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Now the procedure of the game.

§F Preliminaries.

Players agree on who sits where at the table, and who deals the first hand. The deal moves to the left for each successive hand, and the "D" token moves with the progression of the dealer. The player at the immediate left of the dealer is termed eldest hand.

The bidding chart and the scoring markers are placed near the center of the table, as are the "C" and "L" tokens. Each player places one die in front of herself with the "1" side up.

Dealer shuffles the cards, and the player to her right cuts. All cards are dealt face down. Dealer gives:

• two cards to each player, starting with eldest hand and moving clockwise;
• two cards to the middle of the table;
• three cards to each player;
• two cards to the middle of the table;
• two cards to each player.

Now each player has seven cards, there are four cards in the middle of the table (the kitty), and the pack is exhausted. Players pick up their cards and look at them privately.

§G Bidding.

Starting with eldest hand and moving to the left, each player may bid. Bidding can cycle around the table many times. In a player's turn to bid, she may:

• make a basic bid;
• make a factor bid;
• pass, making no bid.

A player is always permitted to pass. A player who passes at one stage of the bidding may place a bid later. Bidding ends when seven consecutive players pass. If nobody bids, the cards are gathered up and the same dealer deals again.

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§G1 Basic bid.

The player who makes the basic bid is proposing to become the captain, and takes the "C" token. The proposed lieutenants, determined by where they sit at the table, take the "L" tokens.

The basic bid specifies a trump suit, a bower rank, and a minimum number of points for the trio to earn from capturing tricks. The minimum biddable point total is 1, and the maximum is 28 (= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7). A basic bid must specify a higher point total than any previous basic bid, but the trump suit and bower rank are unrestricted. The proposing captain places three tokens on the bidding chart: one on the trump suit, one on the bower rank, and one on the point total. All players turn the "1" side up on their respective dice.

A basic bid cancels all previous basic and factor bids, no matter who made them or what they were.

The last player to make a basic bid becomes the (permanent) captain, establishing the lieutenants and resisters. This final basic bid is now known as the contract.

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§G2 Factor bid.

Once a basic bid has been made, the bidding continues. Each player in turn may announce a factor such as double or triple that will increase her own score if her side is successful, but reduce her score if not. One player's factor bid has no effect on the score of any other player.

Immediately after a basic bid is made, every player's factor is single, signified by each die's "1" spot being turned up.

In her turn, a player may increase her factor from single to double, turning the "2" spot on her die face up; from double to triple, turning the "3" spot up; and so forth. However, she can increase only one factor at a time.

No matter what factors have been bid, any player is still free to place a basic bid, which replaces any previous basic bid and reduces all factors to single.

§H Drawing.

Once bidding is complete, the captain draws two cards from the kitty and adds them to her hand; each lieutenant draws one. The captain then discards any two of her cards face down to the kitty, and each lieutenant one. The discards might or might not be the card(s) that the player drew, however she chooses. Each of the seven players now has seven cards.

No card is ever transferred from one player to another.

§I Trick play.

After the drawing phase, the captain either leads to the first trick, or selects another player by name to do so. The lead to any trick may be any card. Each player in turn (clockwise, as always) adds a card to the trick, but must play a card of the same suit, if she holds one. This is called "following suit". Otherwise, she may play any card.

Here, in detail, is what following suit means:

• If any of the 17 cards of the trump suit is led:
  • If she holds any of the other 16 trumps, she must play it. If she holds several trumps, she may choose which one.
  • If she holds no trumps, she may play any card.
• If any of the 12 cards of a non-trump suit is led:
  • If she holds any of the other 11 cards of the same suit, she must play it. If she holds several such cards, she may choose which one.
  • If she holds no card of the same suit, she may play any card.

The winner of a trick is the player who contributed the highest trump, if any were played; otherwise the player who contributed the highest card of the suit led. The trick winner takes the smallest-numbered of the remaining scoring markers, and leads to the next trick.

Once the winner of a trick is determined, its cards are not used further, and can be placed in a common waste pile. The scoring marker taken by the player who won the trick is sufficient for calculating scores later.

§J Scoring.

Once all seven tricks have been played, scores are calculated. The trio succeeds if they combine to take at least as many trick points as the captain bid. Otherwise, they fail.

• Whether or not the trio succeeds, each player scores for all the tricks taken by her partnership, regardless of which individual made the actual captures.
• If the trio makes its contract, then:
  • Each member of the trio individually adds to her score the value of the bid multiplied by her factor.
  • Each member of the quartet individually subtracts from her score the value of the bid multiplied by her factor.
• If the trio fails to make its contract, then:
  • Each member of the trio individually subtracts from her score the value of the bid multiplied by her factor.
  • Each member of the quartet individually adds to her score the value of the bid multiplied by her factor.

The trump suit and bower rank have no effect on the scoring.

