Belote: Big Cards Offline

Belote is the French card game of cafés and family tables, and this belote card game brings both of its classic forms to your phone: classic belote and coinche (also called contrée). Play belote against the computer with big, easy-to-read cards, a fair random deal and no sign-up. No internet or Wi-Fi is needed to play. You and an AI partner sitting opposite play as a team against two AI opponents. Everyone else at the table is a computer player, never another person, so there is no waiting: pick a mode and the deal starts, on a plane or anywhere else. TWO WAYS TO PLAY • Classic belote: take the turned-up card in the first round, or name another trump in the second. Annonces on, game to 501 points (or 1000). • Coinche: bid 80 to 160 or capot, in a suit, tout atout (all trumps) or sans atout (no trumps). "Coinche!" doubles the bid and "Surcoinche!" quadruples it. Game to 1000 points (or 2000), annonces optional. HOW TO PLAY BELOTE Four players in two teams, 32 cards, play goes counter-clockwise. In trumps the jack is the highest card (20 points), then the nine (14). You must follow suit; if you cannot, you must trump, unless your partner is already winning the trick; and when trumps are played you must go higher if you can. The king and queen of trumps are the belote and rebelote (20 points), and the last trick scores 10 more, the "dix de der": 162 points in every deal. A team that takes the contract and fails is "dedans". The full rules, with diagrams, are inside the app. A FAIR DEAL, EVERY TIME Every deal is shuffled with a seed from your phone's secure random-number generator. The deal never depends on your level, your streak or your results. Each AI player receives only what a player at the table can see: its own hand, the cards played, the bids and the annonces. It never sees your cards, and your partner cannot see them either. The Statistics screen shows how many of the jacks and nines each seat received before the bidding: 25% each is expected, and the gap narrows as the deals add up. A PARTNER WHO PLAYS FOR THE TEAM Your partner avoids trumping a trick you are already sure to win, adds points to your tricks when it is safe, and does not waste its top trumps. Even on Easy it plays properly: deliberate mistakes are left to your opponents. EASY, NORMAL, HARD • Easy, to learn the game. • Normal, an even game: the AI remembers every card played. • Hard, a strong opponent: before each card it plays out many possible deals that fit everything played and announced so far, without ever looking at your hand. BIG CARDS, EASY ON THE EYES • Large cards by default, normal size if you prefer. • French (R, D, V) or international (K, Q, J) card letters; four-color suits as an option. • Trumps sorted to the right or left, three game speeds, reduced motion. • Cards you cannot play are dimmed, and a gold dot marks the trumps. • Optional two-tap play and a confirmation for coinche and capot, so a slip of the finger costs nothing. • Two tables, Terrace and Bistro, and three card backs: Paisley, Olive branch and Cabochon. ALSO IN THE APP • Hints when you are stuck, from an AI that sees only your hand and the table, just like you. • Review the last trick, the score sheet and a full breakdown of every deal. • Your game is saved, so you can pick up where you left off. • Statistics: games, wins, streaks, contracts made, capots, successful coinches, belotes announced. • Weekly and all-time leaderboards of wins (Normal and Hard), under a nickname picked from a list, with no account. The leaderboards need a connection; playing never does. • 12 languages, including English and French. • Music, sound effects and vibration you can turn on or off. Take, pass, coinche, and mind you don't go dedans!