Belote is a popular 32-card trick-taking game played worldwide (the
rules of the game are quite different in different countries). It's
derived around 1920 in France, probably from Klaverjassen, a game
played since at least 1600's in Netherlands. In Bulgarian the official
name is Bridge-Belote, in Greece it is called Vida, in Cyprus it is
called Pilotta. In Croatian Bela is used as a synonym, in Armenian the
name is abbreviated to Blot. In the Republic of Macedonia it is Belyot,
in Saudi Arabia is Baloot. Within the game's terminology, belote is
used to designate a pair of a King and a Queen of a trump suit,
possibly yielding the game's name itself.
In
the Armenian version the game can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players. The
4-player version (also called Bazar Blot) is considered to be the
standard game, the others are just crippled versions played only if
there aren't enough players available.