Tribello

Tribello is a trick-taking game of the Whist type for three players, using a standard 52-card deck.

Four hands of 13 cards are dealt - one for each player and a spare hand called the pickup.

There are four rounds of play with three deals per round. In the first three rounds the object is to win tricks; in the fourth the aim is to avoid winning tricks. The rounds are as follows. Each player has a quota of tricks. Each round, the way trumps are chosen is different.

In the first three rounds, the dealer has a quota of six tricks, the person to the left of the dealer has a quota of four tricks, and the person to the right of the dealer has a quota of three tricks. If you take more than your quota you score one point per extra trick; if you take less than your quota you score minus one point per trick below quota.

In the fourth round, the dealer has a quota of three tricks, the person to the left of the dealer has a quota of four tricks, and the person to the right of the dealer has a quota of six tricks. If you take more that your quota you score minus one point for each surplus trick; if you take less than your quota you score plus one for each trick below.

For each round, after the players have looked at their hands, the dealer decides how many cards he wants from the pickup (zero to 13). He discards this number of cards from his hand, and then draws an equal number from the top of the pickup, which remains face down. If there are cards remaining in the pickup, the process is repeated with other players.

The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the fourth round.