A guide to using the Tarabish website & a summary of the game rules
When you first visit the site, you'll be asked for a password and your name. The password is the same for everyone and is shared privately within the family. Your name is how other players will see you at the table.
After logging in, you'll enter the lobby. Here you can see all active tables, who's sitting at each one, and how many seats are available.
The table has 4 seats. You sit at the bottom of the screen. The player across from you is your partner, and the two players to your left and right are your opponents.
Once all 4 seats are filled, the player who created the table will see a "Flip for Jacks" button. Clicking it deals cards one at a time around the table — whoever gets the first Jack becomes the dealer for the first hand.
The player to the dealer's right will see a "Cut the Deck" button. Clicking it splits and reassembles the deck. The dealer then deals cards automatically: 6 cards face-up (visible to you) and 3 face-down (hidden until trump is called).
Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player can either call a trump suit by clicking one of the four suit buttons, or pass. When you pass, your 3 face-down cards are revealed to you. If no one calls before the dealer, the dealer must call a suit.
Your playable cards are highlighted with a gold border. Click a highlighted card to play it. Cards that you can't legally play are dimmed.
The message bar at the bottom of the screen shows everything that's happening: who played what, who won a trick, scores, etc. Click the header to collapse or expand it.
While at a table, click the 📋 Points tab on the right side of the screen to see a reference chart for card values, run points, and bells.
Tarabish is a 4-player trick-taking card game played in teams of 2. Partners sit across from each other. The goal is to be the first team to reach 500 points across multiple hands.
A standard deck with 2s through 5s removed, leaving 36 cards: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in each of the four suits (♥ ♦ ♠ ♣).
Each player receives 9 cards: 6 dealt face-up (visible to the player) and 3 dealt face-down. The face-down cards are revealed during the trump-calling phase.
Starting left of the dealer, each player may call a trump suit or pass. When you pass, you pick up your 3 face-down cards. When someone calls a suit, all remaining face-down cards are picked up. The dealer must call if everyone else passes.
The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. Play proceeds clockwise. The rules are:
The highest trump card wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick. After 9 tricks, the hand is scored.
Card strength and point values depend on whether the suit is trump:
| Trump Suit (strongest → weakest) | |
|---|---|
| J | 20 pts |
| 9 | 14 pts |
| A | 11 pts |
| 10 | 10 pts |
| K | 4 pts |
| Q | 3 pts |
| 8 | 0 pts |
| 7 | 0 pts |
| 6 | 0 pts |
| Non-Trump Suits (strongest → weakest) | |
|---|---|
| A | 11 pts |
| 10 | 10 pts |
| K | 4 pts |
| Q | 3 pts |
| J | 2 pts |
| 9 | 0 pts |
| 8 | 0 pts |
| 7 | 0 pts |
| 6 | 0 pts |
A standard hand (no bonuses) contains 162 points total across all cards.
A run is 3 or 4 consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g., 8-9-10 or J-Q-K-A).
Before your first play, you may announce a run. Before your second play, you may show it to score the points.
If multiple players show runs, only the highest run counts:
A player with 2 non-overlapping runs can score both, unless an opponent has shown a higher run.
If you hold both the King and Queen of the trump suit, you may announce "Bells" when you play the second of those two cards for 20 bonus points.
The first team to reach 500 points wins. If both teams pass 500 in the same hand, the team that last called trump wins.
| Scenario | Points |
|---|---|
| Standard hand (no bonuses) | 162 total |
| Hand with 1 three-card run | 182 total |
| Hand with 1 four-card run + Bells | 232 total |
| 3-card run bonus | 20 |
| 4-card run bonus | 50 |
| Bells bonus | 20 |
| Game winning score | 500 |