How to Play Tarneeb

What is Tarneeb?

Tarneeb (طرنيب) is the favourite partnership card game of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, played at family tables across the Levant and wherever its people have settled, from Detroit to Sydney. Tarneeb is the word for the trump suit, and the game turns on it: the player who promises the most tricks chooses which suit is trumps.

Four players form two teams of two, partners sitting opposite each other, and play with an ordinary 52-card deck. Each hand starts with an auction: how many of the 13 tricks will your team take, 7 or more? The highest bidder names the tarneeb and leads, and then the bidding team has to keep its promise.

Cards have no point values: only tricks count. A team that makes its bid scores every trick it took; a team that falls short loses its bid, and the other side scores its tricks. The first team to 41 points wins. There is also a popular Syrian version, Tarneeb 41, where hearts are always trumps and every player bids for themselves.

The Syrian version, hearts always trumps: Tarneeb 41

Tarneeb rules at a glance

Players

4, in two teams of two; partners sit opposite

Deck

52 cards, aces high: A, K, Q, J, 10 down to 2

Deal

13 cards each, one at a time

Direction

Anticlockwise: dealing, bidding and play pass to the right

Bidding

From the dealer's right: bid 7 to 13 tricks for your team, higher than the last bid, or pass (a pass is final)

Trumps

The highest bidder names the trump suit (the tarneeb) and leads the first trick

Play

Follow suit if you can; if not, play any card. No duty to trump

Made

The bidding team scores the tricks it took; the other team scores nothing

Failed

The bidding team loses its bid; the other team scores the tricks it took

Kaboot

All 13 tricks: 16 points; bid 13 and take them all: 26

Game

First team to 41 points (or 31 for a shorter game)

How to play Tarneeb, step by step

1. 1

   Sit in teams

   Four players form two teams of two. Partners sit opposite each other, so the turn always alternates between the teams.

2. 2

   Deal anticlockwise

   The dealer shuffles and deals all 52 cards one at a time, starting with the player on their right and going round to the right, until everyone has 13. The deal passes to the right after each hand.

3. 3

   Bid for tricks

   Starting with the player on the dealer's right, each player bids the number of tricks their team will take, from 7 to 13, or passes. Every bid must be higher than the last. A player who passes is out of the auction. The bidding goes round until three players have passed after a bid. If all four pass, the cards are thrown in and dealt again.

4. 4

   Name the tarneeb

   The highest bidder names the trump suit, the tarneeb, after seeing the auction through. Their partner gets no say, and nobody may change it.

5. 5

   Play the tricks

   The highest bidder leads the first trick. Everyone must follow the suit led if they can; a player who can't may play any card, a trump or a discard. The highest trump wins the trick, or, if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads the next trick.

6. 6

   Score the hand

   After all 13 tricks: if the bidding team took at least its bid, it scores every trick it took and the other team scores nothing. If it fell short, it loses the number it bid and the other team scores the tricks it took. Scores can go below zero.

7. 7

   Win the game

   The first team to reach 41 points wins. Only one team can gain points in a hand, so there is never a tie.

Scoring in Tarneeb

Tarneeb scoring is simple, which is part of its charm: only the bidding team's promise matters. Making the bid exactly or with tricks to spare scores every trick the team took, so a bid of 7 that takes 9 tricks scores 9. Bidding higher than you need earns nothing extra; it only wins you the right to name trumps.

Falling short is expensive. A team that bid 9 and took 8 tricks loses 9 points, and the other team scores the 5 tricks it took. That swing of 14 points is why experienced players bid what their hands can make, not what they hope for.

Bid 8, took 10

Bidding team +10, other team 0

Bid 8, took 7

Bidding team -8, other team +6

Kaboot (all 13)

16 points (13 + a bonus of 3)

Bid 13, took 13

26 points

Bid 13, failed

Bidding team -16, other team double its tricks

The auction in detail

The auction goes round the table to the right as many times as it takes. On your turn you may bid any number from 7 to 13 that is higher than the current bid, or pass. Once you pass you can't come back in, even if your partner is outbid. The auction ends when the three other players have passed after the highest bid, or at once when someone bids 13, which can't be beaten.

Your partner's bid is information: a partner who bids 8 is telling you they hold strong cards. Because a made bid scores the tricks taken, not the bid, there is no need to raise your partner. Let their bid stand unless the opponents outbid them.

If all four players pass, nobody wants to commit to seven tricks: the cards are gathered and the same dealer deals again.

Why anticlockwise?

In the Levant, as in much of the Middle East, cards are dealt and played to the right, anticlockwise. On bs.fyi the player after you sits on your right, your partner opposite, and the player before you on your left, in every language.

Game length: 41 or 31

Most tables play Tarneeb to 41 points, which takes five or six hands. A shorter game to 31 is also common, and pagat.com gives it as the standard. Both are on the play page; the rules are the same. Some groups play to 51 or 61 for a long evening.

Tarneeb 41

Tarneeb 41 (also called Syrian 41) keeps the table, the deck and the tricks but changes the bidding: hearts are always trumps, and every player bids their own tricks, from 2 to 13. Bids of 5 and more score double, and a team wins when one partner reaches 41 while the other is above zero. It has its own rules page and its own table on bs.fyi: see the link at the top of this page.

House rules you may meet

Tarneeb is a family game, and families have their own rules. Some play only one round of bidding; some make the dealer bid 7 when the first three pass; some let the bidder choose no trumps, or require the first lead to be a trump. Egyptian players bid a suit with the number and allow doubling. bs.fyi plays the common rules above, as given by pagat.com and the popular Arabic card apps.

Tarneeb words

Tarneeb (طرنيب)

The trump suit, named by the highest bidder

Lamma (لمّة)

A trick

Kaboot (كبوت)

Taking all 13 tricks

Pass (باس)

Not bidding; final for the rest of the auction

Suits

Bastoni ♠ (بستوني), Kubba ♥ (كبّة), Sbati ♣ (سباتي), Dinari ♦ (ديناري)

Shayeb, Bint, Walad

King (شايب), queen (بنت), jack (ولد)

Tarneeb strategy tips

• •Count your sure tricks before you bid. Aces are tricks; a king with one card beside it usually is; and every trump past the third is a trick of its own. Add about three tricks for your partner, and bid only if the total reaches your bid.
• •Choose the longest suit as tarneeb. Five or six cards of a suit make the best trump suit, even without the ace. Long trumps win tricks late in the hand, when everyone else has run out.
• •Draw trumps when you declared. If your team named the tarneeb and holds most of the trumps, lead them early to pull the opponents' trumps. Then your aces and long suits can't be cut.
• •Don't overtake your partner. When your partner is already winning the trick, play your lowest card. Save your high cards for the tricks the opponents are winning.
• •Second hand low, third hand high. Playing second, keep your high cards back unless you can win for sure. Playing third, play high to win the trick or force out the opponents' honours.
• •Watch who runs out of a suit. A player who fails to follow suit has none left. Lead that suit to your partner if they can trump it, and keep it away from an opponent who can.

Tarneeb FAQ