The BeloZ™ card game

A Modern Reimagining of a Classic Family Card Game

For more than a century, the card game of Belote has been one of the most popular family card games in France, Eastern Europe and the Middle-East.

BeloZ reimagines and simplifies the classic game of Belote with an exciting setting: the African savanna. Two teams of two players compete to rescue as many animals as possible from approaching floods.

BeloZ™ Rulebook

Set Up

32 playing cards (8 animals from each plain)

Four players: Players form two teams. Players from each team sit on opposite sides of the table. Each player must sit between two opponents.

Paper and pencil or the BeloZ Web app for score keeping.

Players deal, bid and play in turn in a counterclockwise rotation.

The Territory of BeloZ

The BeloZ river in the African savanna divides the territory of BeloZ into four plains prone to flooding. These plains are home to wild animals with a well-established hierarchy.

The Big Cats

The big cats dominate the dry land unless the plain is flooded. The lion is stronger than the leopard.

The Pachyderms

The pachyderms are feared by most animals except the big cats. The elephant is heavier than the rhinoceros.

The Aquatic Animals

The aquatic animals are weak unless their plain is flooded. Once under water, they become the strongest of the entire territory. The crocodile is more dangerous than the water snake.

The Playful Animals

The playful animals are too busy playing to scare other animals. The monkey is wiser than the meerkat.

Object

Two teams of two players compete in expeditions to rescue wild animals.

At the start of each round, players are dealt cards representing the animals from all plains.

One team selects the flooded plain, empowering its animals: They can intercept rescue expeditions and its aquatic animals become more powerful than the big cats. The team selecting the flooded plain commits to scoring more points than the other team.

Teams attempt to score points by winning rescue expeditions. A round is made of eight expeditions. Players win an expedition by playing the most powerful animal or by intercepting the expedition with an animal of the flooded plain.

At the end of the round, teams add the value of the animals they have rescued plus any bonus points. The team who chose the flooded plain must have more points than the other team to score points.

Strategy, teamwork and a bit of luck will decide the winning team. The first team to reach 1000 points wins.

Playing Cards

Each card represents an animal from one plain. Each plain has a hierarchy of animals:

• The big cats dominate the dry plains.
• The aquatic animals dominate the flooded plain.

Dry plains			Flooded plain
		11 pts		20 pts
		10 pts		15 pts
		4 pts		11 pts
		3 pts		10 pts
		2 pts		4 pts
		0 pt		3 pts
		0 pt		0 pt
		0 pt		0 pt

Each rescue expedition targets a plain set by the first card played. Unless the expedition is intercepted by a flooded plain card, the team that played the most powerful animal wins the expedition and collects all the cards. If the expedition is intercepted, the team that played the most powerful flooded plain card wins.

Teams may earn extra points with declarations or bonuses if:

• A player has in their hand a sequence of animals from the same plain.
• A player has in their hand the same animals from all four plains.
• A player has in their hand the pachyderms (elephant + rhinoceros) of the flooded plain.
• The team wins the last expedition of the round.
• The team wins all the expeditions of the round.

Beginners can use one of the four helper cards included in the deck to assist with the order of the cards and the value of the declarations.

Deal & Bid

Players draw cards to determine the dealer. The player with the card with the lowest number deals. If there is a tie, players draw another card until a dealer is chosen.

Note: The deck is never shuffled between rounds.

The player to the dealer's left cuts the deck. At least three cards must be cut.

The cards are always dealt in rotation, beginning with the player on the dealer's right and ending with the dealer.

Five cards are dealt to each player in two rounds (3 + 2 or 2 + 3), beginning with the player on the dealer's right and ending with the dealer. The dealer then turns the next card face up.

The plain of the card face up is up for bid to become the flooded plain.

The player to the dealer's right can now "accept" the bid, i.e., commit their team to a rescue contract with this flooded plain, or “pass”. If this player passes, the next player can accept or pass, and so on around the table. If all four players pass, each in turn has a second chance to accept a bid with a plain of their choosing as the flooded plain. If no bid is accepted, the cards are collected and the next dealer proceeds.

