Blot rules

The game

Blot is a card game for four: two pairs, partners sit opposite each other. In every deal the pairs bid — who names the trump and how many points they promise to take — then play 8 tricks and count the points. The pair that first reaches 151 (or 301) wins.

Table and cards

• The deck has 32 cards: 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace in each suit.
• Suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades. Short: A — ace, K — king, Q — queen, J — jack; K — king of hearts.
• You sit at the bottom, your partner opposite at the top, the opponents on the left and on the right. Everything goes clockwise: after you, the player on your left speaks and plays, then your partner, then the player on your right.
• Everyone gets 8 cards. The player after the dealer speaks first and leads first. The next player deals the next deal. No redeal because of bad cards.

Bidding

• Players speak strictly in turn. On your turn you may say a bid, “pass” or — against the opponents’ bid — “contra”.
• A bid is a number and a suit (“9 ”) or a number and “no trump” (in the game — A, e.g. “10 A”). The number is points in tens: 9 promises 90 or more, cards and combinations together.
• The smallest bid is 8, the largest is 80.
• You can only outbid with a bigger number; the suit doesn’t matter: after “9 ” you may say “10 ” or “10 A”, but not “9 ”. You may outbid your partner and your own bid.
• Bidding ends when four players in a row say “pass”. The suit of the last bid is trump; a “no trump” bid has no trump.
• If nobody bids, the next player redeals.

Example: you — “8 ”, an opponent — “pass”, your partner — “9 ”, then four “pass” in a row. Your pair’s “9 ” stays: hearts are trump, you need 90.

Capot

• Capot means taking all 8 tricks. The “capot” bid is worth 25; it is said with a suit (“capot ”) or with no trump.
• After a number up to 24 you may say “capot”. A number can’t beat capot: after it nobody says “26” or “30”.
• Only “capot + combination” beats capot, and the combination must be in your own hand. You can’t count on your partner’s: no bluffing — without your own combination the game won’t offer this bid.
• The number after the plus is the combination’s value in the score table: tierce — “capot + 2”, tierce and blot — “capot + 4”, four kings — “capot + 10”. There is no “+1” or “+3”.
• “Capot + …” may be said right after a number and over your partner’s capot.
• “25” may also be said as a number — that is not capot but a promise to take 250. After “25” plain capot is not allowed (also 25); “26” or “capot + …” is. After “30”, “capot + 10” (35) is allowed, “capot + 2” (27) is not.
• You said “capot + 2” but didn’t declare your combination, or it didn’t pass — the bid is not made.

Example: you hold four jacks (200). Bid less and an opponent says “capot” and makes it. You say “25” — now an opponent can only say “capot + 10”, for example with four kings.

Contra and recontra

• Only the opponents say “contra” — against the other pair’s bid. Only during bidding, on their turn, instead of “pass”. Once the tricks start, nobody says contra or recontra.
• After contra only “recontra” or “pass”; no new bids. The bidding pair says recontra — you or your partner. Nothing is higher than recontra: after it the bidding ends at once, nobody else speaks.
• Contra multiplies the bid by 2, recontra by 4; with no trump by 3 and 5. Only the bid is multiplied, not card points or combinations.
• The promise stays the same: “9 ” with contra still needs 90.

Example: “9 ” with contra counts 9 × 2 = 18, with recontra 9 × 4 = 36.

Play and tricks

• The player after the dealer leads to the first trick, whoever won the bidding. Then whoever took the last trick leads.
• If you have the suit that was led, follow it, even if your partner is taking the trick.
• Trump led — play a trump. If you can beat the trump in the trick, you must. If you can’t — any trump; no trumps at all — any card.
• Another suit led and you have none of it — play a trump. If an opponent’s trump is in the trick, you must beat it with a higher trump.
• Nothing to beat it with (no trumps or all lower) — play any card.
• You don’t have the suit and your partner is taking the trick right now — no need to trump, play any card.
• The highest trump in the trick takes it. No trump in it — the highest card of the led suit.
• Rank in trumps: J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7. In other suits and with no trump: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7.
• Whoever takes the last, eighth, trick gets 10 more points.

Example: hearts are trump. 7 was led, an opponent trumped with Q. You have no spades but have K and 7 — you must play K. If you only have 7, 8 and A — nothing beats it, play any card, even 8.

