Bouillabaisse

Game rules

This game has many variants over regions and has many known names, like barbu for example.
The goal of the game is to get as few points as possible by avoiding to win tricks. It is divided into 6 rounds, each having different objectives.

Course of the game

The game is played with 2 to 12 players, using one or two decks of 52 cards, depending on the number of players.
The dealer deals all the cards and changes at each round.
If needed, some of the weakest cards are removed to ensure all players receive the same number of cards (for example, with 3 players, 51 cards are used instead of 52; with 5 players, 50 cards are used; with 6 players, 48 cards are used, etc.)

The game then proceeds in a classical trick-taking manner:

  1. The first player plays a card of their choice.
  2. On their turn, each player plays a card of the same suit if possible. If a player can't follow the suit, they can discard a card of their choice.
  3. The player who played the strongest card wins the trick and starts the next one.

There is no trump suit, and the card order is standard, with the ace being the strongest and the 2 being the weakest.

The goal of the game is always to get as few points as possible and it is therefore important to take as few tricks as possible, especially when they contain cards counting for many points.
The point value of each card varies during the rounds, which adds originality to the game.

The six rounds of the game

The game always lasts exactly six rounds, and the goal of each round is different:

  1. First round: Each trick is worth 5 points.
  2. Second round: A suit is randomly chosen at the beginning of the round, and all cards of that suit are worth 10 points each.
  3. Third round: A face card is randomly chosen at the beginning of the round, and each card of that face card is worth 50 points.
  4. Fourth round: A particular card is randomly chosen, and this card is worth 200 points.
  5. Fifth round: The rules of the four first rounds all apply together.
  6. Sixth and final round: All preceding rules apply, but points are counted negatively.
    7. For the final round and only that one, one therefore must take as many cards as one can, so that one loses the points won during the five first rounds.

The cards chosen to give points are selected randomly at the beginning of the game.
When played at a real table, they are chosen by mutual agreement among the players at the beginning of the game.
The suit giving 10 points is often hearts or clubs, face cards giving 50 points are often queens, and the particular card giving 200 points is generally the king of hearts or spades.

Extra rule variants

The "all or nothing "

This optional rule adds more fun to the game and says that if a player manages to take all cards which give points during the round, they lose the points instead of winning them.

For example, in the third round, if a player manages to collect all four queens, they will lose 200 points instead of gaining them. Note that this rule also applies to the final round! This means that if you take all tricks, the points will be won instead of lost. The objective of the last round is therefore to take as many cards as possible, but not all of them.
Of course, this rule doesn't apply to the fourth round, in which a single specific card does give points.

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