Baloot Goes Digital: Building Saudi Arabia's Card Game with a Real RL-Trained AI

Arb'a Baloot, a free, ad-free digital version of Saudi Arabia's national card game Baloot, has been released with an AI opponent trained using reinforcement learning over millions of self-play rounds. The AI, built by a developer, bids Sun or Hokm, counts cards, and punishes mistakes, operating fully offline.

Baloot is Saudi Arabia's national card game — 32 cards, 4 players, 2 teams, and a bidding system Sun / Hokm that rewards reading your opponents. Most Baloot apps are either stuffed with ads or built around buying coins. Arb'a Baloot takes the opposite approach: completely free, no ads, no in-app purchases. Instead of hard-coded rules, the AI opponent was trained with reinforcement learning over millions of self-play rounds — the same family of techniques behind AlphaGo. It bids Sun or Hokm like a strong human, counts cards, punishes mistakes, and works fully offline.