Example: hearts are trump. 9 was led, you have J and 7 — you must play J. Only 8 and 7 in hearts — either one: you must follow suit but can’t beat it.

Card points

• Trumps: jack 20, nine 14, ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, eight and seven 0. 62 in all.
• Other suits: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2, nine, eight and seven 0. 30 in all.
• No trump: as in other suits, but an ace is worth 19. 38 per suit. Card points are not doubled with no trump.
• With the last trick (+10) a deal always has 162 points: 62 + 30 × 3 + 10, or with no trump 38 × 4 + 10. The score table is in tens: 162 is 16.

Combinations

• A combination is a special set of cards in one player’s hand. It gives points on top of the cards.
• Tierce — three cards in a row of one suit: 20 points, 2 in the table. Fifty — four in a row: 50, 5 in the table. Hundred — five in a row: 100, 10 in the table.
• In a row means in the order 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. Example: 9 10 J — tierce; 10 J Q K — fifty.
• More than five in a row — the player splits them: 6 — hundred, two tierces or just fifty; 7 — hundred, or fifty and tierce; 8 — two fifties, or tierce and hundred.
• Carré — four cards of a kind: jacks 200, nines 140, aces 110, tens, kings and queens 100 each. With no trump: aces 190; jacks, tens, kings and queens 100 each; nines don’t count. Four sevens or eights don’t count.
• Blot — the king and queen of trumps in one hand: 20, 2 in the table. The game says “blot” and “reblot” for you when you play these cards. No trump — no blot.
• One card goes into only one combination. Blot is the exception, it counts inside another one too: hearts trump, you hold Q K A — tierce 20 and blot 20, 40 in all.
• You can declare only what you hold: no bluffing. Less is allowed (a tierce instead of a carré), but once you said tierce you can’t show the carré. You may also stay silent.

Declare and show

• Combinations are declared on the first trick, when you play your card. The first one says only the kind: “tierce”, “fifty”, “hundred”, “carré”. Not declared on the first trick — too late on the second.
• If an opponent declares the same kind after you, he names its height: the top card without the suit, “tierce to K”; “trump” is up to him, only if true. You answer: “Yours passes” (you don’t name yours, your tierce doesn’t count) or “Mine — to A” (the real height — no lying). The game decides by the real cards: top card, then trump, then the order.
• An opponent declared a higher kind (fifty, hundred, carré against a tierce) — nothing to compare, no heights: his passes.
• On the second trick, on your turn, a combination that passed has two buttons: “Show” and “Don’t show”. Shown — everyone sees its cards and it counts. Not shown — nobody sees the cards and it doesn’t count. If time runs out or you play a card without pressing, the game shows it. One that didn’t pass is not shown.
• If the player with the highest combination doesn’t show, the right passes on in turn. An opponent who plays after them shows on the second trick; one who has already played shows on the third, on their turn, with the same buttons. The third trick is the last one for showing. An opponent can show only a combination higher than the one shown by the partner of the player who didn’t show. Then it counts, even after “Yours passed”, and the partner’s does not.

Example: you have a tierce to A, your partner to 9, the opponent after you to 10. Your partner showed, you didn’t, the opponent did: your pair gets 0, the opponents 20.

• Blot counts even if the deal ended before its second card.

Whose combination is higher

• The highest shown combination of one pair is compared with the highest of the other. Only the pair holding the highest one scores its combinations — yours and your partner’s. The other pair scores none, except blot: it is never compared.
• A carré beats any sequence; hundred beats fifty, fifty beats tierce.
• Same length — the top card decides: a tierce to K beats a tierce to Q. Trump doesn’t help here: 7 8 9 with hearts trump against Q K A — the tierce to the ace wins.
• Same top card too: trump beats non-trump; both non-trump — whoever plays earlier on the first trick; with no trump — whoever declared first.
• Carrés with a trump, from low to high: queens, kings, tens, aces, nines, jacks. With no trump: jacks, queens, kings, tens, aces.

Example: an opponent has fifty, you have four queens — the carré wins, the fifty doesn’t count. Hearts trump: your partner has 7 8 9, an opponent 7 8 9 — your partner’s tierce wins, it is trump.

