Tarneeb

Tarneeb was probably inspired by Iranians and many other Arabic card games, though many different nations throughout the Middle East claim that Tarneeb was created in their respective countries. Historically Tarneeb can be traced back to the Levant, more specifically Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, however the game seems to have truly flourished only from the early 18th century on.

As of December 2018, the world wide Tarneeb champion (excluding Canada) is Imad F Najjar (aka "TTT", The Tarneeb Terminator) replacing the previous champion Jawdat Lahlouh (aka "Mister 10" in reference to his favorite 10 hands call during tarneeb games).

In Canada, Basel (The Lion ) won 2018 championship on Christmas Eve. He is now known as Batal 2018. As expected, the defending champion with his partner The Master (صانع الأبطال) won 2019 championship. Issa(الشرطي) & his partner (أبو ضرطة) lost AGAIN which makes them the losers of the century.

In 2019, the worldwide Tarneeb championship is slated to be held in San Jose, CA where the current champion: "TTT", is residing. Canada, represented by its "Batal", declined to participate in the next Tarneeb championship where the next "Batal Abtal AlTarneeb" will be crowned. As of writing this note, "Batal 2018" has not commented on Canada's abstention from the tournament...

IMPORTANT UPDATE : As of May 29 2019, Mr. Saleem Abi Karam is the declared champion of Tarneeb world wide after him (and his partner) beating 'TTT' and 'Mr 10' 3 games in a row.

IMPORTANT UPDATE as of 2020 As of March 6, 2020. The independent Quebecois champions of Tarneeb, Murad (commonly referred to as "Palestinian BDE") and Dani (The Romanian Kafar) have challenged Saleem Abi Karam, TTT and Mr 10 to a tarneeb best of 5 dual. Their contact details are @dsauca98 with a DM of the code word "عصير". No one has responded to their challenge yet. Making them the official tarneeb champions of Canada and the World.

The aim of tarneeb is to win a set of continuous hands. There are four players in partnerships of two teams. A standard 52 card deck is used, each suit ranking in the usual way from Ace (high) down to two (low). The game is played in a counterclockwise fashion. The teams stay together for all the games of a set. In tarneeb tournament, at the end of a set, the losing team is replaced for the next set.[1]

The two members of each team are seated across each other, often on a table in such a way that no player can see the cards of other players (see seating charting image). Either player of a team may collect the winning tricks.

The first dealer is chosen at random and after each hand the turn to deal passes to the right. The cards are shuffled and cut by the player to the dealer's left, and are all dealt out beginning with player to the dealer's right, one at a time or in groups of thirteen (13), so that everyone has 13 cards.

Tarneeb seating arrangement.

The bidding begins with the first player to the right of the dealer and continues counter-clockwise. It consists of a number of tricks seven or above. A bid of more tricks outranks any bid of fewer tricks.

Each person can bid once, yet if any other player bids higher, one has the privilege of raising their bid, except in the case of passing a bid, wherein one is excluded from the bidding process.

• Some players use the option of telling their partner how good their cards are i.e., helpful, not helpful at all.

The objective of the bidding team is to take at least the number of tricks that they bid. The objective of the other team is to hinder the declarer team from reaching their declared bid.

The individual declarer leads to the first trick. Players counterclockwise must follow suit if they can; a player who has no cards of the suit led can play any card. A trick is won by the highest tarneeb (trump) in it, if any. If there are no tarneebs in the trick, the highest card of the suit led wins it. The winner of a trick leads to the next.

Once all thirteen tricks are played, the scores of the two sides are calculated by adding the tricks each side has won. If the declarer team meets or exceed the number of bidded tricks, then they get the number of tricks they have, otherwise, they lose the bid number (subtracted from their score) and the opposing team gains the number of tricks that they have collected their own in score. It is possible, therefore, to have a negative score at some point. The set ends when one of the teams reaches forty-one (41) and the losing team is replaced for the next set.

A team can also win the game by either bidding or making a set of 13 tricks.

• Keep Tarneeb Count: Every player should know how many tarneebs are out and how many are left at any point in the game. This is most crucial for the declarer who should always know how many tarneebs are out.
• Tashleeh: If you are the declarer, try to eliminate as many tarneebs from the game as possible.
• Ta'leem: If your partner is the declarer and you run out of tarneebs, signal to your partner what suit you want him to follow on the next trick by using a low card of that suit.
• Hints: If you want your partner to return the same suit on the next turn, slam the card on the table as you play. Note that this practice is not allowed in some areas and generally frowned upon as not very professional behavior.
• Na'f: When you finish a suit, throw the last card with a (flick) which hints your partner. This also is not always allowed.
• Second Lowest/Third Highest: for any trick, a good rule of thumb is for the second player to use the lowest card, and the third player to use the highest card.

• Whist
• Contract bridge
• 400 (card game)