Tarok score keeper

A free score keeper for Slovenian tarok

The score keeper keeps the score sheet for you. For every hand you pick the game, the declarer and the partner and enter one side’s card points; it works out the difference, bonuses, kontras, radlci (the doubling circles) and the lost-Mond penalty, and writes the right amount for every player. It works for three or four players, without an account and even offline, and you can install it on a phone like an app.

At the end of the evening, “Share” sends the result to WhatsApp or by email. The points are calculated by the same program as the online game Tarok 124, so the score sheet counts exactly like the game.

How the score keeper works

1. 1 Enter the players in dealing order and choose who deals first. Set your table rules if you like.
2. 2 After every hand, tap “New hand”: choose the game, the declarer and the partner, and enter one side’s points. The other side gets the rest up to 70.
3. 3 Add bonuses, kontra and a lost Mond only if they happened.
4. 4 The “Scores” button shows every hand; tap one to correct or delete it. At the end, “Share” sends the result.

Tarok scoring in short

Every hand is scored in three steps:

1. Game value: trojka 10, dvojka 20, enka 30 and so on, as in the table of values.
2. Difference (razlika): in the talon games (the six face-down cards; trojka to solo ena) and in solo brez the difference between the declarers’ points and 35 is added. If the game is lost, value and difference are scored together as a minus.
3. Bonuses: trula, kralji (kings), kralj ultimo and pagat ultimo, silent or announced.

A radelc then doubles the total. Kontra (×2) and rekontra (×4) change who pays how much. The lost-Mond penalty (−21) comes last and is never multiplied.

Who writes what

The declarer writes the full amount, the partner half, and the opponents nothing for the game, except an opponent who said kontra. This is how the score keeper counts. Tables that play for money can choose money scoring in the table rules: every hand adds up to zero (the opponents pay what the declarers win), the partner scores the same as the declarer and radlci do not double.

Keeping a tarok score sheet on paper

Give each player a column and write the names in dealing order, so it is always clear who deals. The row under the names is for radlci: small circles that you fill in or cross out when they are used. After every hand write the amount and the new total; that way you notice at once when someone reaches zero, which at some tables means a compulsory klop. Note the game next to the declarer’s amount so the hand can be checked later. One player keeps the sheet; at TARZS tournaments it is the player in seat A, and at the end everyone signs it.

Game values for four and three players

Trojka, dvojka and enka are also called tri, dve and ena (three, two, one: how many talon cards the declarer takes). For games marked “+ difference” the difference is added to the value.

With three players there is no solo tri, solo dva or solo ena; trojka, dvojka and enka are worth 10, 30 and 50 (some tables count 10, 20 and 30, which you can set in the table rules). The valat in the table is announced as a game; a silent valat made during another game is a bonus.

Bonuses

An announced bonus is worth double. If an announcement fails, its value is subtracted.

The difference: points above 35

All the cards together are worth 70 points. The declarers win with at least 36. The difference is the number of points above 35, or below 35 if the game is lost. By default the score keeper rounds it to the nearest 5 with four players (exact counting is a table rule) and counts it exactly with three.

• 41 points: the difference 6 rounds to 5, the trojka is worth 15.
• 43 points: the difference 8 rounds to 10, the trojka is worth 20.
• 36 points: the difference 1 rounds to 0, the trojka is worth 10.
• 35 points: the game is lost, the declarer scores −10.
• 30 points: the game is lost with a difference of 5, the declarer scores −15.

Berač, odprti berač, barvni valat and valat have no difference; only the game value is scored.

How the cards are counted

Kings and the Škis, Mond and Pagat are worth 5 points each, queens 4, cavaliers (kaval) 3, jacks 2 and every other card 1. You count the cards in threes: add up three cards and subtract 2. If one or two cards are left at the end, subtract 1 from their sum.

All 54 cards are worth 106; the 18 groups of three subtract 36, which leaves exactly 70. In klop everyone counts their own pile, and each pile gains or loses at most a third of a point, so the piles add up to 69, 70 or 71. The score keeper warns you if they don’t.

Score sheet examples

Four players, default rules. Each row is a separate hand, and every number was calculated by the score keeper.

Hand	Ana	Bor	Cene	Dora
Trojka, 41 points, trula announced	+35	+17.5	·	·
Solo brez, 50 points	·	+95	·	·
Trojka, 41, Mond lost	−6	+7.5	·	·
Trojka, 41, pagat ultimo fails	−35	−17.5	·	·
Klop 20, 18, 17, 15	−20	−18	−17	−15
Klop, Ana full (36)	−70	·	·	·
Klop, Dora takes no trick	·	·	·	+70

• Trojka with an announced trula. Ana calls the king that Bor holds. Together they take 41 points and the trula Ana announced: game 10 + difference 5 = 15, trula +20, total 35. Ana writes +35 and Bor, as partner, half of that: +17.5.
• Solo brez. Bor plays alone without the talon and takes 50 points: 80 + difference 15 = 95.
• Lost Mond. Ana and Bor win a trojka with 41 points, but Cene catches Ana’s Mond with the Škis. Ana writes 15 − 21 = −6, Bor +7.5. Only Ana pays, because an opponent caught it; if a player on her own side catches the Mond, by default both write −20.
• Pagat ultimo fails. Ana announces pagat ultimo but does not win the last trick with the Pagat: 15 − 50 = −35, Bor −17.5.
• Klop. Everyone passed. Each player scores minus their own card points (20 points → −20). A player with 35 or more points (full, “poln”) scores −70 and the others nothing; a player who takes no trick scores +70, and so does a player who takes every trick.
• Three players. Ana plays dvojka against the other two and takes 43 points: 30 + difference 8 = 38 (with three players the difference is not rounded; with four it would be 10).