As soon as a player accepts a bid, they receive the turn-up card and the deal resumes. Each player except the player accepting the bid is dealt three cards. The player accepting the bid is dealt only two cards.

Each player now has eight cards in their hand and the round can start. The team who accepted the bid is the “contracting team” and the other team is the “defending team”.

Gameplay

A round consists of 8 rescue expeditions. The player to the dealer's right launches the first expedition.

Setting the Target Plain

The player who starts the expedition may play any card from their hand. The plain of that card sets the target plain for the expedition.

At any point, the leading card is the strongest card from the target plain — unless the expedition has been intercepted.

If intercepted, the most powerful flooded plain card becomes the leading card instead.

Playing the right card

The target plain and the leading card determine which card subsequent players must play.

If you hold a card from the target plain, you must “provide” or “rise”:

• Provide: If you have a card from the target plain, you must play it.
• Rise: If the target plain is the flooded plain and you have a more powerful card than the card leading the expedition, you must play it.

Otherwise, you must “intercept”, “over-intercept”, “leak” or “discard” based on situation:

• Intercept: If the target plain is not the flooded plain and the opposing team is leading the expedition, you must play a flooded plain card.
• If the leading card is from the flooded plain and was played by the opposing team:
• Over-intercept: You must play a more powerful flooded plain card.
• Leak: If you do not have a more powerful card, you must play a less powerful flooded plain card.
• Discard: If the card leading the expedition was played by your teammate, or if you don’t have a flooded plain card, you must discard any card.

Winning the Expedition

The player leading the expedition when all four players have played wins the expedition and their team collects all the cards that have been played. The expedition winner starts the next expedition.

Use BeloZ Web App Interactive Assistant under the "Helpers" tab to practice.

Gameplay Example

Examples are provided to illustrate strategies for “provide”, “discard” and “intercept”.

The flooded plain is red (South). Player1 and Player3 are on Team1. Player2 and Player4 are on Team2. Team2 is the contracting team and Team1 the defending team.

Provide

Player1 starts the expedition with a blue lion, the target plain is set to blue (North).

Player2, Player3 and Player4 all have a blue card and must provide. Player2 and player4 plays their blue card with the lowest value to minimize the points they give away to the other team.

Player1 wins the expedition, collects the cards and can launch the next expedition...

Discard and Intercept

Player1 starts the expedition with a blue leopard, Player2 has blue cards and provide with one of them. Player3 does not have any blue card but does not have to intercept the expedition since their teammate leads the expedition with the leopard. They discard a green card.

Player4 does not have a blue card either and must intercept with a card the flooded plain since the other team leads the expedition. Player4 wins the expedition, collects the cards and can launch the next expedition...

If Player4 did not have a flooded plain card, they would have discarded any card and Player1 would have won the expedition with the leopard.

Declarations

Players may earn bonus points at the start of the round by holding specific combinations of cards.

A "Straight Flush" is a sequence of three or more cards of the same plain with consecutive numbers:

• A Three-Card Straigh Flush is worth 20 points.
• A Four-Card Straight Flush is worth 50 points.
• A Staight Flush with five or more cards is worth 100 points.

“Quads” are made of four cards of the same animals from each of the four plains:

• Quads of crocodiles are worth 200 points.
• Quads of water snakes are worth 150 points.
• Quads of lions, leopards, elephants and rhinoceros are worth 100 points.

Quads of monkeys and meerkats are not valid declarations.

Quads and straight flushes must be announced during the first expedition. Quads win over straight flushes.

Between two straight flushes of the same value, the one containing the card with the highest number prevails. If they have the same highest card, they cancel each others unless one is from the flooded plain. In such case, the straight flush from the flooded plain wins prevails.

All the declarations from the team with the highest declaration are valid. The declarations from the other team will not count.

To be considered for scoring, valid declarations must be displayed during the second expedition, after the first card has been played but before the cards have been collected.

In addition, players holding the pachyderms (elephant and rhinoceros) from the flooded plain in their hand can declare “BeloZ and Re-BeloZ” and will earn 20 extra points irrespective of the issue of the round or other declarations.

