7-TRUF

OBJECTIVE OF 7-TRUF: The objective of the game is to have the highest score at the end.  

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 players 

MATERIALS: A modified 52-card deck, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.  

TYPE OF GAME: Trick-Taking Card Game 

AUDIENCE: Adult 

OVERVIEW OF 7-TRUF 

7-Truf is a trick-taking game for 4 players. The goal of the game is to make exact bids on how many tricks you will win each round. This scores you points. The player with the most points at the end of 22 rounds wins the game.  

SETUP 

To determine the initial dealer, have each player draw a card from the deck, the player with the highest-ranking card deals first. The deal passes clockwise. 

The deck is modified by removing cards ranked 6 and lower. This leaves you with a 32-card deck. The ranking is standard Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, and 7 (low).  

After, the cards are shuffled, and dealt to each player one at a time until each has the appropriate number of cards for the round. If playing with a trump suit that round the following card is flipped face-up, the suit of that card is the trump suit for that hand. This suit will beat all others. The remaining cards are left in a stack with the trump card on top. 

HANDS 

7-Truf is played with a series of 22 hands.  

The first deal is 1 card to each player, and increases by one card each until 7 cards is reached. For each of these rounds after the hands are dealt the top card of the remaining deck is flipped to determine the trump suit for the round.  

Then there will be four rounds played with 8 cards dealt to each player. There is no trump suit for these rounds.  

Then the next 7 rounds decrease. The first will be 7 cards dealt to each player and will decrease by one card each round until 1 card is dealt to each player. After hands are dealt the next card will be flipped to determine the trump suit.  

Finally, 4 more rounds will be played with 8 cards dealt to each player. There will be no trump suit for these rounds.  

BIDDING 

Bidding occurs before the tricks begin. 

Each round’s bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer and moves clockwise back to the dealer, who bids last. Each player bids a number which indicates the number of tricks they predicate they will take with that hand. All players must bid; however, players may bid zero. If a player bids zero, the plan to take zero tricks. Players may change their bid if the opponent to their left has not yet bid. There is a hook, the dealer is not allowed to bid the number that would cause the total amount of tricks bid to be equal to the number of total tricks available. A hand shall always be and over or under bid. The dealer can change their bid until the first card is played. 

GAMEPLAY 

The game begins with the player directly to the dealer’s left, this player leads the initial suit. This can be any suit, including the trump suit. Play passes clockwise. Each player must play a card. If they can, they must follow the suit, if they cannot, they can play any card including trump. If there is no trump card played, the highest value card of the leading suit wins the trick. The winner of a trick leads the next one. This continues until all tricks have been played, then the next hand is dealt until all hands have been dealt and all tricks won. 

SCORING 

A player or a third party is designated as scorekeeper prior to the start of the deal. Each player scores based on if they were successful in completing their bid.  

If successful a player scores 10 times the bid made. When the bid is 0, then the player scores 5 times the number of tricks in the round.  

If unsuccessful the player scores 1 point for each trick they won in the round.  

END OF GAME 

The game ends after the 22 rounds are played. The player with the highest score wins the game.  

Amber Crook
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