How many players do you need for Sueca?

Sueca is played by exactly four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other at the table, so each team has two players who never sit next to one another. Online you can fill empty seats with smart bots.

Why does the 7 beat the King in Sueca?

Sueca uses an "ace-ten" style ranking where the order from high to low is Ace, 7, King, Jack, Queen, then 6 down to 2. The 7 (called the manilha) is the second-highest and second-most-valuable card at 10 points, sitting just below the Ace and above the King.

How is the trump suit chosen in Sueca?

After dealing 10 cards to each player, the dealer turns the last card of the deck face up. Whatever suit that card is becomes trump for the whole hand. That card belongs to the dealer and stays in their hand.

How many points do you need to win a hand of Sueca?

There are 120 points in the deck. A team needs at least 61 points captured in tricks to win the hand for 1 game. Taking 91 or more scores 2 games, and sweeping all 120 points (every trick) scores 4 games. A 60-60 split is a draw.

Can partners talk or signal in Sueca?

No. Sueca is traditionally a silent game, sometimes called the "deaf-and-dumb game." Talking, gestures or secret signals between partners are considered cheating, especially in tournament play. You must judge your partner's hand only from the cards they play.

Is Sueca similar to Briscola or Spades?

It shares DNA with both. Like Briscola, it uses a 40-card deck and the same ace-and-seven point values; like Spades and Hearts, it is a partnership trick-taking game decided by a trump suit. Sueca's distinctive twist is its 61-point target and its silent-partner rule.

How to Play Sueca: Rules, Trump and Scoring

Sueca is Portugal's favourite card game: a fast, four-player partnership battle where two teams race to capture point-rich cards using a trump suit. Loved across Portugal, Brazil and Angola, it is famously a silent game. No talking, no signals, just sharp play and a good partner. This guide covers the deck, card values, trump rules and the 61-point scoring system so you can sit down and win your first rubber.

Sueca is a trick-taking game for four players in fixed partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other. The two teams compete to capture cards worth points in tricks, and the trump suit decides who wins when someone runs out of the suit that was led. If you have played Spades, Hearts or Briscola, the trick-and-trump rhythm will feel familiar, but Sueca has its own deck and its own quirky scoring.

The deck and card values

Sueca uses a 40-card deck. Take a standard pack and remove all the 8s, 9s and 10s, leaving Ace, 7, King, Jack (Knave), Queen, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 in each suit. Traditionally a Spanish or Portuguese deck is used, but a regular French deck works perfectly.

What makes Sueca unusual is that the card ranking does not match the card values. From highest to lowest, the cards rank: Ace, 7, King, Jack, Queen, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. So the 7 beats the King, and the lowly 2 is the weakest card.

The point values are what you are fighting over:

Ace – 11 points
7 (the "manilha") – 10 points
King – 4 points
Jack – 3 points
Queen – 2 points
6, 5, 4, 3, 2 – 0 points

Add them up and every suit holds 30 points, so the whole deck is worth 120 points per hand. Notice that the two strongest cards, the Ace and the 7, are also the two most valuable. Capturing them, or protecting your own, is the heart of the game.

Dealing and choosing trump

Choose a first dealer at random; the deal then passes to the next player after each hand. The dealer shuffles and gives every player 10 cards. The last card, which belongs to the dealer, is turned face up for everyone to see, and its suit becomes the trump suit for that hand. The dealer keeps that card as part of their hand.

The player to the dealer's right (the one who leads) plays the first card to the first trick. Play and dealing follow a consistent direction around the table; just keep it the same every hand and make sure partners always sit across from one another.

Playing a trick

The leader plays any card face up. Going around the table, each player must follow suit: you have to play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. Only if you are completely void in the led suit may you play something else, including a trump.

Working out who wins the trick is simple:

If any trumps were played, the highest trump wins the trick.
If no trumps were played, the highest card of the suit led wins.

Remember the ranking, not the value, decides this: an Ace of the led suit beats a 7, a 7 beats a King, and so on. The winner of each trick gathers those four cards face down in front of their team and leads to the next trick. Play continues until all 10 tricks are taken and every card is captured.

Scoring a hand

After the last trick, each team counts the point value of all the cards it captured. The two totals always add up to 120, so one team's gain is the other's loss. Scoring works like this:

61 to 90 points – the team wins the hand and scores 1 game.
91 to 119 points – a big win, scoring 2 games.
All 120 points (every trick), called a "capote" – scores 4 games and usually wins the match outright.
60 to 60 – the hand is drawn and no one scores.

Hands are played until one team reaches 4 games, which wins the rubber (the match). Because a clean sweep is worth four, a single brilliant hand can end everything in an instant.

The silent game and simple strategy

Sueca is nicknamed the "deaf-and-dumb game" in Portugal: partners may not talk, gesture or signal during the hand. You must read your partner purely from the cards they play. That makes card-reading the core skill.

A few principles to start with: lead high cards (Ace, 7) in a suit where you are strong to drag out opponents' points, but be careful, an opponent who is void can trump them. Save your trumps to capture valuable cards rather than wasting them early. When your partner leads a suit you are void in and the trick already holds points, a trump can scoop a tidy pile. And keep a running count of the high cards already played so you know when your King or Jack has become the boss card.

If you enjoy this style of capture-and-trump play, you will also like Briscola and Seep, or trick-taking cousins like Spades, Hearts and Tien Len. Prefer a solo brain-teaser? Try Spider or FreeCell, or for something completely different explore Mahjong and Indian Rummy.

Play now

Ready to capture some points? Play Sueca free online against smart bots or real opponents in multiplayer. No download and no signup required, right in your browser.