The Czech game Sedma (meaning 'seven') belongs to an unusual group of trick-taking games, found only in Eastern Europe, in which a card can be beaten only by an equal card or a seven. According to Tomáš Svoboda, whose book Oficiální Pravidla Karetních Her is the source of many of the variants on this page, it was introduced from Hungary or Slovakia in the 1960's, first to Moravia and then to Bohemia, where it quickly became popular because of its simple rules and interesting play. In Bohemia the game continued to evolve and several variations of the game are now played.
Sedma is most interesting for two players or four players in fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite. It can also be played by three, each playing for themselves.
Normally a 32-card German-suited pack is used, with ace, king, over, under, ten, nine, eight and seven in each of the suits acorns, leaves, hearts and balls. If necessary a French-suited 32-card pack could be substituted. When three play, two unimportant cards - normally two eights or one eight and one nine - are removed from the pack, leaving 30 cards.
In the game, aces and tens are worth 10 points each. Other cards are worthless, but the last trick is worth 10 points, for a total of 90 points in each hand.
Deal and play are clockwise.
The dealer deals four cards to each player, usually two at a time. The remaining cards are stacked face down.
In the second and subsequent hands the cards are shuffled and dealt by the loser (one of the losers) of the previous hand, and the winner (a member of the winning team) leads to the first trick. In a four-player game this means that if the dealing side wins the turn to deal passes to the left, while if the dealing team loses the turn to deal passes to the dealer's partner.
The player to dealer's left leads to the first trick, and the other players in turn each play a card. Any card may be played to a trick. When everyone has played a card, the player who played first to the trick has two options:
If the first player continues the trick, the other players must each in turn play another card to it, after which the first player has the same options. The first player may choose to continue the trick for a third round, and again for a fourth round by continuing to play sevens or cards that match the very first card of the trick. The trick ends when the first player chooses to stop or everyone has played all four of their cards. The winner is the last person who either matched the card that began the trick or played a seven. The winner gathers all the cards played to the trick and stores them face down - in a partnership game partners keep their tricks together in a single pile. Then beginning with the winner of the trick, the players take turns to draw the top card from the face down pack, continuing until they all have four cards again. The winner of the trick then begins a new trick by leading any card.
When the pack runs out, the play continues as before using the cards that remain in the players' hands, until all the cards have been played.
Examples of play. The players are N(orth), E(ast), S(outh) and W(est) and the cards are abbreviated to A, K, O, U, 10, 9, 8, 7. North begins the first trick.
Note that in Sedma (unlike some other related games) you are allowed to continue a trick even if you or your partner are currently winning. It is sometimes advantageous to do so if your opponents seem to be under pressure, and may have to give you an ace or ten if you do not give them a chance to draw new cards.
When all the cards have been played, each player or team counts 10 points for each ace or ten they have in their tricks, and the player or team that won the last trick counts 10 points extra, for a total of 90 points in the game.
In a 3-player game the winner is paid by both opponents. If two players tie for most points, the third player pays them 1 stake each. If all tie (30 each) there is no payment.
There are several different ways of scoring.
In Slovakia, there are no extra points for the last trick. The turn to deal passes to the next player at the end of a hand only if the declaer's opponents took at least 60 points in cards; otherwise the same player deals again.
Spálená kaše (burned mash). Some play that in a two- or four-player game, if a trick consists of four cards of the same rank played consecutively - for example 9, 9, 9, 9 - the fourth player (or the fourth player's team) immediately wins the hand for 1 stake. Some play that in case of a burned seven (spálená sedma: a consisting of four sevens), the fourth player immediately wins the hand for 3 stakes. Some play a spálená kaše is worth 4 stakes. Some play an ordinary spálená kaše is worth 5 stakes, burned tens are worth 10 stakes and burned sevens are worth 15 stakes.
According to the Czech Wikipedia page on Sedma, some play with a different form of burning. If a player at any point collects a hand consisting of four equal cards, the play ends and that player's team immediately wins a burned game (spálená hra) for 4 stakes.
Three players can play as teams. The player who has the king of leaves (or in some variants the king of hearts) plays alone against the other two in partnership, and the king of leaves (or hearts) functions in the same way as a seven. With three players there is no winning by burning - four consecutively played equal cards do not win the hand.
Svoboda's Oficiální Pravidla mentions a three-player version with 32 cards, in which one of the tricks contains only two cards. If the first seven tricks are played normally, after the seventh trick only two players will be able to draw cards and one player will have no card for the last trick. Zbyněk Hartmann suggests that perhaps on one occasion during the game, before the deck is exhausted, a player is allowed to pass instead of playing to a trick. In this case the remaining tricks will be full 3-card tricks.
There is a version of Sedma in which aces and tens have no special value. Instead the objective is simply to win tricks, each of the eight tricks being worth 1 point.
In this relatively recent Bohemian variant, described in Svoboda's Oficiální Pravidla, whose name means something like 'seven with eights', the mechanics of play and scoring are the same as in Sedma, except that the eights as well as the sevens are wild cards. The rules on winning tricks are as follows:
For example in a trick consisting of A-8-9-7 the 8 wins, but in A-8-A-7 the 7 wins because the A beats the 8 and then the 7 beats the A.
Svoboda also describes a version of Sedma osmová which combines traditional Sedma scoring with scoring for tricks. Aces and tens are worth 10 points, each trick is worth 10 points and the last trick is worth an extra 10 points for a total of 170 points in the game.