Play Baloot online with friends, free

How to play Baloot

1. Four players, two teams: your partner sits opposite you. The deck has 32 cards, from 7 up to the Ace in each suit.
2. Everyone gets 5 cards, and the next card is turned face up in the middle. This is the bid card.
3. Buying, round 1: starting after the dealer, each player passes, calls Hokm (trump is the bid card's suit) or calls Sun (no trump). The third and fourth speakers may also call Ashkal: a Sun in which the bid card goes to their partner.
4. Sun ends the buying at once. After a Hokm, every other player gets one chance to answer with a Sun. If nobody does, the Hokm caller keeps Hokm or switches to Sun.
5. If all four pass, round 2 starts: say Wala to pass, or call Hokm in another suit, or Sun. If everyone passes again, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals.
6. The buyer takes the bid card plus 2 more cards and everyone else gets 3, so all players hold 8. The player after the dealer leads the first trick.
7. Follow suit when you can. In Hokm, if you can't follow you must trump, and over-trump an opponent's trump when you can, unless your partner is already winning the trick.
8. After 8 tricks the card points, the abnat, are counted. The buying team must finish ahead of the other team, or the whole round goes to the defenders.

Baloot at a glance: cards, points and projects

• Sun, and the side suits in Hokm: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7. Ace 11, ten 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2.
• The trump suit in Hokm: J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7. The Jack of trump is worth 20 and the nine 14.
• The last trick adds 10. A round holds 130 abnat in Sun and 162 in Hokm.
• Abnat become game points: a round is worth 26 points in Sun and 16 in Hokm.
• Projects, declared on your first card: Sira (3 in a row) 4 in Sun or 2 in Hokm; Fifty (4 in a row) 10 or 5; Hundred (5 in a row, or four 10s, Jacks, Queens or Kings) 20 or 10; Four hundred (four Aces in Sun) 40. In Hokm, four Aces are a Hundred.
• Only the team with the best project scores its projects. Baloot, the King and Queen of trump in one hand, is worth 2 and is never lost.
• Kaboot, all 8 tricks to one team: 44 in Sun, 25 in Hokm. The first team to 152 while ahead wins the game.

Baloot in Rayoosh

• Saudi Baloot for 4 players, 2 vs 2: Sun, Hokm and Ashkal, projects and Baloot.
• Quick: one game to 152, about 20 minutes. Full: best of three games, about 50 minutes.
• The full doubling chain: double (×2), triple (×3), four (×4) and Gahwa, with closed or open play.
• Pearls by finishing place: 70 each for the winners of a Quick game, 150 for a best of three. Never bought, never cashed out.
• Your projects are found for you: declare them with one tap on your first card.
• In Arabic, English and Hindi, on phones, tablets, computers and TVs with a remote.

Tips to win at Baloot

• Count your trumps before calling Hokm: the Jack and nine of trump are what make a Hokm.
• Sun needs top cards: Aces and guarded tens in more than one suit.
• Call Ashkal when the bid card is a 7, 8 or 9 and your own five cards already make a Sun.
• When your partner's card will hold the trick, give them a ten to bank the points.
• Keep your tens guarded, and don't lead a ten while the Ace of that suit is still out.
• Double only with real control of trumps: if the buyers make it, they take the whole round, multiplied.

Play Baloot with friends

Create a private table, share the link on WhatsApp, show the QR code or read out the room code, and your friends are seated in seconds with no download.

• Computer players fill any empty seat, so you never wait for a fourth.
• Text chat with quick phrases, voice chat, emotes and gifts at the table.
• A short lesson and practice games against the computer, any time.
• Once Rayoosh is installed, you can play the computer even without internet.