Tarabish

Tarabish — sometimes called Tarbish or 'Bish — is a trick-taking card game that is played primarily by the people of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in Canada.

Origins

Tarabish belongs to the Jass group of card games, in which the highest trumps are the jack and the nine. Jass games originated in the Netherlands and spread from there through Europe and later across the Atlantic and to India. Popular games are Klaverjas in the Netherlands, Clobyosh in worldwide Jewish communities, Belote in France, and Jass in Switzerland. It is believed that the game was passed down from European immigrants who came to Cape Breton in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to work in the booming steel and coal industries. Since then Tarabish has developed into its modern form that has become greatly tied into the regional culture of Cape Breton.

Objective

The goal of the game is to be the first player or team to accumulate at least 500 points. However, if both teams score over 500, the highest score wins.

The Play

The game is generally played with 4 players made into two pairs that sit across from each other. Teammates sit at north and south for one team and east and west for the other team.

The deck consists of the cards from 6 and higher in each suit.

The dealer deals 3 cards at a time keeping the last three cards face down. They cannot be looked at until a trump suit has been called. These last three cards are known as the kitty.

Beginning with the player to the left of the dealer, players have the opportunity to decide which suit is to be Trump. If no one calls trump, the dealer is 'Forced' and must call a trump.

Beginning with the player to the left of the caller, (the person who called trump), players must always try to follow with the suit of the first card played on that trick.

If the play is not possible the player must follow with the trump suit (known as a cut), otherwise they can follow with any other suit.

If the player plays a trump while having other cards that follow suit or they do not play to beat in trump or lay any other suit while trump is played other than trump then the play is called a misplay and results in the opposing team getting all the points in a game.

The player with the best card (trump or non-trump) wins the trick and takes the lead. If a non-trump play is 'cut' by a trump card, the trump card will take the trick even if it is lower than a non-trump card. If there are 2 or more cuts to the non-trump trick, the highest trump card will take the trick.

 Play continues in this fashion until all cards are played.

Scoring

Upon completion of each hand, teams count the points in their winning tricks to determine the scores.

Card Values

Value of Trump cards only:

Card	Points
Jack	20
Nine	14
Ace	11
Ten	10
King	4
Queen	3
Eight	0
Seven	0
Six	0

Value of Non-trump cards:

Card	Points
Ace	11
Ten	10
King	4
Queen	3
Jack	2
Nine	0
Eight	0
Seven	0
Six	0

Runs

There are two types of runs. Runs in tarbish are according to the customary card rank as in Poker (6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A). So the three best trumps (J,9,A) do not make a run.

A twenty is a run of three cards in a row of the same suit. (e.g. 6, 7, 8 of hearts or 9, 10, J of clubs)

A fifty is a run similar to a twenty however it is a run of four cards in a row. If you happen to have 5 or 6 card in a row it is still just a fifty and the extra cards are in no way significant when comparing to other runs.

A player with a run must announce to the other players that they have a run before they play their first card. A player must show their run immediately before playing they play their second card.

One player can have multiple runs, but only one player can count runs in a hand. If multiple runs are announced the player with the "best" run according to the following will get to count all of their runs: - A fifty always beats a twenty. - When comparing two runs of the same size, the one with the highest rank is best. - A run in trumps beats a run of the same size and rank in non-trumps. - Two runs of the same size and rank in non-trumps cancel each other out.

Bella

Bella (or Bells) is when a player has a king and queen of the trump suit in the same hand and is worth an additional 20 points when called. The player MUST call bella when playing the last of the 2 cards to get the points.

In the event that bella is part of a valid run, the player has the option to announce Bella when they show their run or wait until played.

Other points

The team winning the last trick receives 10 points towards their total for that hand.

The Minimum number of points in any hand is 162. Consisting of 62 points in trump values, 90 points in non trump values, and 10 points for last. The maximum number of points per hand is 282 (Calling and showing 2 50-point runs and announcing Bella).

If the calling team is able to score at least one more than half the points available, they can count their points, otherwise all points are awarded to the opposition.

Tarabish Terms

The Bate - The team which "calls" trump and fails to accumulate at least one point more than half the points available.

The Half Bate - The team which "calls" trump and accumulates exactly half the available points loses the hand, and the other team gets half the point value of the hand, for example if a team calls trump and collects 81 points out of 162, they get no points and the opponent gets 81 points.

Bella - When a player has the King and Queen of trump in a single hand.

A Run - Three or four cards in sequence in the same suit.

A Twenty - A run of three cards.

A Fifty - A run of four cards.

A Misplay - When a player doesn't follow the lead suit, or doesn't beat trump when he can. If a misplay is caught, all the points go to the team who caught the misplay.

Last - Final trick earning an additional 10 points to the winning team.

The Kitty - The three cards that are hidden to a player until after a trump is called.

Playing to beat - If at any time a player is forced to play a trump, he must beat the best trump card on the table.

The Linganer - A twenty run consisting of 6-7-8, named after the former 876 Lingan Coal Mine

The Johnnie - The Jack of trump.

A Dry Ten - When a player has only the 10 in a suit, after being dealt their cards

Forced - A popular variation. If a team has over 400 points, that team is forced to call trump. Therefore, they are not allowed to pass trump call to the dealer if the dealer is on the opposite team. If both teams are over 400 points, the team with the higher points is 'forced'.