Traditional card games
Barbu
- players
- 4
- minutes
- 60-90
- years
- 10+
In the box
52-card deck
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- Trick-taking
Where to buy it
Near you
In a shop
Within 50 km.
The basics
Four players, with a 52-card deck dealt out in full: each player in turn becomes the declarer and chooses the contract for each deal, most of them to be avoided: tricks, hearts, queens, King of Hearts, last trick, salad. You play tricks without trumps, trying to take nothing, except in the Réussite, where you lay your cards in sequences to finish first. After 28 deals, seven per declarer, the best total, usually negative, wins.
Traditional rules, checked against reference sources · October 2026
Never played? Aim of the game and full rulesStep by step, with examples, for a first game.The rules, step by step
Setup
4 players, 13 cards each, 7 deals per declarer
- Four players, with a 52-card deck dealt out entirely: thirteen cards each.
- Each player takes a turn as declarer, for seven deals, choosing the contract to play each time.
How to play
Declarer's contract, Tricks without trumps, Avoid taking tricks
- The declarer announces the contract, then the player on their left leads and a normal hand of tricks is played, with no trumps.
- The negative contracts are endured: you try not to take anything.
- The Réussite, the only positive contract, is played by laying your cards out in sequences, starting from a rank chosen by the declarer.
Scoring
Trick or heart −5, Queen −10, Barbu −40, Réussite +100, +50
- No scale is official. This one comes from Wikilivres, and French Wikipedia gives the same values per card. Agree on it before the first deal.
- Tricks: -5 per trick taken, so -65 at stake with 52 cards.
- Hearts: -5 per heart taken, so -65.
- Queens: -10 per queen, so -40.
- Barbu: -40 to whoever takes the King of Hearts.
- Last trick: -40 to whoever takes it.
- Salad (Salade): every negative contract at once, each at its own value, so -250 at stake.
- Réussite: +100 to the first player to have laid all their cards, +50 to the second, nothing to the other two.
End of the game
28 deals, Best total
- Each player declares seven contracts, so 28 deals in all.
- The best total, usually below zero, wins.
House rules and pitfalls
The declarer chooses the contract to suit their hand: that is where Barbu is won…
- The declarer chooses the contract to suit their hand: that is where Barbu is won, far more than in the card play.
- Scales differ from one source to another. French Wikipedia, in its main text, counts a queen at 15 and the Barbu at 70. Regles.com, which says it follows Ducale’s rules, counts 10 per trick and per heart, 20 per queen, 80 for the Barbu, and has players avoid the last two tricks (30 and 50). This page keeps the values on which Wikilivres and French Wikipedia agree.
- With 32 cards, as is often played in France, this scale puts 40 points at stake in each negative contract, and 200 in the Salad.
- The Réussite is scored in many ways too: French Wikipedia has each declarer play two Réussites; the bridge players’ version described by Pagat gives +45, +20, +5 and -5, replaces the Salad with a trump contract and adds doubling.
- Some tables only forbid leading hearts on the first trick, or the first two. Others require you to get rid of the King of Hearts and the queens as soon as you can.
- Whoever takes everything, every trick or every heart, is sometimes rewarded: the other three then lose the points instead.
never played?Aim of the game and full rules9 chapters · about 4 min read
Goal of the game
Barbu is a series of small games, the contracts, played with the same cards. Almost all of them are to be avoided: take no tricks, take no hearts, don’t take the King of Hearts (the Barbu)… Only one scores points, the Réussite. In turn, each player becomes declarer and chooses the contract that best suits their hand. At the end, the best total wins.
What you need
A 52-card deck and four players. Many French tables play with 32 cards, from 7 to ace: eight cards each. Have a score sheet or Marquoir ready: each player must remember which contracts they have already played.
Card ranking
In each suit, from highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10… 2. There are never any trumps.
