A Card Game

Card Games are extremely popular throughout the world. The one I will be talking about is very popular in India. It is called "seep'' or sweep. It is a variant of Italian game called Scopone. I am unsure as to which one of these two is the inspiration to the other. I searched a bit in the web but was not able to locate the playing rules of the game. So i will dispense it here.

Card Game: Sweep

The game is played by exactly four players with two teams, partners sitting opposite to each other. It is played using the standard deck of 52 cards.

All cards of the suit "spades'' have points depending on their face value, e.g. King of spades is worth 13 points, spades 10 is worth 10 points. All the Aces have one point each. Apart from this the 10 of diamond is worth 6 points. This makes the total of 100 points in the entire deck.

Now the first dealer is chosen randomly and then the turn to deal passes to the right. The dealer deals 4 cards face down to each of the players. The person to the right of the dealer after looking at his four cards tells a number between 9-13, both inclusive. He must have at least one card of the number he says. If he doesn't have a card higher than 9 then the turn has to be dealt again.

The dealer then deals four cards in the middle face up. Now, the person to the right (who called the number) goes first. Using one of his cards and the 4 face up cards he has to make a pile of card(s) whose sum is the number he had called. Else if one or more face down cards add up to the number he had called, he can use his card of that number to "pick" it up.

Now the dealer deals the rest of the cards equally.
The turn moves to the right. On one's turn a player can either make a pile using one of this cards along with the cards present on the middle or pick an already present pile. If he is not able to do either then he throws a card in the middle.

Making a Pile:

Piles can be formed only of numbers 9 and up.
One is only eligible to make a pile only if he has atleast one card of that number.
If partner has started a pile, one can add on to the pile.
A pile is said to be "pucca" or fixed if there are two sets of the number. e.g. lets say, Player 1 starts a pile of 10 by adding his 6 with a 4 lying in the middle. The pile is now not fixed. That means it can be modified, but not broken. So if a player adds a Ace to this pile, it's now a pile of 11 or Jack. In case the player didn't add anything to the pile, it is still not fixed. If any other player adds his 7 with a 3 present in the middle and put on the top of pile, it now becomes fixed.

Picking up a Pile:

A pile can be picked by a player during his turn by playing the card with the number of the pile. e.g. A pile of 12 can be picked by a Queen.
When picked a pile is placed face down in front of the player.
Cards of dominion less than 9 can also be picked (but not piled).
If one has more than one cards of the number he is making, he has the option of just putting the card on top of the pile and not picking up.
At the end, the left over cards goes to the team that picked the last pile.


The Sweep:

If a situation arises such that there are no cards in the middle, then the teams that picked the last pile gets 50 points. This is called "Sweep" and has to be avoided.

Goal:

The goal id to maximize the points picked.
At the end of the game, the collected/picked cards of the team are added up to get the teams tally. The team that reaches 500 points wins. This can be modified to any number.

Although it is a simple game, it requires a lot of skill and an excellent memory.