Jack–nine games

Jack–nine card games, also known as the Jass group from the German term for the jack, form a family of trick-taking games in which the jack and nine of the trump suit are the highest-ranking trumps, and the tens and aces of all suits are the next most valuable cards. Games in this family are typically played by 2 or 4 players with 32 French-suited cards.
Popular European games in this family include four-handed belote, klaverjas and Jass but also a widespread two-hander known under various names including bela and Klaberjass. With the exception of the South Asian variants twenty-nine, twenty-eight and fifty-six, trick play in these games follows special rules that encourage trumping and overtrumping.
In the classification system of pagat.com, the Jass group is a subfamily of the marriage group of card games which in turn is a sub-family of the ace–ten group that is very popular in most of Europe, but almost absent in the British Isles and Scandinavia.

Overview

Variants of the basic two-handed game, known under various names including Klaberjass and bela, are played worldwide, especially in Jewish communities. Four-handed belote with its numerous variants is the French national card game but has spread as far away as Saudi Arabia. Other notable members of the family include the Swiss and Dutch national card games: Swiss Jass and Dutch klaverjas.
Twenty-nine, a popular game in South Asia, is a descendant of these games sharing many of their characteristics. In this game and its variants Twenty-eight and Fifty-six, trick-play is governed by the simple standard rule that suit must be followed if possible and a player who is blank in the suit led may play any card.
All other games in this family have slightly different trick-play rules that encourage trumping, typically by requiring players to trump a trick when they cannot follow suit. The Swiss games are special in that they are less restrictive than Whist, allowing players to trump a trick even when they can follow suit.
The methods for determining the trump suit vary as in many other groups of card games.
Often players can meld certain combinations in their hand to score additional points in exchange for giving information to the opponents, and score by a different mechanism for holding a belote.
The Jass–belote group is a subfamily of the king–queen family, which also contains the Austrian, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian national games and is itself a subfamily of the huge family of ace–ten card games. Ace–ten games are characterized by the scoring values 11 and 10 for ace and ten, respectively. This family is popular in most of Europe, notable exceptions being the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Sweden and Norway. The group includes Bezique, Pinochle, Italian Briscola and the Schafkopf group with German Skat.

Basic two-handed game

Trump suit	Typical value	Other suits
J	20
9	14
A	11	A
10	10	10
K	4	K
Q	3	Q
	2	J
	0	9
8	0	8
7	0	7

According to David Parlett, this "popular and widespread two-hander has so many names, mostly variations on the same one, that it is hard to know which is best for universal recognition. Klaberjass is probably closest to the original." He lists the alternative names as "Clob, Clobby, Clobiosh, Klob, Kalabrisasz, Bela, Cinq Cents, Zensa". Other sources also list "Klabberjass, Senserln, Clobyosh, Kalabrias, Klab, Clabber, Clobber, Clubby".
This truly international game originates from the Low Countries and is particularly strong in Jewish communities.
It can be interpreted as a two-handed variant of Belote, and indeed three-handed Belote can be played in exactly the same way. Conversely, Tarbish, a game played in Nova Scotia, is a four-handed partnership game variant of this game.
Each player receives 6 cards, and another card is turned up to determine the preferred trump suit. Now players in turn get the chance to take the deal, i.e. bet to make more points than the opponent, with the preferred trump suit. If both pass, they in turn may choose to take the deal with a freely chosen trump suit. If both players pass again, the deal is aborted and the other player deals. After a successful bidding phase both hands are completed to 9 cards.
In addition to the turn-up card, a second card is turned face up to give additional information. If the trump suit is as determined by the turn-up card, a player who holds the seven of trumps may exchange it with the turn-up card.

score	meld
50	sequence of 4 in suit
20	sequence of 3 in suit

In the melding phase, one player may meld any number of sequences of 3 or 4 cards in suit for 20 or 50 points, respectively. The player who holds the longest, highest-ranking such sequence is allowed to meld. This player is determined by a protocol that minimizes the information given to the opponent. Any melding player must show the best sequence held during the first trick, and may show any other sequences held and score for them as well.
Ranks and point values of cards are as shown in the table.
In trick-play, a player who cannot follow suit must trump if possible, and any trump lead must be overtrumped. A player who holds both king and queen of trumps may score 20 for the marriage when playing out the second of these cards. The winner of the last trick scores 10 points.
If the player who took the deal has made more combined points from card points in tricks taken, melds, marriage and last trick than the opponent, both players simply score their points. In the opposite case the opponent scores the sum of the points made by both.
The game is played for 500 points.

