Sueca▶Play

Sueca uses 40 cards: the four suits without the 8s, 9s and 10s. From strongest to weakest a suit runs A, 7, K, J, Q, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and the card points are A 11, 7 10, K 4, J 3 and Q 2, with the rest worth nothing — 30 in each suit and 120 in the deck. Each player gets 10 cards. The dealer's last card is turned face up: its suit is trump for the whole deal, and the card stays in the dealer's hand, shown beside the dealer until it is played (a star marks it when you are the dealer).

Play goes counter-clockwise: you, the right rival, your partner, the left rival. The player on the dealer's right leads the first trick. You must follow the suit that was led if you can; if you cannot, you may play any card — you never have to trump. The highest trump takes the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led, and the winner leads the next trick. The deal moves one seat to the right each time, and the left rival always deals the first deal of a match, so you lead first.

After ten tricks the team with 61 or more card points wins the deal: 61 to 90 earns 1 game, 91 to 119 earns 2 games and all 120 earns 4. A 60–60 split scores nothing and the next deal counts double. The first team to 4 games wins the match.

Every match you win adds one to your streak and the rivals climb a level: level 1 plays at random, level 2 follows simple rules of thumb, level 3 remembers every card and who is out of which suit, and level 4, from your fourth match on, plays out many possible deals in its head before each card. Your partner always plays at level 4. Losing a match ends the run (a match can never be drawn), and so does pressing New. Your saved score is streak × 10,000 plus your margin: your card points minus the rivals' in each match you won (never below zero for a match), added up to at most 9,999.

Tips & strategy

Aces and sevens hold 84 of the 120 points, so every deal is a hunt for them. The seven is the second-strongest card in its suit and only its own ace beats it, which makes a seven without its ace a liability: lead that suit while the ace is still out and the ace can swallow your 10 points. Wait until the ace has been played; from then on your seven is the boss of the suit and safe to cash. An ace led early in a side suit, before anyone has run out of it, usually brings home 11 points plus whatever the others are forced to follow with.

Load your partner's tricks. When your partner is winning and nobody after you can beat that card — or you are the last to play — throw points: a king, or an ace or seven of a side suit you could not otherwise save. When a rival is winning and you cannot take the trick, throw a card worth nothing, such as a 2 or a 6. Far more points change hands this way than by winning tricks with big cards, which is why the computer partner hands you its aces when it sees your trick is safe.

Count trumps and watch for voids. There are 10 trumps in each deal, and the face-up card tells you one the dealer still holds. The moment a player fails to follow suit, that player is out of the suit for the rest of the deal and may trump it the next time it is led. Leading a suit your partner is out of lets your partner trump the rivals' points; leading a suit a rival is out of hands that rival a free trick. Holding back a high trump for the last tricks is often worth more than spending it on a trick with no points in it.

Play to the thresholds, not just to win. 61 earns one game but 91 earns two, so in a deal you are losing, scraping together 30 points still keeps the rivals to a single game; in a deal you are winning, a few more points late on can turn one game into two. Because the match is first to 4 games, a 120-point sweep ends it in one deal, and after a 60–60 split the next deal is worth double — play that one with extra care.