The rules of Pilotta — a complete guide

Pilotta is Cyprus's best-loved card game: 4 players, 2 teams, 32 cards and real strategy. This page collects every rule of the "tsaka tsaka" (palaristi) variant, exactly as it is played at the kafenes — from the deal to the Rule of 6.

The table and the deck

4 players in 2 teams — partners sit opposite each other. The deck has 32 cards: 7 up to Ace in every suit. Cards are dealt in a 3-2-3 split, and everything — dealing, bidding, play — moves counter-clockwise. The player to the dealer's right leads the first trick, and whoever wins a trick leads the next one.

Card points

In the trump suit (κόζια) cards are worth different points than in the side suits:

That adds up to 152 points, and the last trick — το πίσω — is worth another 10. Every round is played over 162 points in total.

How a trick is played

• Follow suit: if you hold a card of the suit that was led, you must play it.
• Cutting is mandatory (κοψιά): if you are out of the led suit, you must play a trump if you have one — even when your partner is currently winning the trick. Cypriot Pilotta has no "partner protection".
• Under-trumping (υποτσάκισμα): if a trump is already on the trick, you must beat it with a higher trump if you can. If you hold only lower trumps, you are forced to play one anyway — a rule that sets Pilotta apart from Belote.
• No rising in side suits: in non-trump suits you never have to beat the previous card — any card of the led suit is legal.
• With neither the led suit nor a trump, you may discard anything — but you cannot win the trick.

Bidding in brief

Bidding starts at 80 and rises in steps of 10, counter-clockwise. A pass is not final — you may re-enter the auction later. If all four players pass, the hand is thrown in and the next dealer redeals. For the openings (single, double, triple), partner responses and the closed game, see the full guide: bidding in Pilotta.

Declarations in brief

A run of three scores 20, a run of four (πενηντάρι) 50, a run of five 100 — and the fours-of-a-kind: 100 (Aces, Tens, Kings, Queens), 150 (Nines), 200 (Jacks). Only the team holding the highest declaration scores. The pilotta itself (King and Queen of trumps) is worth 20 and always counts. All the details — when to announce, when to show, which one wins — are in the guide: declarations in Pilotta.

Scoring the round

Contract made

The bidding team scores the contract + its trick points + its declarations. The defenders score their own trick points and their own declarations.

Contract failed (μέσα)

If the bidding team falls short by even a single point, it scores zero. The defenders inherit all the round's points, the contract value and every declaration.

Capot (καπό)

Winning all 8 tricks earns the contract plus a flat 25 points (250) plus that team's declarations — the opponents keep only their own declarations. It works in reverse too: if the defenders sweep every trick, they take everything.

The closed game (κλειστό)

During the auction the defenders may "close" the game — a bet that the bidders will fail. The team that wins a closed round scores double the contract plus all the round's points plus all declarations; the loser scores zero. If the bidders close back, the stake becomes quadruple.

The score sheet and the Rule of 6

Raw points are divided by 10 for the score sheet. Endings 1–5 round down (85 → 8), endings 7–9 round up (87 → 9). If both teams' scores end exactly in 6 (e.g. 126–36), the Rule of 6 applies: the team that owned the contract rounds up (126 → 13), the defenders round down (36 → 3). Whether the contract was made is always judged on the raw points, before any rounding.

Winning the match

The first team to reach 301 points on the score sheet wins (configurable to 251, 351 or 401). If both teams cross the line in the same round, the higher total wins — and on an exact tie, one more round is played.