rules: the deal, the bidding auction, naming trump, how partnership tricks are won, and exactly how scoring to 41 works, plus the strategy that turns a risky bid into a winning one.

What is Tarneeb?

Tarneeb is a four-player, partnership trick-taking game hugely popular across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and the wider Arab world. The name "tarneeb" simply means trump. It belongs to the same family as Spades and Callbreak, but with a key twist: the trump suit is not fixed. Instead, players bid for the right to choose it, which makes every deal a fresh contest of judgement and nerve.

If you enjoy bidding-driven trick games like 29, Court Piece, Hokm or Whist, Tarneeb will feel familiar but distinct, because here you commit to a target number of tricks before a single card is played.

Setup and the deal

Tarneeb is played by four people in two fixed partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other so that play alternates between the two teams around the table. Use a standard 52-card deck. The cards in each suit rank from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

The dealer shuffles and deals the entire deck out, so every player receives exactly 13 cards. Play, including the deal and bidding, traditionally proceeds counterclockwise. The deal then passes for the next round.

The bidding (naming trump)

Before any cards are played, there is a bidding auction. Each bid is a number of tricks your partnership commits to winning that hand. Bidding starts with the player to the dealer's right and moves counterclockwise.

The minimum bid is 7 and the maximum is 13. Because there are only 13 tricks in total, a bid of 7 is the lowest meaningful commitment (more than half).
Each new bid must be higher than the last. You can also pass.
Passing is permanent. Once you pass, you are out of the auction and cannot bid again that hand.
Bidding continues until three players have passed. The remaining player is the declarer and wins the contract.

The winning bidder then names the trump suit (the tarneeb) for that hand. From that point on, the chosen suit beats all others. The number bid becomes the target the declarer's partnership must reach together.

How a trick is played

The player who won the bidding leads the first trick by playing any card. Each of the four players, in turn, plays one card, and the four cards make a trick. The core rules are:

Follow suit if you can. You must play a card of the suit that was led if you hold one.
If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card: either a trump or a discard from another suit.
A trick is won by the highest trump in it. If no trump was played, it is won by the highest card of the suit that was led.
The winner of each trick leads the next one, and play continues until all 13 tricks have been played.

Tricks are counted by partnership, not by individual. Either partner can gather the team's won tricks, and what matters is the combined total the two of you take together.

Scoring to 41

Tarneeb is a points game, and the first partnership to reach 41 points wins the set. Scoring each hand depends on whether the declaring team makes its bid:

Bid made: if the declaring partnership wins at least the number of tricks it bid, it scores the number of tricks it actually took, and the opposing team scores nothing that hand.
Bid failed: if the declaring partnership falls short of its bid, the amount of the bid is subtracted from its score, and the opposing team scores the number of tricks they themselves collected.

So a team that bids 8 and takes 9 scores 9 points; a team that bids 8 but takes only 7 loses 8 points while the opponents bank their 6 tricks. This swing is the heart of Tarneeb: an overconfident bid can hand the lead to the other side.

Kaboot and bidding 13

Winning all 13 tricks is called a kaboot (a "sweep"). In a common scoring variant, if your bid was under 13 and you take all 13, you earn a bonus of 3 points, scoring 16 instead of 13. Bidding 13 outright and making it scores 26 points, while bidding 13 and losing even one trick costs you 16 points and lets the opponents score double the tricks they win. Because bonus rules vary by region and app, agree on them before you start.

Bidding strategy: count your sure tricks

A good Tarneeb bid is built on tricks you can almost guarantee, not hope. Before you bid, ask which suit you would want as trump and count winners in that scenario:

Long suits make trumps. The suit you hold the most cards in is usually your best trump candidate, because length lets your low cards win once opponents run out.
Top cards win. Aces and kings in side suits are likely tricks; high trumps are near-locks once that suit is trump.
Short suits create ruffs. A void or singleton lets you trump that suit early and often, adding tricks beyond your high cards.
Add your partner in. Your team only needs the combined total, so a sound 8-bid can rest partly on cards you trust your partner to hold.

When in doubt, bid one fewer than your most optimistic count. Falling short of your bid is the only way to lose points outright, so accuracy beats ambition.

Partnership trick play

Because tricks are pooled, Tarneeb rewards teamwork:

Draw trumps early when you are the declaring side and hold strength, leading high trumps to strip opponents so your remaining trumps and aces run free.
Signal with discards. When you cannot follow suit, the card you throw can tell your partner which suit you are strong or weak in.
Don't waste high trumps on tricks your partner already controls. Save them to capture opponents' winners.
Defenders bid for tricks too. If you are not the declarer, every trick you take chips at their score and counts toward your own when they fail.

How Tarneeb compares to other games

Versus Spades and Callbreak, where the trump is always spades, Tarneeb lets the auction winner choose the trump suit, adding a strategic bidding layer. Compared with Court Piece and 29, the scoring runs to a 41-point target across multiple hands rather than a fixed number of deals. If you like choosing trump and bidding contracts, you will also enjoy Hokm and Whist on the same site.

Play now

Ready to name your trump and chase 41? Play Tarneeb free on Love Card Games, right in your browser with no download and no signup. Jump into multiplayer matches with friends or sharpen your bidding against smart bots, then put this strategy to work.