Tarneeb

👥 4 players 📍 Indoor📍 Anywhere ⚡ Calm 🧩 Moderate ⏱ 45-90 minutes 🎂 Ages 6+

Quick Pitch

Tarneeb is an Arabic partnership trick-taking game — four players in two teams bid on how many tricks they'll win, then play a full 13-trick hand to make good on that promise.

Hook

Partners sit across from each other and bid on the number of tricks they think they can win together, from 7 to 13. The team that wins the bidding names the trump suit and tries to deliver on their promise. Win your bid and you score the tricks; fall short and you score nothing while your opponents collect. It plays like a simplified Bridge, but Tarneeb's bold bidding style — where winning the bid is almost always worth going for — gives it a more aggressive and sociable feel.

Equipment Needed

  • One standard 52-card deck
  • Paper and pencil for scoring
  • Score sheet with space for tracking

Setup

  1. Players sit in compass positions (North, South, East, West)
  2. Partners sit opposite (North-South vs. East-West)
  3. Deal 13 cards to each player, one at a time
  4. Dealer rotates clockwise

Rules

Objective

Score points by winning tricks and making your bid. Be the partnership with the highest total score.

Bidding

  1. Bidding starts: Player to dealer's left bids first
  2. Bid levels: Bids range from 7 to 13 (representing 7-13 tricks out of 13 possible)
  3. Suit or No Trump: Bids specify a trump suit or No Trump
  4. Bid sequence: Each player in turn bids a higher contract or passes
  5. Ending: Bidding ends when three consecutive players pass
  6. Contract determination: The highest bid becomes the contract; the bidder's partnership tries to make it

Gameplay

  1. Lead: Player to dealer's left leads first trick
  2. Following suit: Players must follow suit if able; trump may be played if suit cannot be followed
  3. Trump play: When trump is led, players must play trump if able
  4. Trick winner: Highest card of suit led wins; highest trump if trump played
  5. Collecting tricks: Winner leads next trick
  6. All tricks: Continue until all 13 tricks are played

Scoring

Making the contract:

  • Partnership that bid scores: 1 point for each trick (1-13 possible)
  • No bonus: Simple point system based on tricks made
  • Extra tricks: Overtricks count as additional points

Failing the contract:

  • Bidding partnership loses: No points; all trick points go to defending partnership
  • Defending partnership scores: 1 point per trick they win

Example:

  • Partnership bids 8 tricks, makes 8: Scores 8 points
  • Partnership bids 8 tricks, makes 10: Scores 10 points (overtricks included)
  • Partnership bids 8 tricks, makes 7: Scores 0 points; other partnership scores 6 points

Game ending: First partnership to reach an agreed score (typically 40-60 points) wins.

Expert Player

Tips

  1. Hand evaluation: Count quick tricks (likely winners) and assess partnership fit through bidding
  2. Bidding communication: Bids reveal hand strength; experienced partners recognize patterns
  3. Aggressive bidding: Winning the contract provides scoring opportunity; passing can be risky
  4. Trump management: Reserve trump cards to win critical tricks
  5. Follow suit carefully: Maintaining suit length gives flexibility
  6. Partnership coordination: Trust partner's bids; adjust your play accordingly
  7. Late-game reading: Track played cards to predict remaining distributions

Variations

  • Tarneeb with No Trumps: No Trump contracts score higher (some variants award double points)
  • Aggressive scoring: Some regions score double points for overtricks
  • Alternative slam: Bidding all 13 tricks scores extra bonus
  • Partnership house rules: Many social games use regional variations in scoring
Learn More — History & Origins

History & Origins

Tarneeb developed in the Levant — primarily Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine — in the 20th century, as Bridge-style trick-taking games spread through the region. The word "tarneeb" means "trump" in Arabic, and the game takes the core mechanics of European trick-taking games (following suit, trump cards, partnership play) and adapts them with simpler bidding rules suited to the more social, informal settings where it's typically played.

Unlike Bridge, which evolved in elite British card-playing circles and developed a formalized bidding language over decades, Tarneeb maintained a directness that makes it much easier to learn and play socially. The game became the dominant partnership card game across much of the Arab world and spread with Levantine diaspora communities to Brazil, Australia, Canada, and wherever Lebanese and Syrian immigrants settled.

Cultural Context

Tarneeb is the game of the Lebanese coffee house. It's played with the same intensity and sociability that chess gets in European cafes, with partners allowed to discuss hands after the fact (though not during play) and games regularly running late into the night. The partnership dynamic is central: a good Tarneeb relationship requires partners who read each other's bids intuitively and trust each other's judgment under pressure.

Competitive Tarneeb is organized in Lebanon and among diaspora communities worldwide, with tournaments drawing hundreds of teams. Online Tarneeb platforms serve Arabic-speaking communities globally, keeping the game connected across the distances of diaspora life. For Lebanese and Syrian families, the game is often strongly associated with family gatherings and holidays — a game that multiple generations play together.

See Also