7-4-1
7-4-1 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Rules
Easiest description is likely that this game plays similar to Spades. It uses a regular deck of 52 playing cards, it is about taking tricks to match a 'bid' (assigned in 7-4-1 versus bidding in Spades), with Aces high and a trump suit (declared in 7-4-1 versus always spades in Spades).
In 7-4-1, 12 cards are dealt to each of the 4 players; this leaves a 4-card kitty. The dealer MUST try to take 7 tricks, but she gets to declare which suit is trump AFTER looking at her hand. She then gets to pick up the 4 middle cards, and discard 4 face-down (could be from the kitty, or not). Player 2 must get 4 tricks, player 3 for 1 trick, and player 4 need not take any.
After round 1, figure out how many cards more or less players got. YOu get one point for every trick you make above your required tricks, and lose one for every trick you fail to make. For the next round, a player who had MORE in the previous round can then pass one card per amount more to a player who had less; that lesser player must then pass their HIGHEST card in each requested suit. Some pre-defined ordering for this is necessary; the player needing to make the most tricks has precedence over the player needing less.
For example, in round 1, the players take 6-2-3-1 tricks. So, the position 2 is now the new dealer. Player in position 3 was +2 in round 1 (took 3, needed 1), and would ask position 1 for 1 suit, and position 2 for 1 suit. Player in position 4 would then ask position 2 for 1 suit. We've played where if the numbers over/under match (position 3 & 2, 4 & 1 in this example), then they could simply swap cards too.
Play then proceeds as described above. Trump is declared AFTER the card-swapping is done. And if the player who needed 4 in the previous round took NONE, then they can also look at the kitty too before declaring a trump! However, they'd also have just given up 4 good cards to other players...
Game ends after either 2 or 3 rounds, with everyone getting a chance at each position an equal number of times.
Transcriber's Notes
These notes are not part of the source text. They mark where the source is incomplete or ambiguous. Nothing has been filled in from other sources.
- Source type: a single uncredited BGG item description, informal in wording. It is not a publisher rulebook and no PDF or page count exists. The text is reproduced as printed, including typos such as "YOu". The only change is that the HTML line-break markup and a stray trailing backslash in the original were dropped.
- Winning condition: the text never says how the winner is decided after the 2 or 3 rounds (for example, highest total points). Not stated.
- Trick play: beyond "Aces high" and a trump suit, the text gives no trick-taking rules (leading, following suit, whether trump must be played, who leads the next trick). Not stated.
- Number of rounds: the text says the game ends after 2 or 3 rounds, but also that everyone gets a chance at each position an equal number of times. With 4 players, 2 or 3 rounds cannot give each player an equal number of deals. The text does not say which length applies or how to resolve this.
- Dealer and seat order: the text does not say who deals the first round. The example implies that position 1 dealt round 1 and position 2 becomes dealer next, but this is an inference from the example, not a stated rule. Seat numbering ("position 1" to "position 4") is not otherwise defined.
- Trump declaration timing: the first section says the dealer declares trump after looking at her hand and before the pick-up. The later section says trump is declared after the card-swapping. The text does not explicitly state the order of pick-up, discard and declaration in round 1.
- Card-swap mechanics: the text does not say whether swaps happen simultaneously or in turn, what happens if the lesser player holds no card in a requested suit, or how the "pre-defined ordering" is fixed beyond "the player needing to make the most tricks has precedence." The swap-matching sentence ("We've played where...") is described by the author as their own house play, not a stated rule.