Insidious Sevens
Insidious Sevens Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 40 playing cards: each of 5 colours has the numbers 0 to 7
- 5 trump indicator cards (these have a different back, so they are easy to tell apart)
- This rulebook
Objective
Insidious Sevens is a trick-taking game with similarities to human card games such as Bridge and Whist. The game is played over 7 rounds, and each round consists of 7 tricks.
Before regular play begins, each player must predict the number of tricks they will win. The goal is to match this prediction exactly: a correct prediction scores points, while predictions that are too high or too low lose points. After the 7 rounds, the player with the highest score wins.
About the Cards
The deck consists of 40 cards: one card of each number 0 to 7 in each of 5 colours, with 7 being the highest. The colours have a fixed order, like a rainbow: red is lowest, followed by yellow, green, blue, and purple, which is highest. The diamond-shaped markers on each card will help you remember this order.
Number value takes precedence over colour. So a green 4 is higher than a red 4, and higher than a purple 3.
Setup
Choose one player to act as the scorekeeper. This person takes a blank sheet of paper and divides it into one column for each player and 7 rows for the 7 rounds:
0 1 ← 2 → 3 ← 2 → 1 ← 0
This will help you remember how many cards to pass in each round, and in which direction. (See below.)
As well as the players' scores, the scorekeeper is also responsible for recording the number of tricks each player predicted they would win. We recommend writing the numbers in the corner of each player's score box for the current round.
Unlike many other card games, it does not matter who deals the cards. You may take turns dealing, or choose one person to deal every round.
Make sure the 5 trump indicator cards are not shuffled into the remaining deck. They are easy to tell apart because their backs are different.
How to Play
Each round consists of 4 steps: passing and bidding, playing, and scoring. In the first and last rounds there is no passing step.
To start each round, the dealer deals 7 cards to each player.
Passing
In every round except the first and the last, all players look at their 7 cards and must pass some of them to their next player.
- In the 2nd and 6th rounds, every player passes 1 card to the player on their left.
- In the 3rd and 5th rounds, every player passes 2 cards to the player on their right.
- In the 4th round, every player passes 3 cards to the player on their left.
Cards are passed simultaneously, face down. After everyone has decided which cards to pass, players may look at the cards they have received.
Bidding
In the bidding step, every player selects 1 card from their hand and places it face down in front of them. Once all players have decided their bid, the cards are revealed simultaneously. The number on each card is the number of tricks that player intends to win in the current round. After bidding, the cards return to the players' hands and are used again in the playing step.
The highest bid card wins the bid, and its player becomes the winning bidder. This has two effects:
- First, the colour of the winning bid becomes the trump colour for the current round. Unless another player plays a higher trump, trump cards automatically win the tricks in which they are played. So that players can remember the trump colour, take the matching trump indicator card and place it in the middle of the table.
- Second, the winning bidder will be the player who plays the first card in the playing step.
Bidding Example
This is a 4-player game. The picture below shows the cards the players used in the bidding step.
Arthur Beatrice Charlie Dorothy
Blue 2 Red 0 Yellow 3 Red 3
wants 2 wants 0 wants 3, leads wants 3
first
Charlie's yellow 3 is the highest bid. Therefore the yellow trump indicator is placed in the middle of the table, showing that yellow cards are trumps. Charlie also goes first in the playing step.
Playing
The leading player plays any 1 card from their hand. The other players then play clockwise. If they can, they must follow the lead by playing 1 card that matches the colour or the number of the lead card. If they have no matching card, they may play any card from their hand.
Once every player has played 1 card, determine the winner of the trick as follows:
- If any trump cards were played, the highest trump wins automatically, even if it did not follow the lead.
- If no trump cards were played, the highest card that followed the lead wins. If 2 cards are tied on number, use the colour order to decide. Non-trump cards that did not follow the lead cannot win the trick.
The player who won the trick takes the cards and places them face up in front of them, then leads the next trick. This continues until all 7 tricks have been played.
Important: If a player is able to follow the lead, they must do so, even if they have a trump card that does not match the lead.
