COINCHE

OBJECTIVE OF COINCHE: The objective of Coinche is to be the first to score 2000 points by winning tricks.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 players

MATERIALS: A modified 52 card pack, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.

TYPE OF GAME: Trick-Taking Card Game

AUDIENCE: Any

OVERVIEW OF COINCHE

Coinche is a 4-player trick-taking game. players form two partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other. It has some similarities to another game called Belote.

The goal of Coinche is to score 2000 points before the other team. partnerships do this by bidding how many points they will be contracted to win in a round, and winning tricks to complete these goals.

SETUP

To modify a 52-card deck you will need to remove all cards 6 and below. This will leave the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, and 7s.

The first dealer should be chosen at random and then each round moving forwards the dealer will pass to the right.

The dealer will shuffle the cards and the player to the left should cut the deck. Then in two batches of 3 and one batch of 2 each player should be dealt cards. Then bidding may begin.

Card Rankings and Values

In Coinche there are two different ranking systems for trumps and non-trumps. There are also values associated with the cards in these rankings as well.

Trumps are ranked Jack (high), 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, and 7 (low). Their values in respective order are 20 points, 14, 11, 10, 4, 3, 0, and 0 points.

Non-trumps are ranked Ace (high), 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, and 7 (low). Their respective values in order are 11 points, 10, 4, 3, 2, 0, 0, and 0 points.

The last trick is also worth 10 points to the team that wins it. Players can also score points for declaring Belote and Rebelote. This means a player will hold both the king and queen of the trump suit and must first call Belote when one of them is played and Rebelote when the other is played. This will score their team 20 points.

BIDDING

After cards have been dealt players will take part in a round of bidding. This begins with the player on the dealer’s right and continues anticlockwise. There are 4 options when a player bids. They can pass, bid, double, and slam.

When a player passes this does not take them out of a round of bidding. They can choose another option if their turn in the order comes up again. If all 4 players pass without a bid being made though, all cards are collected and redealt.

Bidding is when a player calls a number of points their team will be contracted to score and the trumps they wish to use. Bids must be higher than the previous and are made in intervals of 10. The lowest bid allowed is 80, although if a bid of 80 is made the team must earn 82 points to complete their contract. An example of a bid would be “100, Hearts”.

Double is called when a player believes the opposing team’s current contract will fail. They will call Coincher to signify their intention and this can be done on any player’s turn but the last bid made must be from the opposing team. when this call is made the score at the end of the round will be doubled. This will end the round of bidding, but the opposing team will get a chance to call Surcoincher. This doubles the score at the end of the round again.

The last option is to bid a slam. This means that the player’s team will try to win all the tricks in the round to complete their contract. This ends the round of bidding and cannot be doubled in any way.

Bidding will end once a double or slam is called or when three players pass after a bid. The winners of the bid will have called trumps and are no contracted to win as many points or tricks as their bid was for.

GAMEPLAY

The player to the dealer’s right starts the game and continues anticlockwise around the table. They may lead any card from their hand. All players must follow suit if able but are not required to beat previously played cards.

If a player is not able to follow suit, they will need to play a trump if an opponent is currently winning the trick. If the opponent played a trump, the player must attempt to beat it but still must play a trump if not able to. If your partner currently is winning the trick, then you may play any card. If you have no trumps and no cards to follow suit you may play any card.

If the trick was led with a trump, players must always try to beat the highest card even if played by their partner.

The player who plays the highest trump, or if not applicable, the highest card of the suit led wins the trick and will lead the next trick. Cards of won tricks are kept face down in front of the player.

SCORING

Once a round has ended player will count their points. These are tallied from cards won in tricks, Belotes called, and the last trick won. Players will add their scores with their partners to form total scores.

For the contracting team, if they were successful, they will score the number of points they earned during the round plus the number of points bid in the bidding round. If all the tricks were won but slam was not called, they score 250 points plus the amount bid. If slam was called and successful, the team scores 500 points plus belote if called. The other team will also score their points earned if any. Scores are rounded to the nearest 10s. Scores ending in 5 are rounded up.

If the bidding team was unsuccessful, they score nothing, except for belote if called. The other team wills core 160 points plus the bid amount. If a call of slam was unsuccessful the other team scores 500 points plus belote if called.

If Coincher or Surcoincher was called the bid total will be doubled or quadrupled. This does not double the total points. For example, if the bid of “100, hearts” was made then the bid of 100 would be doubled to 200 for Coincher or quadrupled to 400 for Surcoincher.

END OF GAME

The game is won by the first team to reach 2000 or more points. If both teams score the same amount, then the winners of the last round win.

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