The rules of Seven Cut.
Seven Cut, known in Romania as Șeptică, is a trick-taking game for 2–4 players with a short 32-card deck (7 and up), where a seven cuts any card. Every hand asks one question: is it worth spending your seven now, or is the pile on the table too poor? A cut doesn’t end the trick; it extends it by one more turn for everyone. Points sit only in the tens and aces.
House rules, checked against the engine that applies them · updated
- Players
- 2–4
- Length
- 10–15 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Leaderboard
- Yes
How to play.
Cut with a seven at the right moment and collect the tens.
- 01♠
The deck
- Played with 32 cards — 7 and up. Each player holds 4 cards, topped up from the deck after every trick.
- With three players, two eights are removed so the deck divides evenly; the two remaining eights become cuts too, like the sevens.
- 02♥
The trick
- The leader plays a card, and its RANK becomes the rank of the trick.
- In turn, each player plays exactly one card. You don’t have to follow anything — you can throw any card. There is no passing.
- A card CUTS if it’s a 7 or has the same rank as the FIRST card of the trick — not the last one played.
- If nobody cuts, the trick is collected once everyone has played a card, and the leader takes it.
- 03♦
A cut extends the trick
- A cut does NOT end the trick: the cards stay on the table and everyone plays one more card, in the same order, starting from the leader. In a trick, everyone plays the same number of cards.
- Example with four players: A plays K, B plays 9, C cuts with a 7, D plays Q. A second turn follows: A 8, B 10, C J, D A. Nobody cut again, so C — the last to cut — takes all eight cards.
- If someone counter-cuts on the second turn, the players who went before them haven’t had a chance to answer, so everyone plays one more turn. If the leader is the one who counter-cut and nobody answered with a cut, the trick is collected at the end of that turn.
- The trick goes to the last player who cut. The winner leads the next trick.
- 04♣
Scoring
- Every 10 and every ace among the cards you took is worth one point — eight points in the whole deck, and that’s all.
- The last trick earns nothing extra.
- 05♠
Thinking time
- The host picks the pace when opening the table: 10 or 30 seconds per move, or no timer. While no match is running, the host can change it in the table settings. The timer is shown on the table.
- At a table with a clock, if you run out of time you are ELIMINATED from the match: your cards leave the game and the others carry on without you.
- The server doesn’t play for you. A player who has left the table but kept playing cards would hold the others in a match with no opponent.
- When only one player is left, the match ends and that player wins.
Rules differ from one place to another. The tables here play the version written above, so everyone plays by the same rules.
Do you play it differently?
The most common variants of Seven Cut, and what happens with each one at the tables here.
The last trick scores a pointnot played here
Very common. NOT here: the eight points sit only in the tens and aces, and the last hand is worth nothing extra.
Played to 11 or 21 pointsnot played here
The multi-match version, with scores added up. Here a match is a single deal of the deck, and whoever collects more points wins it.
A cut ends the tricknot played here
In some places, whoever cuts takes the trick at once. Here a cut EXTENDS the trick by one more turn for everyone — that’s what gives the game its decisions, because a cut can be answered.
American Seven Cutnot played here
A different game with different rules that shares only the name. Not played here.
Cutting eights with three playersplayed here
Played here too, out of necessity: two eights are removed so the deck divides evenly, and the remaining two become cuts.
How to play better.
Measure a cut by what’s on the table, not by pride
A seven spent on a trick of two small cards wins no points. There are four sevens in the whole deck; each one is worth saving for a table where at least a ten or an ace has piled up.
The first card of the trick is the one that counts
You cut with a 7 or with a card of the same rank as the FIRST one played, not the last. It’s the most common mistake: you play a 9 on a 9 that showed up mid-trick and nothing happens.
Cut last, take it all
The trick goes to the last player who cut, not the first. If someone cut before you and you still have a cut, a fat trick is worth counter-cutting — it runs one more turn, but the cards come to you.
Lead with what can’t be cut cheaply
The leader sets the rank of the trick. Leading a 10 or an ace puts a point on the table before you know who’ll take it. Lead small cards when your hand is weak; save point cards for tricks you can close.
With three players, eights are cuts
Two eights are removed so the deck divides evenly, and the remaining two cut like sevens. That’s six cuts in play, not four — your opponent’s math is different from a game of two or four.
Eight points in the whole deck, and that’s it
Four tens and four aces. The last trick earns nothing. You can win a match by taking three tricks out of twenty, if those three were the ones with the points.
Questions about Seven Cut.
- How many players can play Seven Cut?
- Between 2 and 4. The seats are chosen when the table opens, and any left empty can be taken by bots.
- How many cards do you start with in Seven Cut?
- 4 each. The rest stays on the table as the draw pile.
- How long does a match of Seven Cut take?
- About 10–15 min. The host sets the pace: 10 or 30 seconds per move, or no timer at all.
- Can I play Seven Cut against the computer?
- Yes. The host can seat bots in the empty seats, at two skill levels. But the moment the first bot sits down, the table drops off the leaderboard: a bot has no rating to put at stake.
- Do Seven Cut matches count toward the leaderboard?
- Yes, as long as everyone at the table is human. Each game has its own leaderboard, with an Elo-style rating that starts at 1000.
- Do I need an account to play Seven Cut?
- To sit at a table, yes. The rules above, the catalog and the leaderboards can be read without one, and you can watch an open table from the sidelines.
- Does it cost anything to play Seven Cut here?
- No. The site is free: no subscriptions, no in-game payments and no playing for money. The account is free too.
Now you know the rules.
Create a table and play — no account needed.