SEDMA

Hey there! Let me tell you about an awesome card game called Sedma. It originates from the Czech Republic and became super popular in the 1960s. It’s quite different from the trick-taking games you might be familiar with from Western Europe.

In Sedma, the only cards that matter when it comes to scoring points are the Aces and 10s. To win a trick, you either have to play a card that matches the rank of the one that was led or play a 7. There are no trumps in this game, and after each trick, you replenish your hand by drawing new cards.

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

To play Sedma, you typically use a special deck of 32 cards called a German-suited deck. But don’t worry if you don’t have one. You can also adapt a regular French deck by taking out the 2s through the 6s.

If we can’t decide on teams, each of us will draw a card from the deck. The two lowest cards will be paired, and the two highest cards will be paired. Our partners will sit across from us. The player with the lowest card will deal first. After that, the losing team will deal. If our team wins, the deal will pass to the left. If our team loses, the deal will pass to our partner who lost.

The dealer will give each of us four cards, two at a time. The rest of the cards will be placed face down on the table as the draw pile.

THE GAMEPLAY

In Sedma, the last player to play a card that matches the rank of the card that was led, or the player who last played a seven, wins a trick. If neither of these two things happens, the player who led the trick wins it.

Let’s get started! I’ll tell you how to play this card game.

First, the player sitting on the dealer’s left gets to go first. They can choose any card they want from their hand and play it face up on the table. Then, we go around the table in a clockwise direction, and each player gets to play one card of their choice to the trick.

After everyone has played a card, the player who started the trick has two options. One option is to end the trick by playing a card that matches the one played by the last player or a seven. The second option is to keep the trick going by playing a card that matches the rank of their original card or a seven. If they choose to continue the trick, it goes on for another round, and the same rules apply for winning the trick. Sometimes, the trick can continue until all the cards in our hands are played.

So, here’s how the game goes: when the trick is over, the person who won the previous trick gets all the cards. We each take turns drawing one card at a time from the draw pile until we all have four cards in our hands. Then, the person who won the last trick starts the next one. We keep playing like this until there are no more cards left and all of them have been played.

Now, let’s talk about scoring:

Aces and 10’s are pretty valuable – they’re worth ten card points each. Oh, and remember, if you’re the one who takes the very last trick, you get ten card points just for that. Once we’ve added up all the card points, we can start recording our game points.

If you manage to capture the highest number of card points, congratulations! You earn 1 game point. Another way to score big is by capturing all 90 card points, even if you didn’t get all the tricks – that’s worth 2 game points. But if you manage to capture every single trick, that’s a whopping 3 game points!

And finally, how to win the game:

It’s simple – the first team to earn 10 game points wins! So, keep playing, racking up those points, and may the best team triumph!