The Seven of Diamonds game, named after the significance of the seven of diamonds card, is one of the most popular Saudi card games. It is played by four players, with each two forming a team. The primary objective of the game is to get rid of the cards by arranging them from seven to the Ace.
Cards and Distribution
The game uses a single deck of cards, and the cards 2-6 are removed, using the same deck as the Baloot game. The dealer is chosen randomly, and distribution rotates to the player on the right after each round. The dealer gives each player 8 cards, and then the bidding round begins.
How to Play
１. The bidding process starts immediately after the dealer distributes all the cards to the players. The bidding begins with the player sitting to the right of the dealer. A player can request "double" to announce the desire to double the round's score or choose "pass" if they don't want to bid.
２. If a player requests "double”, the opposing team can request "triple”, indicating a threefold increase in the round's score. The game then starts immediately. Note: The round's score will be doubled or tripled, depending on the request, whether the bidding team wins or loses.
３. After the bidding phase, the player with the seven of diamonds starts by placing it on the table. The objective is to arrange the cards starting from the sevens of each suit up to the Ace.
４. Players are not required to play a seven of a specific suit except at the beginning, as mentioned for the seven of diamonds.
５. After playing the seven of diamonds, the turn passes to the player on the right. Each player can either play the eight of diamonds or lay down new sevens of a different suit. Each player is allowed to play only one card per turn.
６. Playing and arranging cards is mandatory when it's a player's turn. If a player doesn't have a suitable card to play, they can pass the turn to the next player by declaring "jella”.
７. The round ends when one player finishes arranging all their cards on the table. The team of the player who completes their cards is considered the winner of the round.
Scoring
- At the end of the round, the cards of the player sitting opposite the one who completed their cards are not considered. In other words, the cards of the winning team in the round are not counted.
- The points of the remaining cards of the losing team are tallied and added to the score of the team whose player finished their cards first.
- The scoring for the remaining cards is as follows: 20 points for each Ace, 10 points for each King, Queen, and Jack, and the rest of the cards have zero value.
- After tallying the points, it is checked if there was a double or triple, and then the points to the winning team's score are added.
- The game ends when one of the teams reaches 500 points.
- When playing the second-to-last card, the player must declare that only one card remains.
- In a special case, the team receives an additional 200 points if a player from the team finishes their cards by playing any seven as the last card on the table.