How to Play Seep (Sweep): The Complete Rules Guide

Seep, also spelled Sweep, Sip or Siv, is one of North India's most beloved partnership card games. It belongs to the "fishing" family, where you capture cards laid out on the table by matching their values, rather than playing tricks. This guide covers everything: the deal, bidding, building houses, capturing, the all-important sweep bonus, and exactly how the 100-point deck is scored. By the end you will be ready to sit down at a four-player table and play with confidence.

What is Seep?

Seep is a four-player partnership game played with a single standard 52-card deck. Partners sit opposite each other, so the two teams alternate around the table. Like other fishing games such as Italian Scopa, the heart of Seep is the "floor" (the cards face-up on the table) and the contest to capture the most valuable cards from it. Play moves to the right, in a counter-clockwise direction.

The aim is simple to state but tricky to master: capture cards that carry points, deny them to your opponents, and grab bonus "sweeps" by clearing the entire floor in a single turn.

Card capture values

Before scoring, you need each card's capture value. This is the number you match against the floor:

• Aces count as 1
• Number cards 2 through 10 count at face value
• Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13

These values matter for picking up cards and for building houses, which we cover below. Note that they are separate from how many points a card is worth at the end of the deal.

The deal and bidding

The dealer first gives four cards to the player on their right (the "bidder") and places four cards face-down on the table to form the initial floor. The rest of the deck is held back for now.

The bidder must "bid for a house" using a card from their hand with a value of 9 to 13 (that is, a 9, 10, Jack, Queen or King). If the bidder holds no such card, the cards are returned and reshuffled. Once the bid is set, the four floor cards are turned face-up, and the dealer deals the remaining cards in packets of four so that everyone ends with twelve cards in hand. Because the bidder commits one card during the bid, they effectively act first.

How capturing works

On your turn you play one card from your hand. You may use it to capture cards from the floor whose values match. You can:

• Capture a single loose card of the same value (play a 7 to take a 7)
• Capture several loose cards that add up to your card's value (play a 9 to take a 5 and a 4)
• Capture a "house" whose value equals your card's value

Captured cards are placed face-down in your team's pile. If you play a card and it can capture something, you must take everything it is able to pick up. If your card captures nothing and is not used to make a house, it stays on the floor as a new loose card.

Building houses

A house is a pile of cards committed to a single capture value between 9 and 13. The crucial restriction: you can only create or add to a house if you hold a matching card in your hand to collect it later. This stops players from building a house they cannot reclaim.

• Ordinary house: cards whose values sum to the house value, for example a 5 and a 4 making a house of 9. An opponent can break it by adding a card that raises its value to a new total they can capture.
• Cemented house: built from multiple cards of the same value (such as two 9s declared as 18, or stacked copies), it is locked and cannot be broken or re-valued. Only a card of the matching value can capture it.

Houses are the strategic core of Seep. A well-defended cemented house can sit on the floor protecting your future capture while opponents are powerless to touch it.

Sweeps: the big bonus

A sweep, or "seep," happens when you pick up every remaining card on the floor in one turn, leaving it empty. Sweeps are where games are won and lost:

• Standard sweep = 50 points. Clearing the floor mid-deal is worth a full 50-point bonus.
• First-turn sweep = 25 points. If the bidder uses the bid card on the very first turn to scoop all four initial floor cards, that sweep is worth only 25.
• Last-turn sweep = 0 points. A sweep made on the final turn of the deal, using the last card, earns no bonus at all.

You cannot sweep if doing so would leave an opponent with no card to play into the empty floor on the immediate next turn in certain rule variants, so always confirm house rules before starting.

End-of-deal scoring

Once all twelve turns are played, any loose cards left on the floor go to whichever team captured cards from the floor most recently. Each team then totals the points in its captured pile. The deck contains exactly 100 points:

• Every spade scores its capture value: Ace of spades = 1 up to King of spades = 13 (that is 91 points across the spade suit)
• Each of the three non-spade aces scores 1 point (3 points)
• The 10 of diamonds scores 6 points

Add the sweep bonuses to the captured-card points to get each team's total for the deal.

Winning the game (baazi)

Scores carry over deal to deal. A team wins a "baazi" when it builds a lead of at least 100 points over the opposing team. The running difference between the two teams' scores is what matters, so a strong deal with a couple of sweeps can swing the lead dramatically.

Quick tips for new players

• Protect the 10 of diamonds and high spades; they hold most of the points
• Use cemented houses to bank points your opponents cannot steal
• Watch the floor late in the deal so you do not gift loose cards to the other team
• Time your sweeps for mid-deal, never the last turn

If you enjoy capture and matching games, try the related fishing-family game Scopa, or branch into India's trick-taking classics like Indian Rummy, Court Piece and 29. Western trick games such as Spades and Hearts share the partnership spirit, while Tien Len and Briscola round out a great card-game rotation. For solo play, Spider and FreeCell are always a tap away.

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