Barbu

About this board game

Barbu, also known as Barbuda, is a four-player French trick-taking card game with a listed play time of 180 minutes, first released in 1930.

In Barbu, each of the four players takes a turn as declarer. For each hand, the declarer selects one of seven contracts, creating a game that moves through a varied set of trick-taking objectives.

A contract cannot be repeated until all seven have been played. The commonly listed contracts include:

• Barbu: do not take the king of hearts.
• Hearts: do not take hearts.
• Last Two: do not take the last two tricks.
• Nullo: do not take tricks.
• Queens: do not take queens.
• Trumps: take tricks.
• Fan Tan: be first out of cards.

This rotating contract system gives every player the role of choosing the current objective while ensuring that the seven common contracts are used before any is selected again. The contracts range from avoiding specific cards or tricks to actively taking tricks or being first out of cards.

Many variants of Barbu are played, with different contracts and point schedules. This makes the game’s contract framework adaptable while preserving its central identity as a four-player trick-taking game with changing hand objectives.

Barbu can also be considered alongside other card games listed with it, including Coup d’État, Dragonmaster, Guillotine, The Dwarf King, Indulgence, and Phobos Infection: The Lost Journey of X27.