Sette e mezzo (Seven and a Half)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card values
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. The banker's turn
6. Who is banker next?
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Sette e mezzo (Italian for "seven and a half") is a banking game like blackjack, traditionally played in Italy at Christmas. Everyone plays against one player, the banker. You collect cards to get as close as possible to 7½ points without going over. Go over and you lose your stake at once. The banker wins all ties.

• Players: 2–8 – one banker and one or more players.
• You need: a 52-card deck from which all 8s, 9s and 10s are removed (40 cards), and chips for the stakes. Play for chips or counters, not for money.

Card values

The hand's value is the sum of its cards. A hand worth more than 7½ is bust.

Setup

1. Agree on the smallest and largest stake. Draw cards to choose the first banker – the banker is also the dealer.
2. Every player except the banker puts a stake in front of them, between the smallest and the largest. Everybody starts with the same number of chips (50 is a good number).
3. The banker shuffles, has the cards cut and deals one card face down to each player, ending with the banker. Deal and play go anticlockwise, starting to the dealer's right, as in Italy.

Everyone looks at their own card and keeps it secret.

Playing a turn

Players play one after another, starting to the banker's right. On your turn you decide:

• Stand: you are happy with your total, and the turn passes on.
• Ask for a card: the banker deals you one card face up. You may ask again and again as long as you stay under 7½. (If the deck runs out during a hand, shuffle the cards already used – not those in the hands – and go on.)

What happens after a card:

• More than 7½ – bust. You turn your face-down card over, and the banker takes your stake at once.
• Exactly 7½. You must show your face-down card. Your turn is over. You win unless the banker also gets 7½.
• Less than 7½. You may stand or ask for another card.

Example: Anna's face-down card is a 6. She asks for a card and gets a Queen: 6½. She stands. Ben's face-down card is a King. He asks for cards and gets a 3 (3½), then a 4 (7½) – he shows his King and says "sette e mezzo!".

The banker's turn

When all players have played, the banker turns their own face-down card up and plays by the same rules – but the banker can see everybody's face-up cards, though not their face-down card.

• The banker goes bust (more than 7½): the banker pays each player who did not go bust as much as their stake.
• The banker stands with 7½ or less: the banker wins the stakes of every player who stood with the same total or lower, and pays a stake to every player with a higher total. Ties go to the banker.

Players who went bust have already lost their stakes.

Who is banker next?

The banker keeps the bank until a player makes exactly 7½ (and the banker doesn't tie it with 7½ too). If just one player has 7½, that player takes over the bank and deals the next hand. If several have it, the first of them anticlockwise from the dealer takes it. If nobody does, the same banker deals again.

Winning the game

There is no set end. Play as long as you like and count the chips. The player who ends with the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• A face card is only worth ½, so a face-down face card is a small start – you will probably want more cards.
• With 6½ or more, standing is usually right: only an Ace or a face card can still help.
• On 7 stand at once: only a face card would take you to 7½, everything else busts you.
• As banker, look at the face-up cards: how many players can still beat you?

Variants

Agree on any of these before you begin.

• Sette e mezzo reale: a hand of exactly 7½ in two cards (a 7 and a face card) beats a 7½ made of more cards. The banker pays it double, and only this hand takes over the bank.
• Wild card: the K♦ is wild. Its owner may count it as ½ or as any whole number from 1 to 7. A wild card with a face card counts as a royal 7½.
• Pair of sevens: two 7s and nothing else beat everything and must be shown at once. The banker pays triple.
• Burning: if your first, face-down card is a 4 (or a 3), you may throw it away and get a new one.
• Ties are a stand-off: a tie returns the stake and the player neither wins nor loses.
• Bank changes every hand: the banker rotates anticlockwise after each hand – a good choice for a friendly game.
• Face-down cards (Spain): when you ask for a card you may show your old face-down card and get the new one face down, so you always have exactly one hidden card.
• Splitting (Spain): if your first two cards are both face cards, you may split them into two hands, with a second stake of the same size on the new hand.