How to Play Tablić

Tablić is a Balkan fishing game played with a standard 52-card deck. Capture by matching value or summing to your card, with Aces flexible enough to count as 1 or 11. Clear the table for a Tabla bonus and race to 101 points. Learn the rules here, then play free as part of our Ultimate Scopa Collection.

Overview

Tablić is a Balkan fishing game played with a standard 52-card French-suited deck — closely related to the wider Tablanette family. Capture by matching value or summing to your played card, with Aces flexible enough to count as 1 or 11 whichever makes a capture work. Clear the table for a Tabla bonus, and chase a set of specific high-value cards toward 101 points.

How to Play

1. Deal. 4 cards go face-up on the table, and 6 cards to each player's hand.
2. Play a card from your hand.
3. Capture or discard. Tap table cards whose value matches or sums to your card, or discard to simply leave it on the table.
4. Redeal. When both hands are empty, 6 more cards are dealt to each player (no new table cards), repeating until the deck runs out.
5. Leftover cards. When the deck is empty and the last cards are played, any cards still on the table go to the dealer — not the last capturer — and don't count as a Tabla.
6. Score captured cards and Tablas, and keep dealing hands until someone reaches 101 points.

How Capturing Works

Play a card from your hand. It captures table cards whenever their value matches it, or a group of them sums exactly to it.

• Same value — play a 9 to capture a 9 sitting on the table.
• Sum of cards — play a 7 to capture a 3+4 lying on the table (3+4=7). Tap each card you want to include.
• Flexible Aces — an Ace counts as 1 or 11, whichever makes a capture work, whether it's the card you play or one sitting in a sum on the table.

This app lets you capture one matching group per turn — a single card, or one sum. Traditional table play sometimes allows several disjoint groups to be swept in one play; that's simplified here for a clean, tap-friendly turn.

Card Values for Capturing

These values are used purely for capture calculations — they're not the same as scoring points (see below). Ace is worth 1 (or 11, whichever helps), 2 through 10 are worth their printed number, Jack is worth 12, Queen is worth 13, and King is worth 14, the highest.

Tabla — Clearing the Table

If your capture takes the last cards off the table, you score a Tabla — 1 point. The very last card played in the hand can never score a Tabla, even if it clears the table, since any leftover cards go automatically to the dealer at that point rather than through a genuine capture.

Scoring

At the end of every hand, each side scores for the cards it captured:

That's 25 points on offer every hand (22 if tied for most cards), plus 1 for every Tabla.

Ending the Match

Hands are played and scored one after another. As soon as one side's running total reaches 101 points or more at the end of a hand, that side wins the match. If both sides cross 101 in the very same hand with an equal total, one more hand is played as a decider.

Strategy Tips

• Keep an eye out for the 10 of Diamonds and 2 of Clubs — cheap in capture value, but worth real points at the end.
• Use your Aces flexibly. An Ace can complete a sum as either 1 or 11 — check both before deciding your capture.
• Don't give up a Tabla for free. If you can't avoid leaving a juicy sum on the table, leave one your opponent needs a specific card to reach, not an easy one.
• Track the card count. With 3 points riding on most cards captured, a close game can hinge entirely on who ends up with the majority.
• Remember leftovers favour the dealer. Since end-of-deck leftovers go to the dealer regardless of who captured last, being dealer late in a close hand has a real edge.

Frequently Asked Questions

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