Tarot
How to play French Tarot
French Tarot (Tarot à quatre) is one of Europe's deepest card games — played across France with a special 78-card pack. One player, the taker, bids to win against the other three. You play against three bots — or play online against three friends in real time.
Play French Tarot online with friends
Choose Play online to be matched with real players, or share a private invite link so all four of you can sit at the same table — every seat in the browser, no account and no app. The server handles the deal, the chien and the scoring and keeps the table in sync.
The cards
Four suits of fourteen — 1 to 10 plus Valet, Cavalier, Dame, Roi — give 56 cards. Add 21 numbered trumps (atouts) and the Excuse (the Fool), for 78 in all. The three bouts (oudlers) are the trump 1 ("le petit"), the trump 21, and the Excuse — they are worth the most and decide your target. Card points come in halves: a Roi or a bout is 4.5, a Dame 3.5, a Cavalier 2.5, a Valet 1.5, everything else 0.5 — 91 points in the pack.
The bid
In turn each player passes or bids higher: Petite, Garde, Garde Sans (without the dog) or Garde Contre (against the dog). The highest bidder is the taker. For Petite and Garde the taker takes the six-card chien (dog) into hand and discards six face-down; those count for the taker.
Your target
How many points you must score depends on the bouts in your tricks: 0 bouts → 56, 1 → 51, 2 → 41, 3 → 36. So an oudler in hand is gold.
Playing
- Follow the led suit if you can.
- If you are void, you must play a trump; if a trump is already down you must over-trump it when able.
- The highest trump takes the trick, else the highest card of the led suit.
- The Excuse may be played any time, never wins, and stays with its owner — except on the last trick, where the trick winner captures it instead.
Scoring
At the end the taker counts their points. The deal is worth (25 + the difference from target) multiplied by the bid (×1 Petite, ×2 Garde, ×4 Sans, ×6 Contre), plus 10 for petit au bout if the trump 1 falls in the last trick. The taker wins or loses that amount against all three defenders at once. First player to 100 wins. Tap a card to play; N starts a new game.