La bâtarde

"La bâtarde" (the bastard) is a French card game in the same style as Tarot, Coinche, Belote, a kind of traditional, trick-taking, card games. Each player plays one card, either following suit of the same color if possible, playing a trump, or otherwise any other card - the card with the highest value scores the point. The unique gameplay is that players don't win by scoring points, you win by announcing how many points you will score, and it can be 0 !

An extract from the beginning of the rulebook : The Bastard one is a thrilling and mysterious card game. Some claim that a primitive version originated in the North of India and arrived in Venice via Asia Minor, from where it spread through Europe. It is also told that it owes its name to the illegitimate daughter of a Syldavian prince who introduced it to his father’s court. Others maintain that three Portuguese sailors brought it back from much further afield. But nothing is less sure...

In this game, there are no teams, it is every person for themselves. 3 to 8 players can play.

Draw to designate the dealer (highest card). Next round the dealer shifts clockwise.

Deal the cards face down, one by one. A “rubber” is a set of games made up of several “hands” all dealt in the same way.

After each hand is dealt, the players look at their cards and announce in advance the number of “tricks” that they think they will win. This is called “bidding”. In this game you never pass. Each player bids on each round. The bidding system leads all the players to agree on which “suit” is the “trump”, if any. There are 6 possibilities: all cards are trump, spades are trump, hearts are trump, diamonds are trump, clubs are trump – or there is no trump. When playing with trump, the order of the cards is different.