How To: Play The Card Game "Seven Eight"

This is a game played by 2 players.  It cannot be played by more than 2 players and is played using 30 cards.  Regular jokers have no role here.  However there are 2 additional jokers, the seven of hearts which is the big joker and the seven of spades which is the small joker.

Cards Used In Seven Eight

This game will be played with the following cards:

Spades => 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A
Diamonds => 8, 9,  10, J, Q, K, A
Clubs => 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A
Hearts => 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A

Aim & Objective

The dealer has to make more than 7 hands in this game in order to win the game and the one who cuts or calls the trump or is given the cards first (caller or cutter) has to make more than 8 hands.  If the dealer makes seven hands and the player who decides or calls the trump makes 8 hands then it is a draw.  If the dealer makes less than 7 hands, then he loses the game.  Likewise if the player who calls the trump makes less than 8 hands, then he loses the game.

How To Begin

One players shuffles the cards, 30 in number and offers it to the other player to cut.  The other player cuts the cards and then the dealer will give 5 cards to this player to call or say the trump suit from. We'll consider that "Hearts" is called the trump suit by the cutter or the one who receives the 5 cards first.  The dealer then takes the 5 cards for himself.  This completes the distribution of 10 cards.

After these 10 cards are distributed, the trump caller/cutter who has received 5 of these cards will call the trump.  Say he calls the trump "Hearts" since he has two cards of hearts - the King and the Queen of hearts.  He also has two cards of spades, eight and nine of spades and one card of club, the jack of clubs, for example.

Next, the dealer puts 5 cards face down in a sequence one beside the other on the table or the floor infront of the cutter or the caller (the trump caller).  These cards belong to the caller.  These will not be seen by him in the beginning of the game.  Next the dealer will place 5 cards, one beside the other infront of himself.  Again, he won't be able to see these cards in the beginning but will be able to see these cards one at the time after the card placed on top of it face up has been played.  Same is the case for the caller.  In between, these two rows, there will be a gap where the cards will be played.  This completes another distribution of 10 cards making a total of 20 cards, that has been distributed.

Next the dealer will place 5 cards, each card face up on top of the corresponding card face down infront of the caller.  Then he will place, 5 cards on top of the corresponding 5 face down cards, infront of himself.  This completes the distribution of the last 10 cards.

Score

The cards of the trump suite have the highest score and the trump is used to cut other cards when that suite is not available by either player.

In our example, we have considered "Hearts" the trump. So the lowest card of the trump is the 8 of hearts, followed by 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in the increasing order of score.  Higher than the ace of the trump suit is the score of the 7 of spades, which is the small joker and higher than that is the score of 7 of hearts which is the big joker.

If the trump suit was clubs, then the hierarchy would be 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 7 (of spades), 7 (of hearts) in the increasing order.  In short, a 7 of hearts always wins while making a hand with any of the other 29 cards and the 7 of spades always wins while making hands with any of the other 28 cards except the 7 of hearts.

How To Play

Now in our game, the caller has the K and Q of hearts in his hand and is not sure whether the dealer would have either of A, 7 (of spades), 7 (of hearts) in his hand.  Also, from amongst the 5 cards placed face-up on the table on top of the 5 face down cards, he has an 8 of trump and the J of trump (hearts) and 9 of diamonds, Ace of clubs and a jack of spades.

Now the caller sees that from amongst the 5 face-up cards of the dealer, there is one 9 of clubs.  So he plays the card, Ace of clubs and opens the card underneath it i.e. turns the face down card underneath the ace of clubs to face up.  The dealer does not want to reveal that he has an 8 of clubs say in his hand, so he plays the 9 of clubs on top of the Ace of clubs and opens the card underneath it.  So the caller makes a hand.

If the dealer did not have any club card, neither in his hand nor from amongst the cards laid out face up in front of him, then he can play a trump card, say a 8 of hearts if he has it and take the hand.  As long as the card of the corresponding suit that has been played is there, that suit has to be played by either player.  For instance, if the play is of clubs then a club has to be played by the other player, if he has one from amongst the 10 cards (5 in hand and 5 face-up on the floor/table).

The player who makes a hand gets the turn.  So in this way the game continues until all the cards are out.