‘Sevens’ Card Game: How To Play?

How do we know if a card game is good? Well, simply if a number is mentioned in the name! Sevens is one of our favorite games played with standard cards, and we couldn’t wait to share all the meticulous rules with you. You’ll find the equipment, the setup, instructions, and more details in the following. 

• What is ‘Sevens’ & what do you need to play?
• Set up;
• The gameplay;
• Scoring & winning;
• Final thoughts;

What Is ‘Sevens’ & What Do You Need To Play?

Sevens is a social card game, hand-shedding type, made to be played by 3 to 8 players. The game is also found as Dominoes because it integrates that game style. All ages can play since there isn’t any type of inappropriate content. 

What makes Sevens even more preferable and famous, is the fact that it only requires basic equipment. Therefore, to play the game, you’ll need:

• A deck of standard cards;
• A bunch of friends;

Setup Of ‘Sevens’

Ask everyone to draw a card from the deck, face-down. The player who has the highest value becomes the dealer of the round. If there are any Jokers in the deck, remove them, and shuffle the deck. Once you’ve given it a good shuffle, deal the cards evenly to all players.

Differently from other card games, in Sevens there isn’t any discard or draw pile. All cards are distributed among players. See how simple the setup was?

The aim of the game: Each player in Sevens aims to be the first to get rid of all their cards, in order to win the game.

The Gameplay

We’ve heard some rumors… You have already taken with you all the stuff needed to play, and have finished the setup of the game. If that’s correct, you’re definitely ready to start playing Sevens!

The player to the dealer’s left goes first. They have to play down a seven. If they don’t have one, the other player (going clockwise) has to play a seven. Simply, the game must start with a seven. Once a seven is played, the game continues with the next player playing a six, an eight, or the same card (a seven). Bear in mind that if you play a six or an eight, it has to be the same suit as the previous card. 

This rhythm goes over and over. So, when playing a card, you must either play the same value card, a lower value, or a higher value (the last 2 should have the same card suit). Back and forth, the game continues until one player gets rid of all their cards, so, they play all the cards down. That player is the winner. 

Ps. The way you place the cards on the table (you put cards next to each other, each suit having its row, or placing cards on top of one another) is all up to you and how practical you find it. 

Friendly reminder: the ranking of cards goes from 2 as the lowest, and Ace as the highest. 

Scoring & Winning

You already found out how you win the game. Even though you can play just a single round (if you’re short in time), Sevens is best when playing several rounds, and that as a super fast-paced game. We know how the winner of a round is chosen. But how do we choose the winner of the entire game?

After one round is over and a player runs out of cards, you combine all the other players’ scores and award the winning player with that score. As it’s obvious, the winner of the game is whoever has the highest score. Here are the card values:

• Aces are worth 1 point;
• Cards from 2 to 10 are worth their face value;
• Jacks, Queens & Kings are worth 10 points;

Pretty much, it’s a game like UNO! 

Final Thoughts

Sevens is a fast-paced card game, that works fine with all ages & types of people, and even as a great family game. All you need to know is explained in detail below, so, make sure you get your deck of cards, invite a few people over, and get ready to have lots of fun. If you’re curious to see how the game goes, watch How to Play Sevens.