Three examples of scoring, with Betty as captain:

example one Captain bids 13 trick points, trio earns 16.
players		factor	tricks won	basic score	factor score	total score
trio	Betty	double	1st, 7th	1 + 2 + 6 + 7 = 16	2 × 13 = 26	16 + 26 = +42
	Diana	single	2nd, 6th		1 × 13 = 13	16 + 13 = +29
	Greta	single	none		1 × 13 = 13	16 + 13 = +29
quartet	Cindy	single	none	3 + 4 + 5 = 12	1 × 13 = 13	12 − 13 =  −1
	Ellie	double	3rd, 4th		2 × 13 = 26	12 − 26 = −14
	Flora	triple	none		3 × 13 = 39	12 − 39 = −27
	Amber	single	5th		1 × 13 = 13	12 − 13 =  −1

example two Captain bids 18 trick points, trio earns 16.
players		factor	tricks won	basic score	factor score	total score
trio	Betty	double	1st, 7th	1 + 2 + 6 + 7 = 16	2 × 18 = 36	16 − 36 = −20
	Diana	single	2nd, 6th		1 × 18 = 18	16 − 18 =  −2
	Greta	single	none		1 × 18 = 18	16 − 18 =  −2
quartet	Cindy	single	none	3 + 4 + 5 = 12	1 × 18 = 18	12 + 18 = +30
	Ellie	double	3rd, 4th		2 × 18 = 36	12 + 36 = +48
	Flora	triple	none		3 × 18 = 54	12 + 54 = +66
	Amber	single	5th		1 × 18 = 18	12 + 18 = +30

example three Captain bids 5 trick points, trio earns 8.
players		factor	tricks won	basic score	factor score	total score
trio	Betty	double	1st	1 + 3 + 4 = 8	2 × 5 = 10	8 + 10 = +18
	Diana	single	3rd, 4th		1 × 5 =  5	8 +  5 = +13
	Greta	single	none		1 × 5 =  5	8 +  5 = +13
quartet	Cindy	single	none	2 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 20	1 × 5 =  5	20 −  5 = +15
	Ellie	double	3rd, 4th		2 × 5 = 10	20 − 10 = +10
	Flora	triple	none		3 × 5 = 15	20 − 15 =  +5
	Amber	single	5th		1 × 5 =  5	20 −  5 = +15

In example three, some members of the quartet earned higher scores than some members of the trio, even though the trio fulfilled its contract.

§K Comments.

1. This is one of the very few card games designed for specifically 7 players, and it is not easy to gracefully adapt for other numbers.

2. Although the trio has fewer players than the quartet, the trio has a number of advantages to offset this: the captain selected the contract; members of the trio draw cards; and the captain specifies who leads to the first trick.

3. Bidding:

• Most card games that involve bidding require that opening bids be fairly high, often for a majority of tricks or points. By contrast, Seven for Seven allows the bidding to start at a very low level, giving the players plenty of "bidding room" to explore one another's hands. Much can be learned, because a basic bid mentions three things: a number of points, a trump suit, and a bower rank.
• There will almost always be at least one player with a hand strong enough to make an opening bid, because the minimum number of points is low, any suit can be selected for trumps, and any rank for bowers. Hence few hands will be passed out.
• When a member of the proposed trio increases her factor, it suggests that she holds cards that can help make the bid. When a member of the proposed quartet increases her factor, it suggests that she holds cards that can help defeat the bid. Partners and opponents can use this information in choosing their further bids, or in planning the trick play that comes later.
• Of course, a player might bluff, making infeasible basic or factor bids to deceive her anticipated opponents.

4. Some players might feel that allowing any rank to serve as bowers is too liberal. A more conservative rule would limit bowers to the ranks Jack, Queen, or King — the picture cards. Even with this, there is a good chance that at least one player will have a hand worth a basic bid.

5. Escalative scoring means that most of the time, the outcome of a hand will not be clear until the last few tricks.

6. The factor score is not based on the number of points taken, but the number of points bid. The factor score is often a larger part of a player's total score than the basic bid; therefore players should bid as high as prudent, whether making a basic bid or a factor bid.

7. The Joker:

• If no Joker is available, the overbower will not exist, and the trump suit will have only 16 ranks. When drawing, the captain takes one card instead of two. As this gives the captain fewer cards to choose from, her hand will on the average be a little weaker than if the Joker were being used.
• Because the Joker is always the highest trump, it provides an opportunity for the cheater who marks cards. A player who knows the location of the overbower enjoys a definite advantage over the other players.

8. Most Euchre is played with a 24 or 25 card pack, using 2 or 3 bowers. The 53-card pack of 747 suggests a larger number of bowers to maintain the proportion, and that is why there are 5 bowers here.

9. The author acknowledges an orthographical inconsistency: "overbower" and "underbower" are written without a space, while "right bower" and "left bower" are.

§L Watten.

Some aspects of Seven for Seven are similar to those of Watten, a game attested by the late nineteenth century. Euchre was attested a few decades earlier; unclear is whether the two games might have any kind of common origin.

Although Watten is usually played with German playing cards, this report converts Watten's suits and ranks to their Anglo-French equivalents. Players can use a 32-card pack with the usual four suits and eight ranks (A-K-Q-J-T-9-8-7)

Four players form two partnerships, partners sitting opposite. Eldest hand, representing one partnership, selects a striker rank, similar to the bower rank of 747. Dealer, representing the other partnership, selects a trump suit, similar to the trump suit of 747.

In Watten, the following three cards (the "criticals") are always the top trumps, no matter the trump suit or striker rank. From high to low:

• King of hearts ("Maxi")
• Seven of diamonds ("Belli")
• Seven of clubs ("Spitz")

They correspond to the overbower of 747.

The "chief striker" is the card of both the trump suit and striker rank, unless that card would also be a critical, in which case there is no chief striker. The remaining strikers are of equal rank among themselves, similarly to the two underbowers of 747.

Within the trump suit, cards rank:

• Criticals Maxi, Belli, Spitz
• Chief striker, then other strikers
• Ace-(King)-Queen-Jack-Ten-Nine-Eight-(Seven)

Within any non-trump suit, cards rank :

• Ace-(King)-Queen-Jack-Ten-Nine-Eight-(Seven)

Parentheses indicate a card that may be missing because it is a critical or striker.