How a trick is played
The player on lead plays a card; its suit is the suit led. Each player in turn must follow that suit if they can; otherwise they discard any card they like. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and its winner leads to the next one. All the tricks of a deal are played this way, except in the Réussite.
How a game unfolds
- The first declarer deals all 52 cards: thirteen each.
- They look at their hand and announce a contract they have not yet played.
- The player on their left leads to the first trick. The deal is played under that contract, then the points are counted.
- The same player stays declarer until they have played all seven of their contracts, in whatever order they like.
- The role of declarer then passes to the player on the left. When all four players have declared, the game is over: 28 deals.
The contracts to avoid
- Tricks: each trick taken costs 5 points (65 in all).
- Hearts: each heart taken costs 5 points (65 in all). You may not lead a heart while you still hold another suit.
- Queens: each queen taken costs 10 points (40 in all). The deal stops as soon as all four queens have fallen.
- The Barbu: taking the King of Hearts costs 40 points. As in Hearts, you may not lead a heart while you hold another suit, and the deal stops as soon as the King has fallen.
- The last trick: whoever takes the last trick loses 40 points.
- The Salad: all the previous contracts at once, each at its own value. The King of Hearts taken in the last trick therefore costs a trick, a heart, the Barbu and the last trick: 90 points.
The Réussite, the only contract that scores
No tricks are played. The declarer chooses a starting rank, the jack for instance. In the middle, one row per suit is built, starting from the cards of that rank:
- The declarer starts. If they have a card of the chosen rank, they place it in the middle; otherwise, they pass.
- Each player in turn, clockwise, places one card: either another card of the starting rank, or a card of the same suit that extends a row, just above or just below its end.
- You must play if you can; you only pass if no card can be placed.
- Whoever places an ace plays again at once, if they can.
- The first to have placed all their cards scores +100, the second +50; the other two score nothing.
for example
The declarer chose the jack, and the Jack of Hearts is down. Tom holds the Queen and the 10 of Hearts: he may play either. He plays the 10, and keeps the Queen to block the hearts above.
Scoring
After each deal, note for each player the points lost (negative) or won in the Réussite (positive). The scale above comes from Wikilivres, but nothing is official: agree on it before the first deal. At the end of the game, the highest total, often the least negative, wins.
Tips for beginners
- Choose each contract to suit your hand: a hand full of low cards is perfect for Tricks, a hand without hearts for Hearts.
- Keep the Salad for a weak hand, and the Réussite for a hand whose cards follow one another: then choose the rank that suits you.
- When another player is declaring, spot the contract they are trying to dodge: it is often the one they keep for last.
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Variants
Contracts played
7 contracts (28 deals)
The six negative contracts, Salad included, plus the Réussite.
6 contracts, no Salad (24 deals)
House rule: the Salad alone weighs as much as all the other negative contracts combined; removing it makes the game shorter and closer.
Short game (12 deals)
House rule: three contracts per dealer, chosen freely.
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is the Barbu?
The King of Hearts. The “Barbu” contract means not taking it: whoever does loses 40 points on their own, and the deal stops there.
Who chooses the contract?
The declarer, in turn. Each player declares seven contracts — the six negative ones plus the Réussite — so 28 deals with four players. A contract a player has already declared cannot be declared by them again.
What is the Salad?
Every negative contract at once in the same deal: tricks, hearts, queens, the Barbu and the last trick, each at its own value. With the scale on this page, it puts 250 points at stake, as much as the other five put together.
How is the Réussite played?
It is not a trick-taking deal: the declarer chooses a starting rank, and everyone lays their cards out in rising and falling sequences from the cards of that rank. The first to go out scores +100, the second +50.
Are there trumps in Barbu?
No, never. You follow the suit led if you can, and the highest card of the suit led takes the trick.
Is the scale the same everywhere?
No, it varies from table to table. The one on this page comes from Wikilivres, and French Wikipedia agrees with it; other tables double these values, and the bridge players’ version uses much smaller ones. The main thing is to agree on it before the first deal, and stick to it until the end.