Bint Al Sbeet Rules

Bint Al Sbeet is a four-player (non-partnership) card game using a standard deck of 52 cards, and the direction of play is counterclockwise.

Cards and Distribution

At the start of the game, 13 cards are dealt to each player. The card ranking from lowest to highest is as follows: 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – J – Q – K – A

How to Play

1.      Each player selects three cards and passes them, one at a time, to the player on their left and then to the player on their right in each round.

2.      The player sitting to the right of the dealer starts by playing any card on the table. Each subsequent player must play a card of the same suit if available or any other suit if they don't have the required suit.

3.      The player who takes the trick is the one who plays the highest card of the suit led by the first player, and they become the leader for the next round.

4.      Players aim to avoid collecting tricks that contain any of the following cards:

- Queen of spades.

- 10 of diamonds.

- All cards of the heart suit.

5.      The round ends when players run out of cards.

Doubling

After passing the cards at the beginning of the game, a player holding the Queen of spades or the 10 of diamonds can double the points by revealing it to the other players. This means any player winning that card takes double the usual points. If both these cards are doubled in the same round, the cards of the hearts suit are also doubled.

Scoring

Players score 13 points for the Queen of spades, 10 points for the 10 of diamonds, and 1 point for each card of the hearts suit they collect. In the case of doubling, the points are multiplied as mentioned above.

The Minus (-) Rule

In the Minus rule, if a player fails to get any tricks, the player will get -10 points deducted from the total of their previous points.

If the player announces that they are able not to get any tricks, they will get -20 points deducted from the total of their previous points.

In the case of the player declaring "Minus" and any of the Queen or the 10 of diamonds being taken with the trick, the penalties are doubled as follows:

- The Queen, worth 13 points, is doubled to 26.

- The 10 of diamonds, worth 10 points, is doubled to 20.

- The Ace of hearts, worth 1 point, is doubled to 2.

If the opposing player declares the Queen along with the 10, the penalties for the player who declared "Minus" in the next round are recalculated:

- The Queen is now worth 26 points, doubled to 52.

- The 10 of diamonds is now worth 20 points, doubled to 40.

- The Ace of hearts is now worth 2 points, doubled to 4.

The game concludes when one of the players reaches 151 points or more, and the player with the lowest total points is the winner. In the case of a tie, the game continues until a tiebreaker occurs.