Barbu (card game)

Barbu , Le Barbu or Tafferan is a trick card game for four players. It consists of seven partial games (so-called contracts ) that are played four times in a game. A game of Barbu thus has 28 rounds and generally lasts longer than other card games .

"Barbu" means "bearded" in French, but refers to the similarly pronounced word "Barb", a name for the king of hearts. Barbu originated in France in the early years of the 20th century and was particularly popular with students at the time.

Game setup

You use a French hand (52 cards , no jokers, ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ ) in the order (from high to low): Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 , 2. Each player starts with 0 points; The winner is whoever has the most points at the end of the 28 rounds. The first divider is determined by drawing cards up (all players draw a card, the player with the highest card wins) or arbitrarily.

Each round goes as follows:

The divider shuffles, cuts and deals so that all four players are dealt 13 cards. Usually the player to the right of the divider takes off and one card is dealt to each one in a clockwise direction from the divider.
The divider selects a contract - each player can only select each contract once.
Announcements are made.
The contract is played, the divider alludes.
The points are written down.
The player to the left of the divider becomes the new divider.

It is often played in such a way that the divider position only goes to the next player after 7 rounds.

The contracts

The seven contracts are based on other card games. In each of them, points can either be won (“ positive game ”) or lost (“ negative game ”). Overall, the points add up to 0, so the players' scores should total 0 at the end of the game. The names given here are common in Germany, but there are many alternative names.

Pas de Plis (no stitches)

Each trick won is worth −2 points, a total of −26 points.

Pas de Coeur (No Heart)

The ace of hearts counts −6 points, every other heart card −2 points, a total of −30 points.
A player places the won heart cards face up in front of him.
Hearts may not be played unless the player has no other color in hand.

Pas de Dames (no women)

Each queen counts −6 points, a total of −24 points.
A player places won queens face up in front of him.
The contract ends when all four women have been won.

Pas de Roi de Coeur (no king of hearts)

The King of Hearts is worth −20 points.
Hearts may not be played unless the player has no other color in hand.
The contract ends when the King of Hearts is won.

La Générale (all four first tasks at the same time)

La Réusite (Dominoes)

Domino is the only one of the six contracts that is not played in increments. The cards are placed face up on the table and not cleared until the contract is over.

The divisor chooses a starting value (hereinafter referred to as [rank]) and says “Domino from [rank]”.
The players in turn discard a card for which one of the following conditions must be met.
- It is one of the four cards of the [Rank] announced by the divider.
- It is one lower or one higher than a card of the same suit that has already been discarded (mind you, the ace is not one lower than the two and the two is not one higher than the ace).

So there are four rows of cards on the table, each with the same suit. The rows start from the indicated [Rank] and go up to the ace and down to the two.

If a player cannot place a valid card, it is the next player's turn.
You can pass, d. H. do not lay a card, although one could. In this case it is the turn of the next player.
You can't pass twice in a row.
The contract ends when three of the four players have discarded all of their cards.
The first player to discard all cards receives +45 points, the second +20, the third +5 and the last −5, a total of +65 points.

Announcements

After the divider has announced a contract and before the first card has been played, players may make announcements.

A player who is not a divisor has the opportunity to make exactly one of the following announcements:
- Contrast the divisor with the statement “Contra against the divisor”.
- Counter another player with the statement "Contra against [player name]".
- The two non-divisors counter with the statement "Against the family" (also called "siblings").
- All three other players double with the statement "against the table" (also common: "maximum against").
The divisor itself must not double.
Of course, you can't double yourself.
A player who has been doubled (including the divisor) can speak a re (recontract) to every contra directed at him. He can recreate all the contras against him by saying "Maximumre".
Each player has to double every other player at least twice in the course of the game, if this is currently the divider. That means, each player has to double a divider 6 times during the game.

When the contract has ended, points are awarded to the players as follows.

The difference between the points won is calculated for each pair between which there is a contradiction.
If there is a recontra between the couple, the difference is doubled.
The player of the pair who has done better in the contract just played (that is, has gained more points than the other or lost fewer points), gets the difference to his score credited, the other gets it deducted.