Batak Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Batak is the best known trick-taking game in Turkey, played by four people with a full fifty-two card pack. One player buys the right to name trump by promising the largest number of tricks, then has to deliver while the other three do everything they can to steal a trick or two — because every trick they steal is a point for them and a step closer to breaking the promise.
Overview
Batak is the best known trick-taking game in Turkey, played by four people with a full fifty-two card pack. One player buys the right to name trump by promising the largest number of tricks, then has to deliver while the other three do everything they can to steal a trick or two — because every trick they steal is a point for them and a step closer to breaking the promise.
Setup
Four players, individually or in facing pairs. Deal the whole pack out one at a time so everyone holds thirteen cards. There are thirteen tricks in every deal and no cards left over. The deal passes to the left after each hand.
How to play
Starting to the dealer's left, each player either passes or names a number higher than the current highest bid. The opening bid must be at least five. Once three players in a row have passed, the last bidder becomes the declarer, names a trump suit, and leads the first card. If everybody passes, throw the hand in and deal again.
Follow the led suit if you can. If you cannot follow, you must play a trump if you hold one. Otherwise discard anything. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump was played. The winner leads the next trick.
Scoring
Write the declarer's bid and every player's trick count. The thirteen tricks must always account for exactly thirteen.
The declarer, with bid B and tricks taken T:
- T is greater than or equal to B — score
B × 10 + (T − B) × 1. A bid of seven that brings in nine tricks scores 70 + 2 = 72. - T is less than B — score
−(B × 10). A bid of eight that brings in six tricks scores −80. With the double-penalty setting on it is −160 instead. The extra tricks the declarer did take are worth nothing.
Each of the other three players scores 1 point per trick won, always, whether the declarer succeeded or not. In the failed example above, opponents holding three, two and two tricks score 3, 2 and 2. Their trick counts plus the declarer's must sum to 13.
In partnership play, the declarer's side pools its two trick counts against the bid and scores once as a team, while the defending pair scores 1 per trick between them.
Ending the game
At the end of any deal, if a player or team has reached the target — commonly 151, or 501 for a longer session — the match stops and the highest total wins. If two players are level on or above the target, deal again until the tie breaks. Groups who prefer a fixed length simply play an agreed number of deals and compare totals.
Common variations
Koz Maça fixes spades as trump forever. Gönüllü Batak drops the auction entirely for a volunteer challenger. Some tables double the penalty on a failed bid, and most treat a successful bid of all thirteen as worth double.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | Highest score |
|---|---|
| Played to | 151 points by default |
| Score sheet | A bid and a result per player per round; the score is derived |
| Typical round score | -130 – 130 |
| Negative scores | Possible |
| Worth knowing | Two entries per player per deal — the bid (left empty or zero for the three non-bidders) and the tricks actually taken. The four trick counts must add up to exactly 13. |
Batak — score sheet
House rules and settings
Every table plays Batak a little differently. These are the 10 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Lowest allowed bid: what is the default in Batak?
The smallest number of tricks anyone is allowed to promise. Nobody may open the auction below this number.
Default: 5. Adjustable from 1 to 13 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Lowest allowed bid”.
Points per trick bid: what is the default in Batak?
What each promised trick is worth. A bid of seven at the standard setting of ten is worth seventy points.
Default: 10. Adjustable from 1 to 20 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Points per trick bid”.
Points per extra trick: what is the default in Batak?
What the bidder earns for every trick taken beyond the promise, and what the other three players earn for each trick they win.
Default: 1. Adjustable from 0 to 10 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Points per extra trick”.
Failed bid loses double: on or off in Batak?
Turn on to make a broken promise cost twice as much. A failed bid of seven then costs 140 instead of 70.
Default: off.
In the app: “Failed bid loses double”.
Match ends after: what are the options in Batak?
Whether you play until a score is reached or simply deal a fixed number of hands and compare totals.
Default: Someone reaches the target score. Two options:
In the app: “Match ends after”.
Target score: what is the default in Batak?
When someone reaches this total at the end of a deal the match stops. Turkish groups usually pick 151 or 501.
Default: 151. Adjustable from 51 to 1001 in steps of 10.
In the app: “Target score”.
Number of deals: what is the default in Batak?
Used only when the match is set to end after a fixed number of deals. Twelve gives every player three turns as dealer.
Default: 12. Adjustable from 4 to 40 in steps of 4.
In the app: “Number of deals”.
Partnership play: on or off in Batak?
Eşli Batak. Players sitting opposite each other form a team, share one running total, and the partner's tricks count toward the bid.
Default: off.
In the app: “Partnership play”.
Trump suit: what are the options in Batak?
How trump is decided. In the two spade variants nobody chooses a suit, so the auction is only about how many tricks you promise.
Default: The winning bidder names it. Three options:
In the app: “Trump suit”.
Enforce the must-trump rule: on or off in Batak?
A reminder that a player unable to follow the led suit must play a trump if they hold one. It changes how the hand plays, not the arithmetic.
Default: on.
In the app: “Enforce the must-trump rule”.
Variants of Batak
Eşli Batak
Played in fixed partnerships across the table. The bidder and partner pool their tricks against the promise and keep a single team total.
Koz Maça
Spades are permanently trump, so the auction settles only the number of tricks. Quicker and far more common in casual Turkish play.
Gönüllü Batak
No auction at all. A player volunteers to attempt a set number of tricks with spades as trump, and everyone else plays to stop them.
Slam bid
A promise of all thirteen tricks pays double when it lands and costs double when it fails.
Batak is also known as
İhaleli Batak, Auction Batak, Turkish Spades. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.