Learn the Rules

Giretra is a trick-taking card game from Madagascar, born from the Belote family. Four players, two teams, 32 cards, no shuffling. If you’ve played Belote, Bridge, or any trick-taking game before, you’ll feel right at home. If you haven’t, don’t worry. It’s not as complicated as it looks.

The Setup

You need 4 players split into 2 teams. Teammates sit across from each other, not side by side. Play goes clockwise.

The deck has 32 cards: the four standard suits (♠ Spades, ♥ Hearts, ♦ Diamonds, ♣ Clubs), each with A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7. Yep, no cards below 7.

One thing that makes Giretra unique: the deck is never shuffled during a match. Before each deal, the player to the dealer’s left cuts the deck instead. You split it into two halves (at least 6 cards from either end) and put the bottom half on top. That’s it.

How a Deal Works

Every deal follows four steps:

Cut the deck
Deal the cards (5 to each player, then 3 more after negotiation)
Negotiate to decide the game mode
Play 8 tricks

The dealer rotates clockwise after every deal. Let’s break down each phase.

Game Modes

Before you play, your team has to agree on a game mode through negotiation. There are three types:

Colour mode — one suit becomes trump. There are four variants, ranked low to high: ♣ Clubs, ♦ Diamonds, ♥ Hearts, ♠ Spades.

NoTrumps — no trump suit. Every suit plays by the same rules.

AllTrumps — every suit acts like trump. This one gets intense.

The full hierarchy from lowest to highest:

♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ < NoTrumps < AllTrumps

This ranking matters because during negotiation, you can only bid higher than the current bid.

Card Rankings

Here’s where Giretra gets interesting. Card rankings change depending on whether a suit is “trump” or not.

Trump ranking (also used for every suit in AllTrumps):

J > 9 > A > 10 > K > Q > 8 > 7

That’s right. The Jack is king, and the 9 is second in command. The Ace drops to third.

Non-trump ranking (also used for every suit in NoTrumps):

A > 10 > K > Q > J > 9 > 8 > 7

More conventional, but notice the 10 still outranks the King and Queen.

Card Point Values

Every card is worth points when you capture it in a trick. The values follow the same trump vs non-trump split:

Trump values

Card	Points
J	20
9	14
A	11
10	10
K	4
Q	3
8	0
7	0

Total per suit: 62

Non-trump values

Card	Points
A	11
10	10
K	4
Q	3
J	2
9	0
8	0
7	0

Total per suit: 30

So the total card points in a deal depend on the game mode:

Mode	Total card points
AllTrumps	248 + 10 (last trick bonus) = 258
NoTrumps	120 + 10 = 130
Colour	152 + 10 = 162

That “+10” is the last trick bonus: the team that wins the final trick gets 10 extra card points. Always.

Dealing

The dealer gives cards clockwise, starting with the player to their left:

Deal 3 cards to each player
Then 2 more to each player

Everyone now holds 5 cards with 12 left in the deck. Time to negotiate.

After negotiation, the dealer finishes by dealing 3 more cards to each player. Now everyone has 8 cards and you’re ready to play.

Negotiation

This is the bidding phase. It decides what game mode you’ll play and which team is the “announcer” (the team that has to deliver on their bid).

How it works

The player to the dealer’s left speaks first and must announce a game mode. They can’t pass. After that, going clockwise, each player can:

Announce a higher game mode (outbid)
Accept the current bid
Double an opponent’s bid (challenge it for double stakes)
Redouble a Double (quadruple stakes — only in AllTrumps and Colour, except Clubs)

Negotiation ends after 3 consecutive Accepts following any bid or Double.

Key restrictions

You can only bid higher than the current bid (follow the hierarchy)
Each team gets only one Colour bid per deal. If your teammate already bid Colour ♦, you can’t bid Colour ♠. The other team still can.
Once you Accept, you’re done announcing for this deal

The Double game

Doubling is where things get spicy. When you Double an opponent’s bid, you’re saying “go ahead, I dare you.” The match points get multiplied by 2.

