Sueca

Sueca is played by four players in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite: here you and North play against West and East. It uses 40 cards, a standard pack without the 8s, 9s and 10s, ten cards each.

In every suit the cards rank Ace, 7, King, Jack, Queen, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The 7, called the manilha, is second only to the Ace, and the Jack beats the Queen. Card points are Ace 11, Seven 10, King 4, Jack 3 and Queen 2, for 120 in the pack.

The dealer's last card is turned face up, and its suit is trumps. The card stays in the dealer's hand and is played like any other. Play goes anticlockwise: the player to the dealer's right leads, and the deal passes to the right. You must follow suit if you can, and otherwise may play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.

• The side taking 61 to 90 card points scores one game, 91 or more two games, and every trick four games (a bandeira, which wins at once). Taking all 120 points but losing an empty trick is only two games.
• A 60–60 tie scores nothing, and the winners of the next hand score an extra game.
• The first side to four games wins. Four games to none is sometimes called a pente (a comb).

The standard game here is the Portuguese one, pagat.com's main description. In Brazil the game is normally played clockwise, so the player to the dealer's left leads. Here the deal passes to the left as well (our choice: pagat.com says only that the dealing procedure 'apparently remains as above'). The Rules button switches between the two. Switching starts a new game, and your choice is remembered on this device.

• On your turn, tap a highlighted card.
• The turned-up trump card is shown beside the trick until the dealer plays it.

• Daily: everyone gets the same deals each day.
• New Game: a fresh game with new deals.

• In each suit the Ace and 7 together are worth 21 points. Play an Ace early, before the suit can be trumped, and keep a 7 until the Ace of its suit has gone.
• Give your Aces and 7s to a trick your partner is sure to win, and throw low cards to tricks you can't win.
• Count the trumps: there are only ten, and the last ones decide the late tricks.
• 91 points is worth two games, so a strong hand should keep pressing after reaching 61.

Sueca means 'Swedish woman' in Portuguese, and little is known about its origins. According to Wikipedia, it is an ace–ten game closely related to Bisca, which points to the Italian Briscola as its ancestor, and the games historian David Parlett notes how similar it is to the old German game Einwerfen. Its unusual order, with the Jack above the Queen, probably comes from the old Portuguese packs, whose lowest picture card was a woman (pagat.com).

Today it is played across Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores, and in Brazil, Angola and Mozambique. Pagat.com says it is probably the most widely played card game in Portugal, played in parks and cafés wherever four people meet. The rules here follow pagat.com's main description, written in our own words.

Sueca is a free browser version of the classic Portuguese partnership card game, played with a computer partner against two computer opponents, with a daily game and online leaderboards. There's nothing to download and no sign-up.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.