How to Play Tarneeb
Four players, two partnerships, thirteen tricks and one bid to keep.
Play Tarneeb free
To play Tarneeb, four players in two partnerships bid on how many of the 13 tricks their side will take. The lowest bid is 7, the highest is 13, and whoever wins the auction names the trump suit (the tarneeb) for that hand. Make the bid and your side scores every trick it took. Miss it and you lose the number you bid, while the other side scores its tricks. First side to 41 wins.
One hand, from the deal to the count
The deal
A standard 52-card deck, all of it dealt: 13 cards each, aces high, partners sitting opposite. Play goes counter-clockwise, to the right. The deal moves one seat each hand, and the player on the dealer's right speaks first in the auction.
The bid round
Each player in turn either bids a number of tricks for their team or passes. A bid has to be higher than the one standing, and once you pass you are out of the auction for that hand. When three players have passed, the last bid wins. A typical round looks like this:
| Seat | Says |
|---|---|
| Dealer's right | 7 |
| Dealer's partner | 8 |
| Dealer's left | Pass |
| Dealer | Pass |
| Dealer's right | Pass |
Three passes, so the dealer's partner has the contract at 8: the dealer and partner now need 8 of the 13 tricks between them. If all four players pass without a bid, the hand is thrown in and the same dealer deals again.
Naming the tarneeb
The auction winner names a suit as trump, out loud, and leads the first trick. Nothing is hidden: everyone knows the trump from the first card.
The play
- Follow the led suit if you can.
- If you can't, play anything. Trumping is optional and you may throw any card away. Tarneeb is loose here on purpose; the pressure is all in the bid.
- The highest trump wins the trick. With no trump in it, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick.
The count
Back to our hand. The dealer's side bid 8 and took 9 tricks, so they score 9 and the other side scores nothing. Had they taken only 7, they would lose 8 and the other side would score the 6 tricks it won. The full table:
| Result | Bidding team | Defenders |
|---|---|---|
| Bid made (tricks ≥ bid) | + tricks actually won | 0 |
| Bid failed | − the bid | + their tricks |
| Kaboot: all 13 taken on a bid under 13 | +16 | 0 |
| Bid 13, made | +26 | 0 |
| Bid 13, failed | −16 | double their tricks |
The first side to 41 points wins the game. Scores can go below zero, and there is no floor.
Reading your hand for the bid. Length in one suit matters more than high cards. Five or six cards of a suit with a couple of honours is the usual shape behind a bid of 7 or 8. A 13 needs a hand that can win every trick, and a failed 13 costs 16 points plus double the defenders' tricks.
House rules you will run into
Not every table plays Tarneeb the same way. The rules below are documented on pagat.com, and here is where our tables stand on each.
- One bid each (parts of Lebanon). Each player gets a single chance to bid, and the dealer can take the contract by only equalling the highest bid. Our auction keeps going round until three players pass, and every bid must be higher.
- The dealer is stuck with 7. Some tables make the dealer bid 7 when the first three players pass. We redeal instead.
- The target. Pagat gives 31 as the standard target, with 41, 51 or 61 agreed at the start. We play to 41.
- Egyptian Tarneeb. Played mostly in Egypt, every bid names a suit or no trump, and bids can be doubled. Our tables have no suit-ranked bids and no no-trump.
More of these, with the Syrian game also called "41", are on our Tarneeb variants page.
Questions people ask
Why does play go counter-clockwise?
It is the normal direction for Tarneeb, and the bidding and the deal move the same way. Some players run the whole game clockwise. Our tables play to the right.
Must I trump when I'm void?
No. Unlike Call Break, trumping is optional in Tarneeb. If you have no card of the led suit you may play any card at all.
What is kaboot?
Taking all thirteen tricks. On a bid under 13 it scores 16. A made bid of 13 scores 26, and a failed 13 costs 16 while the defenders score double their tricks.
What if everyone passes?
The hand is thrown in and the same dealer deals again.
Are there no-trump bids?
Not at our tables. No-trump bids belong to Egyptian Tarneeb, where each bid names a suit or no trump and the suits are ranked.
Is Tarneeb related to Whist or Spades?
Yes, all three are Whist descendants. What sets Tarneeb apart is the team bid and the trump suit chosen by the auction winner, which puts it closest to auction Whist.
What does tarneeb mean?
Tarneeb (طرنيب) is the Arabic word for trump. The game is named after its central act: the winning bidder names a suit, and that suit outranks the other three for the whole hand.
What is the minimum bid in Tarneeb?
Seven. You are promising your side will take at least seven of the thirteen tricks, and each later bid must be higher, up to thirteen. Everyone may pass instead, in which case the hand is redealt.
Is Tarneeb 41 the same game?
Not always. In Syria, and to some extent in Lebanon, "41" is the name of a separate game in which each player bids alone, hearts are always trump and each player keeps an individual score. The game on this page is partnership Tarneeb, with team bids from seven to thirteen, played to 41 points.
How many points do you need to win Tarneeb?
41 points at our tables. A made bid scores the tricks taken, never fewer than 7, so a side making 8 or 9 a hand needs five or six made hands to get there.
Words you will hear at the table
- Tarneeb
- The trump suit, and the name of the game.
- Kaboot
- Taking all thirteen tricks.
- Drawing trumps
- Leading trumps until the defenders have none left.
- The 41
- The target score our tables play to.
Keep reading
- Play Tarneeb Online: free in the browser, with the rules on the page.
- Tarneeb Scoring: a sample score sheet and a calculator for real games.
- Tarneeb Strategy: when to bid, which suit to name, how to defend.
- Tarneeb 41, 31 & 61: targets and the regional rules side by side.
- Tarneeb 41 vs 61: a target score, or a different game?
- Tarnib, Tarneeb or طرنيب: one game, three spellings.
- Tarneeb vs Spades: same family, very different bid.
- قواعد الطرنيب بالعربية: the full rules in Arabic.
- العب الطرنيب اونلاين: play Tarneeb in Arabic.
- Tarneeb online spielen: play Tarneeb in German.