How to Play Sueca Italiana

Goal

Sueca Italiana is played by 5. Each deal, a bidding auction forms a team of 2 against 3. The bidding pair tries to make the points they promised. You win the match by collecting the most points across deals.

The deal

5 players, a 40-card deck (2 to 7 + Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit). Everyone gets 8 cards — the whole deck. Talking to your partner is not allowed.

Bidding

Starting with the dealer, each player bids how many of the 120 points they think their team will take (multiples of 5, from 65 to 120) or passes. Each bid must beat the previous one. Once you pass you are out and cannot bid again. The auction ends when only one player is left — that is the bidder. If everyone passes, the deal is void and no one scores.

Trump & partner

The bidder picks the TRUMP suit and "calls" a card they do not hold. Whoever holds that card becomes their secret partner — 2 against the other 3. The partner is only revealed when the called card is played.

How to play

8 tricks are played. You must follow the led suit whenever you can; if you cannot, you may trump or throw any card. The highest trump wins the trick; if no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The bidder leads the first trick; after that, whoever won the last trick leads.

Card values

The ranking (strongest to weakest) is Ace, 7, King, Jack, Queen, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Only these carry points — 120 in total:

• 11 — Ace
• 10 — 7 (manilha)
• 4 — King
• 3 — Jack
• 2 — Queen

Scoring

At the end, count how many points the bidding pair took in their tricks. If they made at least their bid, each of the 2 scores 1 match point — or 2 for a CAPOTE (sweeping every card). If they fall short, each of the 3 opponents scores 1 point. Both teams’ totals are shown at the end. First to 10 match points wins.