How to Play Tarneeb
Tarneeb is a team game for 4 players, popular across the Middle East. You and your partner (sitting across from you) bid against the other team. The highest bidder picks which suit is the most powerful — then both teams fight to win tricks.
The Basics
- 4 players in 2 teams — your partner sits across from you
- Each player gets 13 cards
- The highest bidder picks the “trump” suit — that suit beats all other suits
Card Order (weakest to strongest)
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace
Step 1: Bidding
Players take turns making bids. A bid is a promise that your team will win at least that many tricks.
- Bids go from 7 to 13 (you can’t bid lower than 7)
- Each bid must be higher than the last one, or you pass
- Once 3 players have passed, the remaining player wins the bid
- If nobody bids, the dealer is forced to bid 7
The winning bidder gets to choose which suit becomes trump (the most powerful suit).
Step 2: Pick Trump
After winning the bid, you choose any suit as the trump suit. Pick a suit where you have lots of strong cards. For example, if you have the Ace, King, and Queen of Hearts, making hearts trump is a great choice.
Unlike some games, there’s no restriction on leading with trump in Tarneeb. You can play trump cards whenever you want (as long as you follow suit when required).
Step 3: Play Tricks
The game has 13 tricks. A trick is one turn where everyone plays a card into the middle — whoever plays the strongest card wins that pile.
How each trick works
- Someone leads — The bid winner leads the first trick by playing any card
- Follow suit — You must play a card of the same suit if you have one
- No matching suit? — If you don’t have that suit, you can play anything — including trump
- Trump beats everything — If anyone plays a trump card, the highest trump wins. Otherwise, the highest card of the led suit wins
The trick winner leads the next trick.
Scoring
Scores are shared between you and your partner — you win or lose as a team.
For the bidding team
| What happened | Points |
|---|---|
| Won enough tricks to meet your bid | Your team scores the number of tricks you won |
| Fell short of your bid | Your team scores negative your bid amount |
Example: Your team bid 8 and won 10 tricks. You score 10 points. Example: Your team bid 8 and won 6 tricks. You score -8 points.
For the defending team
- If the bidding team makes their bid → the defending team scores 0 this game
- If the bidding team fails → the defending team scores the number of tricks they won
Special scoring
| Situation | Points |
|---|---|
| Kaboot — win all 13 tricks (but bid less than 13) | 16 points (bonus!) |
| Bid 13 and win all 13 tricks | 26 points (huge bonus!) |
| Bid 13 and fail | -16 points for your team |
How to win the session
The first team to reach 41 points wins. If nobody hits 41, the team with the highest score at the end wins.
Playing Multiple Games
Scores add up across games. Keep playing until a team reaches 41 points, or the host ends the session.
Tips for Beginners
- Bid on your best suit — If you have 5 or more cards in one suit, especially with high cards, that’s a good suit to bid on and make trump
- Help your partner — If your partner won the bid, play to support them. Lead trump to force out the other team’s trump cards
- Count the trump — There are 13 cards in each suit. Once all the trump cards have been played, high cards in other suits become very powerful
- Don’t overbid — Failing your bid gives you negative points AND lets the other team score. A safe bid that succeeds is always better than an ambitious one that fails
- Kaboot is rare — Winning all 13 tricks requires an incredible hand. The bonus is nice, but don’t chase it unless everything lines up perfectly