Card Games: Sedma Group

I classify these unusual games as part of the Ace-Ten group of point-trick games because there are generally 10 points each for the aces and tens (and sometimes a further 10 for the last trick). However, the mechanics of play are rather different from most trick-taking games - the suits are ignored and a card can only be beaten by another card of equal rank, or a wild card. Moreover, a trick does not necessarily end when each player has played one card, but in some circumstances can be continued for further rounds. Sevens are often wild - hence the name of the group: sedma is Czech for seven, and the name of the best known game of the group.

The games of this group are clearly related to each other. The first known record of a game of this type is of the Hungarian game Zsíros in 1930. On the other hand the Finnish game Ristikontra retains the older 11-10-4-3-2 card point structure. Without further information it is difficult to know which if either of these games is the common ancestor of the group.

• Sedma - played in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
• Sedmice - played in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatiawhere it is also known as Šuster.
• Ristikontra - from Finland - perhaps the ancestor of this group
• Hola - possibly from Poland or Ukraine
• Zsíros - from Hungary