Radlci: when you get them and when they are crossed out

A radelc (plural radlci) is a small circle next to a player’s name. After klop and after the high games (berač, odprti berač, solo brez, barvni valat, valat) every player gets one; after trojka, dvojka, enka and the solo games with the talon nobody does. The score keeper draws them for you.

A declarer with a radelc writes the whole total of the hand double, in the plus or in the minus; the partner’s share doubles too (you can switch that off in the table rules). The radelc is crossed out only when the game is won; after a lost game the circle stays for the next one. A radelc never doubles klop points or the Mond penalty, and in money scoring it does not double at all.

Example. After a klop everyone has one radelc. Cene then plays dvojka with Dora as partner and they take 46 points: 20 + difference 10 = 30, doubled by the radelc to 60; Dora writes 30. Cene’s radelc is crossed out, the other three still have theirs. Ana then plays trojka with Bor as partner and they take only 30 points: 10 + difference 5 = 15 in the minus, doubled by the radelc to −30; Bor writes −15. The trojka is lost, so Ana’s radelc stays.

The same evening on a score sheet: the large number is the running total, the small one the hand; ○ is a radelc, ⊘ a crossed-out radelc. Every number was calculated by the score keeper.

Hand	Ana	Bor	Cene	Dora
Klop	−20 −20 ○	−18 −18 ○	−17 −17 ○	−15 −15 ○
Dvojka	−20 · ○	−18 · ○	43 +60 ⊘	15 +30 ○
Trojka	−50 −30 ○	−33 −15 ○	43 ·	15 · ○

Some tables subtract 100 points for every unused radelc at the end of the evening: a player on −20 with one radelc finishes on −120. Switch it on in the table rules; it is off by default. More about radlci in our article The radelc.

Kontra and rekontra: who writes what

An opponent says kontra when they think the declarer will not make the game; the declarer can answer with rekontra. Kontra applies separately to the game and to each announcement (trula, kings, pagat ultimo), and in klop to the whole klop. The score keeper scores it like this:

• The declarer wins. Declarer and partner write as usual and the opponent who said kontra pays: a trojka with 41 points and Cene’s kontra gives Ana +15, Bor +7.5, Cene −15.
• The declarer loses. The declarer pays double, the partner only the usual half: with 30 points Ana writes −30, Bor −7.5; with rekontra Ana writes −60.
• Kontra in klop. Dora (15 points) says kontra to the klop and every player’s points are doubled: 20, 18, 17 and 15 are written as −40, −36, −34 and −30. Under the tarok.net rules, a player who says kontra and takes 18 or more points has their score doubled again; the score keeper does not model that.
• Money scoring. The hand adds up to zero, so kontra doubles both sides: the declarers write +30 each, the opponents −30 each.

More on announcements and bonuses: Announcements and bonuses.

House rules the score keeper knows

Tables differ in the details. You can change any of these in the table rules before or during the evening; the score keeper recalculates every hand at once.

Where the rulebooks disagree

Tarok rules differ from source to source. The table shows the differences that change the score, and how the score keeper counts each one; where no table rule is listed, the score keeper has no other option. The TARZS (Slovenian tarok association) rules are for three-player tournaments, and “–” means the source does not say.

Penalties: renons and misdeals

A renons is a breach of the rules during play, such as a wrong discard, a wrong card played, showing your cards or signalling to your partner. Only the player who made it writes the game value, a difference of 35 and any announced bonuses as a minus (tarok.net 3.9, Berač 2.12, TARZS C2). Kontras and the radelc also apply; under tarok.net and TARZS only the declarer’s radelc counts, and under tarok.net kontra does not apply to a wrong discard. For a deliberate renons, tarok.net adds another 100 penalty points.

A misdeal is charged to the dealer, and the sources differ:

• tarok.net (3.9): a warning first, then −20, −40, −60 and so on.
• Berač (2.12): a warning first, then −20, −40, −80, −160 and so on.
• pagat.com: −20, −40, −80, −160 and so on; the same dealer deals again.
• TARZS (C1): −20 if the mistake is found by the end of the bidding; the cards are shuffled and dealt again.

The score keeper does not record these penalties: write them on paper and subtract them from the culprit’s total at the end. The penalty for unused radlci is described under Radlci.

Frequently asked questions

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