How to Play Batak Online: Bidding, Trump, and Scoring

Batak is a four-player Turkish trick-taking game with a spoken contract. Each player is dealt thirteen cards from a 52-card French deck. One player wins an auction by naming a number of tricks, then names trump and leads. The rest of the table tries to hold the declarer below the bid, or to push them three or more tricks over it. First player to 52 with the highest total wins.

These are the café rules GAMEAREA uses. The table applies them for you, so you can think about the bid instead of arguing the law. Kitchen-table scoring from another app does not apply here. Practice against bots lives on the game page and does not need an account. Quick match and private rooms are online play and do need an account. Bots do not sit in empty online chairs. After this rules pass, the capture cousin is how to play Pişti. The four-player tile cousin is four-player Okey.

Deal, dealer, and who bids first

Four players, thirteen cards each, no leftover stock. Suits are spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Ranks run 2 through ace, ace high. The player to the left of the dealer bids first. Bidding continues clockwise. After a completed hand the dealer rotates one place. If all four players pass, the cards go back and the next dealer deals a fresh thirteen each. There is no default contract. You see only your own thirteen cards, the standing bid, and later the trump and the current trick.

The auction: pass or 4 through 13

Legal bids are pass, or an integer from 4 to 13 that is strictly higher than the current high bid. You cannot bid 1, 2, or 3. You cannot equal the standing bid. Pass stays legal after someone has named a number. A bid of 13 ends the auction immediately. If three players have passed and one still holds a positive bid, that player wins without further talk.

Worked example. The dealer deals. The player on the dealer’s left says 5. The next player says 7. The next player passes. The dealer says 8. The first bidder may now pass or bid 9–13, not 8. If the other three all pass after that 8, the dealer wins at 8 and names trump. If everyone had passed on the first round, the cards go back, the dealer rotates, and you start a fresh thirteen each.

Saying 7 means “I will take 7, 8, or 9 tricks with the trump I am about to name,” not “exactly 7.” Three extra tricks is as fatal as missing by one. Both are battı.

Trump and the opening lead

The bid winner names one of the four suits as trump, then leads the first card. There is no no-trump option. Pick trump from length plus honours, not from a single ace. A six-card suit with ace-king is a trump you can cash. A four-card suit with jack-ten will get punched. Bids of 8 or higher usually need a real trump suit. If you stretched to 5 on a balanced mess, name the suit you can stop in and duck extras rather than vacuum the deck. After trump is named, each completed trick’s winner leads the next.

Follow, overtrump, and must-trump

Only a legal card plays. If you hold the led suit, you must play it. If the card currently winning the trick is still of the led suit, and you hold a higher card of that suit, you must play one of those higher cards. You cannot sandbag a low card while a beating card sits in your hand. If you hold the suit but cannot beat the current winner, you may play any card of the led suit.

If you are void of the led suit, you must play trump if you have any. If trump is already winning and you hold a higher trump, you must overtrump. If you have neither the led suit nor trump, you may play any remaining card. A side-suit discard never wins.

Worked example. Hearts are trump. The player on lead plays the spade king. The next player holds the spade ace and must play it. The third player is void of spades and holds trump: they must trump. The fourth player also voids spades and holds a higher trump than the one just played: they must overtrump. A diamond ace in that hand is illegal while a trump remains. A completed trick has four cards. Highest card of the led suit wins unless a trump was played; then the highest trump wins. After thirteen tricks the hand is scored.

Scoring: the bid-to-bid+2 window

Declarer does not simply “score the bid if they make it.” They score the tricks they actually took, but only when that number sits between the bid and the bid plus two, inclusive. Outside that range they score minus the bid. That miss is battı. Three extra tricks is battı. One fewer than the bid is battı. Both write minus the bid, not minus the tricks.

Worked example. You bid 7. Seven tricks score +7, eight +8, nine +9. Six tricks score −7. Ten tricks also score −7. There is no “close enough.” The other three players score the tricks they took, except a player who takes zero scores minus the declarer’s bid. If you bid 7 and an opponent takes nothing, they write −7. An opponent who takes 3 writes +3.

Match target is 52. After a hand, if the highest player total is at least 52, every player tied for that highest total wins — a two-way tie at 53 is a shared win. If the highest total is still below 52, the dealer rotates and you play another hand. No set bonus, no doubled stake.

