Coinche Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Coinche is Belote with the turned card replaced by a real auction. One partnership announces how many points it will take and which suit will be trumps, and the other side may challenge that claim. Because every deal captures a bid and a result, this is a bidding sheet rather than a plain rounds sheet: the numbers written are computed from the contract, not just counted off the table.
Overview
Coinche is Belote with the turned card replaced by a real auction. One partnership announces how many points it will take and which suit will be trumps, and the other side may challenge that claim. Because every deal captures a bid and a result, this is a bidding sheet rather than a plain rounds sheet: the numbers written are computed from the contract, not just counted off the table.
Setup
Exactly four players in two partnerships, seated alternately, with a thirty-two card deck. All eight cards are dealt to each player before the auction, usually in packets of three, then two, then three. Agree the target and the minimum opening bid first.
How to play
Starting to the dealer's left, each player either passes or announces a contract: a number that is a multiple of ten, from the minimum upward, together with a trump suit. Capot and générale sit above the numeric ladder. Any defender may say coinche to challenge the last contract, and the bidding side may answer surcoinche. Play then runs as in Belote: follow suit, trump when void, overtrump when a trump is already in the trick.
Scoring
The deal contains 152 card points plus 10 for the last trick, giving 162, and the king and queen of trumps in one hand add 20 to whoever holds them.
If the contract is made, meaning the bidding side's card points together with its belote reach the bid, that side scores its bid plus the card points it actually took, and the defenders score the card points they took. If the contract fails, the bidding side scores nothing except a belote 20 if it declared one, and the defenders score 160 plus the amount of the bid.
A capot contract that succeeds pays the capot value plus the bid; if it fails the defenders take 500. A générale is a solo undertaking to win all eight tricks and pays its own fixed value.
When a contract has been coinched the whole deal goes to one side: the winners take the bid plus 162, multiplied by the coinche multiplier, and the losers take nothing. A surcoinche uses the higher multiplier in the same way. Belote's 20 is always paid to its holder and is never multiplied.
With the simpler scoring style, a made contract pays only the bid, a failed one still pays the defenders 160 plus the bid, and the multipliers apply the same way.
Scores are normally rounded to the nearest ten, with five rounding up.
Ending the game
Deals continue until a side reaches the target at the end of a deal. If both sides pass it in the same deal, the side that held the contract wins.
Common variations
Some tables set the minimum at 82 so that the bid can never be beaten by a bare 81. Others allow a bid of 162 as a distinct contract below capot, or let annonces count in the same way as plain Belote.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 1000 points by default |
| Score sheet | A bid and a result per player per round; the score is derived |
| Typical round score | 0 – 500 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | A made contract pays the bid plus the card points taken. A failed one pays the defenders 160 plus the bid and the bidders nothing. |
Coinche — score sheet
House rules and settings
Every table plays Coinche a little differently. These are the 9 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.
Play to: what is the default in Coinche?
The first side to reach this total wins. 1000 is a quick game, 2000 the usual club length.
Default: 1000. Adjustable from 300 to 5000 in steps of 100.
In the app: “Play to”.
Minimum opening bid: what are the options in Coinche?
The lowest contract anyone may announce. Bids afterwards climb in steps of ten.
Default: 80. Three options:
In the app: “Minimum opening bid”.
How a made contract pays: what are the options in Coinche?
The first option rewards taking more than you promised. The second keeps the sheet simple by paying exactly what was announced.
Default: Bid plus the card points taken. Two options:
In the app: “How a made contract pays”.
Capot value: what is the default in Coinche?
What a side scores for bidding and winning every trick in the deal.
Default: 250. Adjustable from 100 to 500 in steps of 10.
In the app: “Capot value”.
Générale value: what is the default in Coinche?
What a player scores for announcing that they will take all eight tricks alone, without help from their partner, and doing it.
Default: 500. Adjustable from 100 to 1000 in steps of 10.
In the app: “Générale value”.
Count declarations: on or off in Coinche?
Sequences and four of a kind held in hand are shown and paid for, as in plain Belote. Most coinche players leave this off.
Default: off.
In the app: “Count declarations”.
Coinche multiplier: what is the default in Coinche?
How much the deal is worth when the defenders challenge the contract.
Default: 2. Adjustable from 2 to 4 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Coinche multiplier”.
Surcoinche multiplier: what is the default in Coinche?
How much the deal is worth when the bidding side answers a challenge with one of their own.
Default: 4. Adjustable from 3 to 16 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Surcoinche multiplier”.
Round scores: what are the options in Coinche?
Whether each deal's numbers are tidied to a round ten. Scores ending in five round upward.
Default: To the nearest 10. Two options:
In the app: “Round scores”.
Variants of Coinche
Short coinche
Target 1000, no declarations, minimum bid 80. The common bar version.
Tout atout and sans atout
Contracts where all four suits are trumps or none is, each with its own card values and a coefficient applied to the score.
Coinche is also known as
Belote Coinchée, Belote Contrée, Contrée. 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.