Barbu (card game)


Barbu or Le Barbu, also known as Tafferan, is a trick-taking, compendium, card game similar to hearts where four players take turns leading seven different sub-games over the course of 28 deals. Barbu originated in France in the early 20th century where it was especially popular with university students, and became a prominent game among French Bridge-players in the 1960s. The French version of the game was originally played with a stripped deck of 32 cards ranked seven to ace in each suit. Modern forms are played with a full 52-card pack. Barbu may be descended from earlier compendium games popular with students and originating in the Austro-Hungarian Empire such as Lorum or Quodlibet.
"Le barbu" literally means "the bearded", and phonetically "the barb" – a reference to the king of hearts' common depiction as a bearded monarch nonchalantly stabbing himself in the head. This card is of special significance in one of the seven contracts featured in the game.

Rules

Preliminaries

Four players use a deck of 52 French suited cards ranking A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. There are 28 deals in a game and each player deals seven times in succession, the deal passing to the left. Players draw for high card to determine who will be the first dealer. The dealer is automatically also the declarer. He shuffles the cards, offers them to the right for cutting and then deals 13 cards to each player. He then names which contract all will play for that deal. The declarer names each contract once only. After having played all seven contracts, the roles of dealer and declarer pass to the left for the next seven hands, and so on, until all have done their seven contracts.

Contracts

There are five negative and two positive contracts in Barbu and all are trick-taking games with the exception of Domino. For trick-taking contracts, declarer leads a card to the opening trick and play passes clockwise with each player following suit if able, or otherwise playing a card in a different suit. All contracts are played at no trump, with the exception of Trumps. The total scores for all seven contracts taken together add up to zero, although variations exist where this is not the case. The seven contracts are:
  1. No Tricks. Each trick taken scores −2 points for a total of −26.
  2. No Hearts. The Ace of Hearts scores −6 and each of the other hearts score −2 for a total of −30. Hearts may never be led unless there are no cards of other suits available to lead. All hearts are kept face up after capture so that everybody can see who has taken which.
  3. No Queens. Each Queen scores −6 for a total of −24 and queens are left face up after capture. The hand ends once all four queens have been taken.
  4. No King of Hearts. K scores −20, and hearts may not be led as in the No Hearts contract above. Play ends once the King has been taken.
  5. No Last Two. The second-to-last trick scores −10 and the last trick scores −20 for −30 points.
  6. Trumps. Declarer chooses trumps and leads to the first trick. If a trump is led, each player must, if able, play a higher trump than those played before. Otherwise players follow suit, or discard if they are void in trumps. If a plain suit is led, players follow suit if possible. If they cannot and no trump has been played, they must play a trump card if possible or otherwise play a card of one of the other suits. If a non-trump has been led and trumped, a player must, if possible, play a higher trump than those previously played. Otherwise the player may slough off any card. Each trick scores +5 points for +65 total.
  7. Domino. Declarer chooses a starting rank and announces "Domino from the !". Each player in turn must play any card of the chosen rank or cards one higher or lower in rank than those on the table. Failing that, a player must pass. The aim is to be first to shed all of one's cards. The layout of the Domino is thus built from a column of the four starting cards that sequence outward to one or both sides. Play continues until all cards have been laid out onto the table. First to go out scores +45, second scores +20, third +5 and last −5, for +65 total.

    Doubling

After declarer picks a game but before the first trick is led, each of the other players may wager double against one or more of the other players. This operates like a side bet on the relative game score between the two players, who are said to have "business" with each other. The rules for doubling are:
If there are no doubles in a negative game, the game is not played out, but the negative points are simply divided equally between the non-dealers, with the dealer scoring 0 or +1 as necessary.
After the hand is played out and scores are tallied, modifications are made for doubles as follows:
Once all 28 hands have been played, scores are tallied and the player with the greatest number of points wins. The scores of all players should add up to zero, though variations exist where this is not the case.

Variations

Ravage City

Ravage City is an eighth contract where whichever player takes the most cards in any one suit scores −24. If there is a tie between two players, each scores −12. If three tie each scores −8, and all get −6 for a four-way tie. Because Ravage City brings 24 negative points into the game, the point values of the other contracts are modified as follows:
All other rules are the same as in seven-contract Barbu.
There are some players who play Ravage City as −36 instead of −24. These players usually do not maintain the zero sum quality of the game.

Chinese Poker

Chinese Poker is a ninth contract played and scored exactly as a hand of Chinese Poker. The scores are then multiplied by four, for 76 plus points. Played with Ravage City and all other deals, ChiPoker adds 52 positive points into the game. All the negative games may be slightly adjusted to balance out the games and make the total scores add up to 0.

Quick Rotation Barbu

Some play with a new declarer and dealer each round instead of every seven rounds. This makes for more varied play, but requires precise recording of who has declared what and who has doubled whom. This is often more exciting, as you have a chance to get back into the running late in the game, even if you are the first to deal.

King or Rıfkı

King is a shorter variation of Barbu with 20 rounds instead of 28. This version is popular in Turkey, as well as France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Colombia and Brazil. King is made up of six negative contracts and one positive:
Each negative contract is played only twice during the game, and the Trump contract is played a total of eight times. Deal passes between each hand and each player chooses just three negative and two trump contracts during the course of the game. In the end, scores add up to zero. All the players with positive score declared as winners and others as losers.

Salade

The Salade round is an additional round played in a variant based on the negative rounds. In this game the five negative rounds are varied slightly as follows, and the Salade is a sixth round.
Games are multiples of six rounds, with strategy for the Salade round being critical. This variant is strictly for fun – for example, players will gang up on the leader going into the Salade, forgetting their own position. It allows other numbers of participants to play by adjusting the pack.

Marketed variations

Many game manufacturers have published boxed games based on Barbu. These include Parker Brothers' 6-contract game Coup d'Etat using a 32-card deck and scoreboard with tiny plastic swords, and Milton Bradley's fantasy-themed Dragonmaster that keeps score with colored plastic jewels,

Barbu scoresheets