Scoring a deal

• Each pair counts the card points in its tricks and adds the combinations that count.
• The bid is checked before rounding: if the bidding pair’s cards + combinations are at least bid × 10, the bid is made; less — not made. Bid 8: took 80 — made; 76 — not made, though 76 would round to 8.
• Then each pair’s card points are rounded to tens: last digit 0–5 down, 6–9 up. 125 and 37 → 12 and 4. Together it is 16, and 17 only when both end in 6: 136 and 26 → 14 and 3. Combinations are not rounded: a tierce is 2.
• Made: the bidding pair gets bid + its card points + its combinations; the opponents get their card points + their combinations, if they count.
• Not made: the opponents get bid + 16 + both pairs’ combinations, the bidding pair gets 0.
• “Both pairs’ combinations” and “all combinations” mean those that won on rank, plus blots.

Example: bid “9 ”. Cards 72, the pair has a tierce; the opponents have 90 and a blot. 72 + 20 = 92 — made. The bidding pair gets 9 + 7 + 2 = 18, the opponents 9 + 2 = 11.

Example: bid 10, took less than 100, no combinations — the opponents get 10 + 16 = 26, the bidding pair 0.

All 8 tricks

• The bidding pair took all 8 tricks: for the check the cards count 250, and the table gets 25 instead of 16. Bid 10 — 10 + 25 = 35 plus their combinations. “20 ” with no combinations and all 8 tricks — 250 is at least 200, made.
• Reverse capot — the opponents took all 8 tricks: they get bid + 25 and both pairs’ combinations, the bidding pair 0. It is always “not made”, even if the combinations were enough. Bid 10 — the opponents get 10 + 25 = 35.
• A bid capot made: 25 + 25 = 50 plus their combinations. “Capot ” with a tierce — 25 + 25 + 2 = 52; “capot + 2” with a tierce — 27 + 25 + 2 = 54. The opponents keep their combinations if they win on rank.
• An opponent took even one trick — no capot, the deal ends. If it happened on the first trick, the second is played too, to show combinations.
• Capot not made: the opponents get 25 + 16 = 41 and both pairs’ combinations, the bidding pair 0. “Capot + 2” not made — 27 + 16 = 43, plus 2 more if the tierce was shown.

Contra in the score

• With contra one pair always gets 0.
• Made: the bidding pair gets bid × 2 (× 4 with recontra) + 16 + all combinations, theirs and the opponents’. Not made — the same goes to the opponents.
• The winner took all 8 tricks — 25 instead of 16: “10 ” with contra, all 8 tricks — 10 × 2 + 25 = 45 plus all combinations.
• Contra can be said on capot too: made — 25 × 2 + 25 = 75 plus all combinations.

Example: “10 ” with contra, made, the opponents have a tierce. The bidding pair gets 10 × 2 + 16 + 2 = 38, the opponents 0. With recontra — 10 × 4 + 16 + 2 = 58.

No trump

• A no-trump bid always counts × 2, with contra × 3, with recontra × 5. Card points are not doubled.
• “10 A” made, cards gave 11 — 10 × 2 + 11 = 31. Not made — the opponents get 10 × 2 + 16 = 36 and both pairs’ combinations.
• All 8 tricks — 10 × 2 + 25 = 45. No-trump capot made — 25 × 2 + 25 = 75.
• Contra, made — 10 × 3 + 16 + all combinations, the opponents 0.

End of the game

• The game is played to 151 or to 301 — chosen before the start. Points from all deals add up.
• The pair that first reaches 151 (or 301) or more wins. A game ends only together with a deal.
• If both pairs cross the line in one deal, the higher score wins, even if the other pair made the bid. On a tie — the pair that won this deal.

Example: it was 142 and 149, “Us” made “9 ” — 18 and 11, now 160 : 160. “Us” win.

Example: it was 140 and 150, “Us” made “8 ” — 16 and 8, now 156 and 158. “Them” win.

1 on 1

• Six cards of the deck are not played. Players compare what they took in tricks, without those cards. If the player who chose trump made it, the points of those cards are added to them, then rounded. If not, the opponent gets everything: 16, capot — 21.

Example: hearts are yours, you have 84, the opponent 58, the deck holds 20: you get 104 → 10, the opponent 58 → 6.

• If a jack is open and the dealer’s opponent says “pass”, the dealer must take it: the jack’s suit is trump.
• If nobody chose trump in two rounds, the dealer must name a suit other than the open card’s, or no trump. They may take the open card: taken — they draw 2 from the deck, not taken — 3.

More about playing for two — on the Blot 1 on 1 and Open Blot pages.