To be valid, “BeloZ” and “Re-BeloZ” must be declared by the player at the time they play the card.

A card may not be involved in two declarations (except in BeloZ and Re-BeloZ).

Example

A player has a Four-Card Straight Flush with the highest card being a #7:

Their teammate has a Three-Card Straight Flush with the highest card being a #4:

A player from the other team also has a Three-Card Straight Flush with the highest card being a #8:

The Four-Card Straight Flush is the highest declaration and will prevail. The Three-Card Straight Flush from the same team will also prevail, even if the other Three-Card Straight Flush is higher. If displayed during the second expedition, the team may earn an additional 70 points from these declarations.

Scoring

The cards in a game of BeloZ have a total value of 153 points. Each team scores points according to the following formula:

Action	Points
Win an expedition	Sum of collected cards
Win the last expedition (Ten Last)	+10 points
Win all 8 expeditions (Golden Round)	+90 points
Declare "BeloZ & Re-BeloZ"	+20 points
Show a straight flush or a quad	Add the value of the declarations

Each team scores the points representing the value of the cards they have collected in the expeditions they won. In addition, the team who wins the last expedition ("Ten Last") scores 10 extra points. Before declarations, each round has a total of 163 points—153 from card values and 10 from the "Ten Last" bonus.

If a team wins all eight expeditions, the round is a “Golden Round”, and the team scores an additional 90 pts (a total of 253 points before declarations). On a golden round, the losing team cannot score declaration points, except the points from a “BeloZ and Re-BeloZ” declaration.

Each team then adds the points from their valid declaration.

If the contracting team scores more than the defending team, the contract is won, and each team scores the points they earned.

If the contracting team loses, they are “broken” and their points (except “BeloZ and Re-BeloZ” points) are transferred to the defending team.

The first team to reach 1000 points wins the game. When both teams score 1000 points or more, the team with the highest score wins.

Use BeloZ Web App Score tab to keep score.

Example

The contracting team has collected cards representing a total value of 78 points, has won the last expedition (ten last), and has a Three-Card Straight Flush. The defending team has a BeloZ and Re-BeloZ.

The contracting team scores 10 additional points for the 10 last: 88 points.

The defending team scores 163 - 88 = 75 points.

The contracting team scores 20 additional points for the Three-Card Straight Flush: 108 points.

The defending team scores 20 additional points for BeloZ and Re-BeloZ: 95 points.

If the contracting team did not have a Three-Card Straight Flush, they would have scored 20 fewer points to be at 88 points. The defending team would have scored more points (95) and would have broken the contracting team. The contracting team would have scored 0 point and the defending team would have scored 183 points (163 points and 20 points for BeloZ and Re-BeloZ).

Advice

• Select the flooded plain strategically. The player selecting the flooded plain is more likely to succeed if they start the game with at least three strong cards from that plain, including at least one aquatic animal.
• Balance dry and flooded plain strength. Holding one or more lions from the dry plains is just as important as having cards from the flooded plain.
• Launch flooded plain expeditions early. For the contracting team, launching expeditions that target the flooded plain early in the round can be an effective strategy. It helps prevent dry plain expeditions from being intercepted by the defending team.
• Take calculated risks. When selecting the flooded plain, keep in mind that you will receive two additional cards, and your teammate holds eight cards. Luck and calculated risk make BeloZ a fun and dynamic family game.

Printable rulebook:
	A4 paper size US Letter paper size

Score

BeloZ Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 2024

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Install BeloZ app

Android: Open the options of your Internet browser (button on the top right in Google Chrome), and select "Add to home screen" then "Install application". Validate by clicking on "Install".

iPhone our iPad: Click on the share button at the bottom of Safari . In the proposed options, select "Add to home screen". When a window pops up, validate by clicking "Add".

Settings

BeloZ™ Web App

• Rulebook Learn how to play BeloZ
• BeloZ A modern reimagining of Belote
• Score Keep the score of your Belote plays
• Helpers Helpers for beginners
• Helpers Helpers for beginners
• Install App Download the BeloZ app on your smart phone
• Settings Customize your BeloZ app
• Privacy policy We do not track you, we do not share your information