How to bid from a real hand

Count likely tricks before you speak. A first-table method: one trick per ace; extra for king-queen together in a suit; one trick for each trump you expect to draw once you name the suit; subtract a trick if trump length is only four. That total is your ceiling, not your bid. Bid one below the ceiling unless the auction has already pushed you. Four is the floor of speech. Passing a five-trick hand because someone else said 6 is often correct. Winning 6 on a five-trick hand is how battı starts.

Example. You hold spade ace-king-ten-eight-six, heart ace-nine, diamond king-queen, club seven-four-three. Count one for the spade ace, one for the heart ace, one for diamond king-queen together, and about three more once you name spades trump and start drawing. That is six. Bid 5, not 7. If the player before you already said 6, pass.

Long trump beats scattered honours. Eight clubs to the ace is a trump suit even if the other three suits are rags. Four aces in four suits and no five-card holding is a pass or a nervous 4, not an 8. When you are not going to win the auction, pass early and plan the defence. Extra bids made only to stay in the conversation give declarer information and can strand you on a number you cannot take.

Defending the contract

Defenders set the declarer in two ways: hold them below the bid, or force them three or more tricks over it. The second way is easy to forget. If declarer bid 6 and already has six tricks with winners still out, feeding a seventh and eighth is fine — the window still holds — but the ninth trick is battı. Duck a winner on purpose so they cannot shed a loser, or cash your own winners early so extras cannot park on you.

Example. Declarer bid 6 and already has six tricks. You hold the last heart ace and a small trump. Playing the ace is fine: they sit at 7, still inside the window. Keep the trump. The eighth trick is still safe. The ninth is battı.

Do not take zero tricks on purpose. A player who takes nothing writes minus the bid, which can be a larger gift than letting declarer score their eight. The only time to duck everything is when taking the trick would give declarer the setting trick. If you hold the last trump and a stray ace, take the ace. Lead through strength when you sit after declarer, and lead a side suit when you sit before them. Track trump: thirteen of each suit exist; every trump on the table is one fewer that can beat your remaining honours.

Common mistakes

Bidding 13 on a long suit and two aces. Thirteen ends the auction and you must take every trick (the window is 13 to 15, and only 13 tricks exist). Miss one and you write −13. Naming trump from a pretty king instead of from length: a king of hearts with two small hearts is not a trump suit. Trying to duck while holding a higher card of the led suit: that card has to play. Forgetting the +2 ceiling: extras are not gravy; three extra on a bid of 7 is battı. Sitting in an online room expecting a bot to fill the fourth chair: practice vs bots is on the Batak page; online quick match and private rooms wait for people behind an account.

What GAMEAREA enforces for you

Batak on GAMEAREA uses the auction, the forced follow and overtrump laws, and the bid-to-bid+2 window above. GAMEAREA applies these rules automatically. Illegal cards never play. The match ends at 52 with the highest total. For Jacks and a capture pile instead of an auction, sit at Pişti. For four players without a trump suit, Okey 101 is the live tile table. None of those rooms share Batak’s battı rule.

Play two bot matches with this list: count tricks before you bid, name trump from length, watch the +2 ceiling. Then sit in a private room with three people who already know the game. The table keeps the laws honest. Your job is the bid.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bid fewer than four tricks?

No. Legal speech is pass, or 4 through 13 beating the current high bid. There is no 1, 2, or 3, and no “all pass, dealer plays 4” default. Four passes means a redeal.

What if I take exactly two extra tricks?

That is still inside the window. Bid 6 and take 8, you score +8. Bid 6 and take 9, you score −6. The range is the bid through bid plus two, inclusive.

Must I trump if I am void?

Yes, if you hold trump. You must also overtrump if trump is already winning and you hold a higher trump. Only when you have neither the led suit nor trump may you discard a side card.

Do defenders score minus the bid if they take some tricks but not enough to set me?

No. Defenders score the tricks they took. The minus-the-bid penalty is only for a defender who takes zero tricks, and for a declarer who lands outside the bid-to-bid+2 range.

Is there a no-trump contract?

No. The bid winner always names one of the four suits. There is no no-trump on this table.

Can I play Batak against bots without an account?

Yes, from the game page, offline. Online quick match and private rooms need an account. Bots do not fill empty seats in those rooms.