How to play Șeptica

Capture the tens and the aces — each one is worth a point, eight to a deal. Round points add up across deals, and the first player to reach the match target wins.

Șeptica is played with a 32-card deck (7 up to ace). Everyone holds 4 cards and draws back up from the stock after each trick, while it lasts.

1. Whoever leads plays any card — that card's rank is what the trick can be cut with.

2. Everyone else plays one card in turn, again with a completely free choice: there is no obligation to follow suit.

3. When the circle is complete the trick goes to the last player who cut it, or stays with the leader if nobody did. The leader can battle on instead of letting it go.

4. Hands are topped back up to 4 cards from the stock, and whoever took the trick leads the next one.

The leader plays any card and everyone else follows with any card — there is no obligation to follow suit. The trick goes to the last player who cut it; if nobody cut, the leader keeps it.

A card cuts the trick when it matches the rank of the lead card — or when it is a 7. Sevens cut everything.

After a full circle, if the trick was cut away from the leader, the leader can battle on: play another cutting card (the lead rank or a 7) to take the trick back, or end it and let it go.

Battling on is a risk worth weighing: the pile keeps growing while you fight over it, and the points on the table tell you whether it is worth another 7.

Every captured 10 and ace scores 1 point — eight points sit on the table in each deal, and the cards worth nothing are just ammunition. Captured points are public: everything was played face up, so the number beside each player is exactly what they took.

Deals keep coming until somebody's total reaches the match target — 8 on the short table, 21 on the long one. Here the highest total wins, so a deal where you took nothing really costs you.

Open the scores at the top of the table whenever you like, to see the totals and what each deal added.

Tap a card to pick it up, then use the button under your hand to play it — or tap it again if you change your mind. The buttons only offer what the rules allow: Continue and End appear exactly when the choice is yours.

You can also drag a card into the middle of the table to play it, or sideways inside your own hand to reorder it. A card that cannot legally be played will not stick to the trick.

A practice match runs entirely on your device against bots, with no connection needed. A bot only ever sees what any opponent at the table could see: your hand and the order of the stock are hidden from it, so it cannot cheat.

Online, a bot can also step in for a player who has gone quiet, so the table keeps moving instead of waiting out every clock.