Playing Example 1
(Continued from the previous example; original rulebook page 6.)
Charlie
Yellow 3 Yellow 5 Yellow 7 Green 5 Green 7 Blue 0 Blue 4
wants 3, leads
Dorothy
Red 2 Red 3 Red 4 Red 7 Green 0 Purple 6 Purple 7
wants 3
Arthur
Red 6 Yellow 2 Yellow 6 Blue 2 Blue 6 Purple 1 Purple 5
wants 2
Beatrice
Red 0 Yellow 4 Green 1 Green 2 Green 3 Blue 1 Purple 0
wants 0
Charlie leads green 7. The other players' options are indicated by the green borders in the original rulebook. Arthur has no card that matches the lead, so he may play any card he wishes. He plays a trump (yellow 2) and wins the trick.
Playing Example 2
(Continued from the previous example; original rulebook page 8.)
Arthur (wants 2, leads, has taken 1)
Red 6 Yellow 6 Blue 2 Blue 6 Purple 1 Purple 5
Beatrice (wants 0, has taken 0)
Red 0 Yellow 4 Green 1 Green 2 Blue 1 Purple 0
Charlie (wants 3, has taken 0)
Yellow 3 Yellow 5 Yellow 7 Green 5 Blue 0 Blue 4
Dorothy (wants 3, has taken 0)
Red 2 Red 3 Red 4 Red 7 Green 0 Purple 6
Arthur, who took the last trick, leads red 6 for the next trick. Beatrice has no choice. Charlie has no matching card, so he decides to hold on to his trump cards. Dorothy plays purple 6 and wins, because purple beats red.
Scoring
After the 7 tricks have been played, every player counts the number of tricks they won and compares it with the number they bid.
- Players whose bid exactly matched the number of tricks they won score the number they bid + 2 points.
- Players whose bid was wrong score no points and lose 1 point for each trick by which they were over or under their bid.
Remember that winning too many tricks is just as bad as winning too few!
Scoring Example
Continuing from the previous examples, imagine the following:
- Arthur bid 3 and won 4 tricks. He loses 1 point.
- Beatrice bid 0 and won 0 tricks. She scores 2 points.
- Charlie bid 3 and won 1 trick. He loses 2 points.
- Dorothy bid 2 and won 2 tricks. She scores 4 points (2 + 2).
(Note: as printed, this scoring example uses different bids from the bidding and playing examples above. It is transcribed as printed.)
End of the Game
After the 7 rounds, the player with the highest score wins.
Pico Rule (Optional)
Named Daumakku, this rule was invented by a strategist over the past 5000 years, and it makes the game even more merciless.
During the bidding step, if the bids add up to exactly 7, it is a "Pico." So that no one can get what they want, the players are forced to bid again as follows:
- First, the player who made the highest bid immediately scores 1 point.
- Second, the cards used in the bidding step are set aside for the moment, and every player must bid again using the 6 cards remaining in their hand. This new bid is the one that counts. Then the players take all of their cards back.
Several Picos can occur in a row: players keep bidding with the cards they have left until the bids no longer add up to 7. In the rare case where 7 Picos occur in a row and the players have no cards left to bid with, the deck is reshuffled and a new hand is dealt. (Players keep their Pico points.)
2-Player Game
Insidious Sevens is very good with 3 to 5 players, and also works well as a 1-on-1 game. However, when only 2 players are playing, the Pico rule must be used. Otherwise, if the players' bids add up to 7, it guarantees that one player will hit their bid and so will the other, which makes the round considerably less fun.
Strategy Tips
- When passing, try to keep as few colours as possible, and keep both high and low cards in the colours you have.
- When passing, think ahead to the bidding step, and keep cards that let you bid the number you want!
- Medium-level bids are slightly risky, because they make it uncertain whether you will get the trump colour you wanted.
- If you want to win tricks with your 7s, do not lead your 7s until all cards higher than 7 have been removed.
- When trying to win tricks, leading a low trump as a sacrifice card to force the other players to play their trump cards is often a good tactic.