Variants

Instead of taking the game with the preferred trump suit or passing, elder hand may schmeiss the game. In this case the dealer cannot take the game, but may choose to force elder hand to take the game with the preferred trump suit.
If both players make exactly the same number of points:
* The bidder scores nothing, but the opponent scores only their own points, not the total.
* Nobody scores. The total is added to the score of the winner of the next game.
For the Bavarian variant Zensa/''Senserln'', the additional melding combinations of Belote count, except for the four nines, which do not count.
Klaverjas

Klaverjas is the Dutch national game, but it has numerous variants, some of which are very close to Belote. The major distinguishing feature of Klaverjas is that it has replaced melds by similar combinations that can be scored in tricks.

score	combination
100	any 4 of a kind
50	sequence of 4 in suit
20	sequence of 3 in suit
20	king and queen of trumps

All cards are distributed to the players and trump is determined by one of several simple methods. Players must always follow suit if they can. After a trump lead, players must head the trick if they can, even if the partner currently heads the trick. A player who cannot follow suit must head the trick by trumping if possible, otherwise discard a non-trump, and may not undertrump if it can be avoided.
Instead of the usual melding procedure, Klaverjas awards points for melding combinations won in a trick. 20 points for a king and queen of trumps can be scored in addition to the 20 or 50 points for a sequence. The last trick scores an additional 10 points.
In variants in which a player chooses the trump suit, that player's partnership must make more points than the opponents. Otherwise all points made in the game, including for melding combinations on both sides, are scored for the opponents.

Variants

The trick-play rule as described is the Rotterdam variant. The Amsterdam variant differs when a player cannot follow suit and the trick is currently headed by their partner. In this case, the player may choose to discard a non-trump instead of overtrumping.
Having four of a kind in a trick is of course extremely rare. In a variant, the winner of a trick containing three of a kind score 50 points.
Belote

This game for 4 players in fixed partnerships became the French national card game early in the 20th century.
Having received 5 cards, players in turn get the chance to take the deal, i.e. bet that their team will make more points than the opponents, with the preferred trump suit determined by a card turned face-up. If all players pass, they in turn may choose to take the deal with a freely chosen trump suit. After a successful bidding phase all hands are completed to 8 cards; the player who takes the deal receives the turned-up card.

score	meld
200	4 jacks
150	4 nines
100	4 aces, tens, kings, queens
100	sequence of ≥5 in suit
50	sequence of 4 in suit
20	sequence of 3 in suit

In the melding phase, one team may meld certain combinations. The team of the player who holds the most valuable, highest-ranking combination gets the right to meld. This player is determined by a protocol that minimizes the information exposed. Any melding player must show the best meld during the first trick, and may show any other melds and score for them as well. The same card can be used for more than one meld.
Ranks and point values of cards are as shown in the table above for "most modern games".
In trick-play, when the partner currently heads the trick there is no restriction other than following suit if possible.
Otherwise a player who cannot follow suit must trump if possible and overtrump if possible. Similarly, any trump lead must be overtrumped unless the partner heads the trick. A player who holds both king and queen of trumps can score 20 for the marriage by announcing Belote when playing the first and Rebelote when playing the second of these cards. The winner of the last trick scores 10 points.
If the team of the player who took the deal has made more combined points from card points in tricks taken, melds, marriage and last trick than the opponent team, both teams simply score their points. In the opposite case the opponents score the sum of the points made by both teams. A team that has won all tricks scores 100 points for capot instead of 10 points for the last trick.