The game may be considered a variation of Whist. The aim of tarneeb is to win a set of continuous hands. There are four players in partnerships of two teams.
A standard 52 card deck is used, each suit ranking in the usual way from Ace (high) down to two (low). The game is played in a counterclockwise fashion. The teams stay together for all the games of a set. The two members of each team are seated across each other, often on a table in such a way that no player can see the cards of other players (see seating charting image). Either player of a team may collect the winning tricks.
The first dealer is chosen at random and after each hand the turn to deal passes to the right. The cards are shuffled and cut by the player to the dealer's left, and are all dealt out beginning with player to the dealer's right, one at a time or in groups of thirteen (13), so that everyone has 13 cards.