Players and Cards:

There are four players in fixed partnerships, partners facing each other. A standard international 52-card pack is used, the cards in each suit ranking from high to low: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2. The game is normally played counter-clockwise. 

Deal

The first dealer is chosen randomly. After each hand the turn to deal passes to the right. The cards are shuffled and cut, and are all dealt out, one at a time so that everyone has 13 cards.

Bidding

Bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s right and moves counterclockwise. The lowest bid is 7 and the highest is 13, and they represent the number of tricks that the bidder’s team thinks they can take. Each bid must be higher than the last, and a player who does not wish to bid at their turn can pass. Once you pass you are out of the bidding for the current round, and the bidding continues around the table as many times as necessary until it settles on the highest bidder. 

Tarneeb Game Play 

The player who won the bidding(the highest bid) leads to the first trick, and thereafter the winner of each trick leads to the next. Tarneeb is played counterclockwise. Players must follow suit if able to. Those unable to follow suit may play any card. Each trick is won by the highest trump in it, or by the highest card of the suit led if it contains no trumps. 

Scoring

The bidder’s team tries to take as many tricks as they can or at least as many tricks as they bid. If their bid is less than 13 and succeed, they score the number of tricks they won, and the other team scores nothing. If the bidding team takes fewer tricks than they bid, they lose the amount of their bid, and the other team scores the number of tricks they won. Winning all 13 tricks is called kaboot. If the bid was less than 13, kaboot brings a bonus of 3 points, so 16 points in total instead of 13. If a team bids 13 tricks and wins them all, they score 26 points. If they lose any tricks, they score minus 16 and the other team scores double the number the tricks that they win. Further hands are played until one team achieves a cumulative score of 31 points or more, and wins the game.