Seven and a half

The Spanish pack has 40 or 48 cards distributed in four suits: oros (golden coins), copas (glasses), espadas (swords) and bastos (sticks); the picture cards are sota (jack,10), caballo (horse,11), and rey (king,12). Most games are played with the 40 cards pack (pictures and cards from ace to seven), but some of them need also eights and nines.

Any number of players may take part in the game, but it is not recommended to be more than 8

Here it may be played between 4, 5 or 6 players.

Objective

Usually players bet small amounts of money in every hand, and there is not any specific goal to win a whole game.

Each player competes against the bank; the goal is to sum seven and a half or a close number, without exceeding.

The value of the cards

Picture cards value half a point each of them, and the values of the remaining cards are their indexes.

How the game goes on

Start of the game and each of the hands

The bank is assigned randomly to any player at the start of the game. All players receive one card at the start of the deal.

Playing

All players, starting from the right of the bank, must perform two actions:

First they must point the amount of points to bet; usually this amount is limited to a certain range.
Ask for more cards, one by one, or just stand at any moment.

One only card may be kept down face; when asking for a new card there are two options:

1. Ask for a new card face up.

2. Ask for a new card face down; in this case the card that previously was hidden must be put face up.

When the sum is already greater then seven and a half (the player has passed), all the cards must be shown and the bet is inmediately lost.

Playing the bank

The player who holds the bank must play after the others; if all of them have passed, the bank does not need to play.

The banker does not have to bet, and must play as the other players, trying to get seven and a half or a near result.

Paying

The bank plays against all the other players; so, if the bank has passed, all the other players who have stood win their bets.

If the bank stands, the cards are compared. The goal is to reach the nearest amount of points to seven and a half. If both have the same amount, the bank wins; in particular, if the bank gets seven and a half, there is no need to view the cards of the remaining players.

The bank pays the bet to the players who have got a better game, and the other way round.

The player who gets seven and a half, if the bank does not get it, is paid the double of the amount, and becomes the new bank in the next deal.

Buying the bank

Before starting a new deal the bank may be sold to any player who makes an offer to buy it.

Special features in Ludoteka

Due that Ludoteka does not offer the option to play with real or virtual money, we have made some adaptations of the game to be played as a match, as all the other games in Ludoteka.

All players have the same amount of points at the start of the game: 25, 22 or 20 (when playing until 15 deals), and 30, 27 or 25 (30 deals), according to the number of players (4, 5 or 6 respectively).
The player who loses all the points is eliminated.
The game continues until one only player gets all the points, or just until the maximum number of deals are played, 15 or 30; in this last case the winner is who has the higher score at the end of the game.
The range of the possible amounts to bet is increased during the game, starting between 2 and 5, and ending between 6 and 12.
If the bank is eliminated, it is taken by the player who has got the best game in the previous deal.

Buying the bank in Ludoteka

Players may bid for the bank; this is the system:

Any player can make an offer after pointing his bet, and before playing the cards.

If there is already some other offer in the same deal, the amount must be higher. The maximum amount to bid is half of the own score, substracting the amount of the bet.

If there is any offer, it is shown to the bank at the end of the deal. If the bank is eliminated or changed because someone has got seven and a half, the offer is cancelled.

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