Sergeant Major 358

Sergeant Major 358 Rules

Players: 3

Summary

• The dealer chooses the trump suit, discards 4 cards from their hand and replaces them with the 4 leftover cards
• Each player has a different contract, either 8, 5 or 3 tricks
• Players who exceed their contract give cards to losing players, who must give their best cards in the same suit in return
• The winner is the first player to win 12 tricks in one round

The Deck and Dealing

Sergeant Major uses a standard deck. Each player is dealt a hand of 16 cards. The remaining 4 cards are placed face down in a pile called the ‘kitty’.

The dealer selects the trump suit, discards 4 cards from their hand and replaces them by taking the kitty into their hand.

Play

Playing tricks follows the standard rules.

In each round, each player has a different target number of tricks to win. The dealer needs to win at least 8 tricks, the second player 5 tricks and the last player 3 tricks.

When the whole round has been played, the player to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer.

Players who win more tricks than their target choose cards (equal to the number of additional tricks won) to give to the other players. For each card received, the recipient must pass back his highest value card of the same suit.

If two players exceeded their target, then the player with the higher target exchanges cards first.

Play then proceeds to another round of tricks.

Scoring

Players do not accumulate points over the course of rounds in Sergeant Major. Instead, in each round they try to win 12 tricks.

Winning

If a player wins a certain number 12 tricks in a single round, they win the game. The number of tricks required to win can be changed from the Options menu and be set to either 10 or 12.

Variations

Accumulated

Players gain points over a series of rounds, rather than having to meet the target score in a single round.

Kitty

If disabled, the dealer does not exchange cards in hand with the kitty.

Draw before Discard

The dealer picks up the 4 kitty cards, before deciding which 4 cards

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