A twist: in NoTrumps and Colour ♣, if an opponent Accepts the bid, it automatically counts as a Double. These modes are considered so strong that accepting the other team’s bid is already a challenge.

Redoubling (x4 multiplier) is the comeback to a Double, but it’s only available in AllTrumps and the higher Colour modes (♦, ♥, ♠). You can’t Redouble in NoTrumps or ♣ since those are already implicitly Doubled.

If multiple bids get Doubled in the same negotiation, the first announced mode that was Doubled is the one you play.

A quick example

Bottom: “Colour ♥”
Left: Accept
Top: Accept
Right: Accept

Done. Colour ♥ it is, with Bottom’s team as the announcers. Simple.

A messier one:

Bottom: “Colour ♣”
Left: “Colour ♠” (outbids)
Top: Accept
Right: Accept
Bottom: Accept

Colour ♠ wins. Left’s team announces.

Playing Tricks

The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick. After that, whoever wins a trick leads the next one.

The rules of play

These rules apply in priority order:

1. Follow suit. If you have a card of the led suit, you must play it.

2. In AllTrumps, play higher if you can. When following suit in AllTrumps, you must beat the current highest card of that suit if you’re able to.

3. In Colour mode, trump if you can’t follow. If you can’t follow suit, you must play a trump card if you have one. Exception: if your teammate is currently winning the trick with a non-trump card, you’re free to discard instead.

4. Overtrump. If someone already played a trump in this trick (whether it was led or ruffed in), you must beat it with a higher trump if you have one. This applies even if it was your own teammate who played the trump.

5. Discard. If you can’t follow suit and have no trump (or there’s no trump suit), play whatever you want.

Who wins the trick?

Highest card of the led suit wins
Unless someone played trump, in which case the highest trump wins
Winner collects all 4 cards and leads the next trick

Scoring

After all 8 tricks are played, count up each team’s captured card points (don’t forget the last trick bonus). How those card points convert to match points depends on the game mode.

Colour mode (winner takes all)

162 total card points
Announcer team needs 82 or more to win
Winner gets 16 match points, loser gets 0
Exact tie (81-81): nobody scores

NoTrumps (winner takes all)

130 total card points
Announcer team needs 65 or more to win
Winner gets 52 match points, loser gets 0
Exact tie (65-65): nobody scores

AllTrumps (split scoring)

This one’s different. Both teams can score.

258 total card points
Each team’s card points are divided by 10 and rounded up. That’s their match points.
Maximum total: 26 match points (typical split: something like 15-11 or 20-6)
But: if the announcer team gets fewer than 129 card points, they score 0 and the opponents take all 26
Exact tie (129-129): nobody scores
If rounding makes it 13-13, that’s also treated as a tie: 0-0

When the announcer team loses

In any mode, if the announcer team doesn’t hit their target, they get 0 match points and the defending team takes the full amount. That’s the risk of announcing.

Doubles and Redoubles

All match points are multiplied:

Condition	Multiplier
Normal	x1
Doubled	x2
Redoubled	x4

Sweeps

If your team wins all 8 tricks, that’s a sweep and the rewards are massive:

Mode	Sweep reward
AllTrumps	35 match points
NoTrumps	90 match points
Colour	You win the entire match on the spot

Sweep bonuses are also affected by Double/Redouble multipliers. A Doubled Colour sweep? Still an instant win.

Winning the Match

First team to 150 match points wins. Straightforward, except for one twist:

If both teams cross 150 in the same deal, nobody wins yet. The target moves up to 250. If both cross 250, it goes to 350, and so on. You have to pull ahead cleanly.

Quick Reference

Mode	Card points	To win	Match points	Sweep
AllTrumps	258	129+	26 (split)	35 pts
NoTrumps	130	65+	52	90 pts
Colour	162	82+	16	Instant win

Trump ranking: J > 9 > A > 10 > K > Q > 8 > 7

Non-trump ranking: A > 10 > K > Q > J > 9 > 8 > 7

Match target: 150 points. First team there wins.

Now go play.