I made Le Barbu because I couldn’t find the version I wanted to play.

I’m from Corsica, France, and Barbu is a card game I’ve played with friends for years. It’s one of those traditional games that can have slightly different rules depending on who taught you, but the idea is always the same: four players, several contracts, and a lot of opportunities to ruin someone else’s evening.

A while ago, I started looking for a mobile version that felt like the game we actually play around a table.

I couldn’t really find one.

So I started making my own.

What was supposed to be a small personal project slowly became Le Barbu: 7 Contracts, a complete mobile game now available on iOS and Android.

The game includes the seven contracts I wanted from the beginning: Tricks, Hearts, Queens, Last Trick, King of Hearts, Salad, and Réussite/Domino.

I also wanted it to feel like a traditional card game rather than a typical mobile game, so there are no coins, energy systems, or ads. You can play offline against AI opponents, choose different difficulty levels, play quick games, or play locally with other players.

One of the most enjoyable parts of development has been trying to give the AI opponents a little personality. They don’t all make exactly the same decisions, and I’m still improving their behaviour with each update.

Le Barbu was released this month on both the App Store and Google Play, but I’m definitely not treating the launch as the end of development.

There are already new animations, AI improvements, card backs, interface refinements, and other small details being worked on for future updates.

This is my first devlog here, so I’ll use these posts to share what changes, what works, what doesn’t, and probably a few strange bugs along the way.

If you already know Barbu — or one of its relatives like King, Rıfkı or Lorum — I’d especially love to hear how your version differs from mine.