+GAMES
Batak
Enter the tricks you take each hand; first to the target score wins.
26 August 2026 · 4 PLAYERS · 3 min read
+POINTSIM SETUP
- Contestant type
- People · 4 players
- Scoring method
- Free number entry
- Scoring direction
- Highest wins
- Rounds
- 5 hands (add as many as you need)
- Tie-break
- Last round
- Elimination
- Off
- Winning
- Win limit: 21 points
How this game maps onto the settings in the PointSim app.
+SAMPLE SCORE TABLE
| # | CONTESTANTS | HAND 1 | HAND 2 | HAND 3 | HAND 4 | HAND 5 | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Mert | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 22 |
| 02 | Elif | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 21 |
| 03 | Zeynep | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 04 | Kaan | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
A sample run with the settings above — the standings are worked out with the same rule the app uses.
001
What is the game?
Batak is a four-player trick-taking game played with a 52-card deck. Cards are dealt each hand, players bid on how many tricks they will take, and the tricks they actually take are counted. It is one of the most widely played card games in Turkey — and one of the most pen-and-paper-hungry games at any table.
Batak has many local variants: koz batak, gönül batağı, partnership batak. Some tables bid by auction, others pick the trump suit fresh each hand. PointSim does not care which one you play — it only keeps the number that comes out at the end of a hand. So the setup below works whatever rules your table uses.
002
How a hand runs
- The deal. The deck is split four ways, thirteen cards each.
- The bid. Players say how many tricks they will take. The highest bidder picks the trump suit and has to make their number.
- The tricks. Cards are played in turn; the highest trump, or the highest card of the led suit, takes the trick. Thirteen tricks are played.
- The count. Everyone’s tricks are counted; a player who makes their bid scores, one who misses is penalised by whatever rule the table uses.
003
How the score is written
The one constant in Batak scoring is this: at the end of a hand, each player ends up with a single number. At some tables that is the trick count; at others it is a value worked out from the bid. Either way, what goes into the table is the same.
- One number per hand. What the player earned that hand — usually the trick count.
- A missed bid goes negative. In most variants a player who misses their bid takes a penalty. Free number entry accepts negative values, so type it in as it stands.
- Totals run themselves. The board updates the totals after every hand and re-sorts the standings; nobody has to do the addition — which removes the single most common argument at a Batak table.
004
Setting it up in PointSim
Pick “people” as the contestant type and add the four players by name. Set the scoring method to free number entry and type in the tricks each player took at the end of every hand.
With a win limit of 21, the simulation closes on the first player past that score and the podium opens. Leave the limit empty and you can keep adding hands for as long as you like — if the night runs long, so does the table.
Leave the tie-break on “last round”: between two players on the same total, the one who did better in the final hand comes out ahead. That fits Batak naturally, since the last hand is usually where the highest bid is played.
005
Variations
- Partnership batak: add each pair as a single contestant and enter the team total at the end of a hand.
- Fixed number of hands instead of a target: leave the win limit empty, agree in advance how many hands you will play and open the podium after the last one.
- Penalty-point variants: flip the direction to “lowest wins”; the logic works the same way as the 101 Okey setup.
- A long tournament: switch elimination on at one per round to narrow a crowded table down to a final.