How to Play Sueca

Sueca is the national card game of Portugal, played in cafés from Lisbon to Macau: a quick partnership game where every trick counts and the sevens are gold.

The rules

1. Four players, partners facing: you (South) and North against West and East. The deck has 40 cards: ace, 2 to 7, jack, queen and king in each suit; ten cards each.
2. The dealer's last card is turned up to name the trump and goes back into the dealer's hand. The player to the dealer's right leads, and play goes anticlockwise.
3. Follow suit if you can. Void in the suit led, play any card: you may trump but need not. The highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led. Rank from high to low: ace, 7, king, jack, queen, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The winner leads next.
4. Points: ace 11, seven 10, king 4, jack 3, queen 2; 120 in all.
5. After ten tricks the team with more than 60 points scores one game point, 91 or more scores two, and all 120 scores four. A 60–60 tie scores nothing and doubles the next hand.
6. The first partnership to four game points wins.

Playing on kawu

Tap a card to play it; cards you may not play are dimmed. The panel shows game points, this hand's card points and tricks, and the trump suit; the dealer is marked. Hint suggests what the hard computer would play. There is no undo at a four-player table.

Next: Sueca strategy.

Last updated 2026-10-21