Syrian Tarneeb 41 differs from regular Tarneeb in two main ways: there is no competitive auction, and nobody chooses the trump. Every player declares once how many tricks they will take themselves, and the trump is decided by a revealed card from the dealer's hand. Tricks and points are personal, but in the end the match is won by a team.
What you need
- 4 players in two opposite teams: seats 0 and 2 against seats 1 and 3, with partners sitting opposite each other.
- A standard 52-card deck, no Jokers; every player gets 13 cards.
- Rank order inside every suit: A, K, Q, J, 10, then down to 2.
- Play goes counter-clockwise, and every player sees only their own cards.
The steps of one hand
1. The deal and the trump reveal
Each player is dealt 13 cards, one at a time, starting with the player on the dealer's right, with the dealer receiving last. After the deal, the last card of the dealer's own hand (the 13th card the dealer receives) is revealed to everybody; this is not simply the last card dealt overall.
The trump is the other suit of the same colour as the revealed card: ♣ with ♠ for black, ♦ with ♥ for red. If a ♥ is revealed the trump is ♦; if a ♣ is revealed the trump is ♠. Nobody chooses the trump manually, and the revealed card stays in the dealer's hand and is played like any other card.
2. Personal bids
There is no auction winner and no raising, and there is no pass. The player on the dealer's right starts, play continues counter-clockwise, and the dealer bids last. Each player declares exactly once how many tricks they personally will take, from 2 to 13.
The only limit on the total: if the four bids add up to less than 11, the hand is cancelled and the deal passes to the next dealer (the player on the current dealer's right), who deals again.
3. Playing the tricks
The player on the dealer's right, the first to bid, leads the first trick. The rules:
- Following the led suit is compulsory for a player who holds it.
- A player void in the led suit may play any card.
- The trick is won by the highest trump if any trump was played, otherwise by the highest card of the led suit.
- The winner of a trick leads the next one.
A hand has 13 tricks, and the key point is that tricks are counted per player, not per team.
Scoring
After the 13th trick each player is scored individually:
| Case | Player's points for the hand |
|---|---|
| Took tricks equal to or more than the bid | plus the bid value only |
| Took fewer tricks than the bid | minus the bid value |
Tricks above the bid add nothing. Personal scores accumulate from hand to hand and may become negative, and a team's score is the sum of its two players' personal scores. Example: a player who bids 5 and takes 7 tricks scores +5 only, and a player who bids 4 and takes 3 scores -4.
How a team wins
After every hand is scored, a team qualifies if one of its players has a personal score of 41 or more and the partner's score is above zero.
- If exactly one team qualifies, it wins.
- If no team qualifies, the match continues with a new hand.
- If both teams qualify after the same hand, the team with the higher combined score of its players wins, and on an exact tie an extra hand is played.
Common beginner mistakes
- Bidding more than you can take yourself: your bid is yours alone, and failing subtracts its whole value from your score.
- Counting on extra tricks: tricks above your bid give no extra points.
- Bidding before thinking about trump: the trump is known once the dealer's card is revealed, so judge your hand on that basis before you declare.
- Trying to pass: there is no pass, and the lowest bid is 2.
- Assuming 41 is enough: your partner's score must be above zero for the team to qualify.
- Mixing it up with regular Tarneeb: here the bid is not raised and nobody names the trump.
Quick questions
What if a player reaches 41 and the partner is at zero or below?
The team does not qualify and the match goes on.
Can scores be negative?
Yes. Personal scores accumulate from hand to hand and may become negative.
What if my turn timer runs out?
The turn duration is a room setting, not a rule. When it runs out the system always plays a legal move: it declares 2 during bidding and plays the weakest legal card during play.
Can I see the other players' cards?
No. Every player sees only their own cards, apart from the revealed card of the dealer's hand.
Next step
ERAM CARDS is an online multiplayer card and board game app, starting on Android in Arabic and English. Full rules: full Syrian Tarneeb rules page.