Traditional card games
Aluette
- players
- 4
- minutes
- 45
- years
- 8+
In the box
Aluette pack (48 Spanish-suited cards)
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- Hand ManagementTeam-BasedTrick-taking
Where to buy it
Near you
In a shop
Within 50 km.
The basics
Four players in two teams of two, with a 48-card aluette pack in Spanish suits: nine cards each. You play any card you like, with no trumps and no suit to follow, and the trick goes to the highest card in the game’s own ranking, partners keeping each other informed with agreed signals. The player who alone took the most tricks scores 1 point for their team, and the first team to 5 points wins.
Traditional rules, checked against reference sources · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
2 teams of 2, 48 Spanish cards, 9 cards, 3 at a time
- Four players, in two teams of two, partners sitting opposite each other. Dealing and play go clockwise; the deal passes to the left after each hand (mène).
- An aluette pack of 48 Spanish-suited cards (coins, cups, swords, batons): in each suit, the ace, the cards from 2 to 9, the jack, the cavalière (the queen) and the king.
- Nine cards each, dealt in threes. The twelve left over are not used, except for the chant.
- The chant, only if all four players agree: the twelve remaining cards go, six each, to the dealer and the player on their left, who then discard six, face down, to get back to nine.
How to play
No obligations, Highest card wins, Partners use signals
- The player on the dealer’s left leads to the first trick. You play whichever card you like: no trumps, no suit to follow, no need to play higher.
- The trick goes to the highest card in the ranking, whatever its suit, and its winner leads to the next one.
- If two cards of the same rank tie for highest, the trick is "rotten" (pourri): it belongs to nobody, and the player who led it leads again.
- Ranking, from highest to lowest: 3 of coins (Monsieur), 3 of cups (Madame), 2 of coins (the Borgne), 2 of cups (the Vache), 9 of cups (Grand-neuf), 9 of coins (Petit-neuf), 2 of batons (Deux de chêne), 2 of swords (Deux d’écrit).
- Then come, with the cards in each group equal: the aces, the kings, the cavalières, the jacks, the 9s of swords and batons, then the 8s, 7s, 6s, 5s and 4s, and finally the 3s of swords and batons.
- Partners tell each other about their cards with signals whose meaning everyone knows: raising your eyes for Monsieur, winking for the Borgne, pouting for the Vache, opening your mouth for an ace… They are made discreetly, and the opponents are entitled to catch them.
Scoring
Most tricks: 1 point, Mordienne: 2 points
- After the nine tricks, count each player’s tricks, not each team’s: whoever took the most scores 1 point for their team.
- In a tie, the point goes to the player who reached that number of tricks first.
- Mordienne, played at many tables: a player who had not yet taken a trick and then wins the last tricks of the deal in a row, enough to finish ahead, scores 2 points.
- A team that knows it is beaten may offer to concede the deal. If the other team accepts, it scores 1 point without playing. If it refuses, it must make a mordienne: 2 points if it succeeds, otherwise the 2 points go to the team that tried to concede.
End of the game
First team to 5
- The first team to 5 points wins the game.
- Pagat has it played over five deals, the team with more points winning: agree on this before you start.
House rules and pitfalls
The sources disagree; the versions kept here are a game to 5 points (Wikipédia…
- The sources disagree; the versions kept here are a game to 5 points (Wikipédia, Bienvenue en Vendée) rather than five deals (Pagat, English Wikipedia), and the chant going to the dealer and the player on their left (Pagat, English Wikipedia) rather than to the player on the dealer’s left and the dealer’s partner (Wikipédia, Bienvenue en Vendée).
- Conceding follows Pagat. Wikipédia and Bienvenue en Vendée simply let a team that is too weak give away the point without playing.
- Announced mordienne: declared out loud before play, it extends the game to 10 points. According to Wikipédia, the opposing team may refuse it: the deal is then not played, and the team that announced it scores 1 point.
- There is a lot of talking in aluette, and you guide your partner with set phrases ("j’ai au-dessus", "laisse venir"). The only limit Pagat reports: never name a specific card, except when playing it.
- To keep track of who reached a number of tricks first, the custom is to turn one card face up in the trick of the first player to have two, and two cards in that of the first player to have three.
- The ranking always baffles people in their first game: a 3 of coins beats a king, and the ace ranks above every face card. The game is played mainly in the Vendée, around Nantes and on the coasts of Brittany.
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Variants
End of game
To 5 points
Over 5 deals
Pagat’s version: the team with the most points after five deals.
To 10 points
An announced mordienne raises the game to 10 points.
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
Why are signals not cheating in aluette?
Because they are part of the rules: each signal has a meaning fixed in advance and known to all four players, and secret codes are not allowed. You send them to your partner as discreetly as you can; if the opponents catch them, they are entitled to make use of them.