How to Play Badam Satti

What is Badam Satti?

Badam Satti is one of the card games every Indian family knows. You will also hear it called Satti Centre, Badam Saat, Satte pe Satta or simply 7 of Hearts, and outside India it is the game of Sevens (Fan Tan, Domino, Parliament). Three to seven players share an ordinary 52-card pack, and the aim is simple: be the first to get rid of all your cards.

The name tells you how it starts. Badam (almond) is the hearts suit in the Marathi and Gujarati card names (ispik, badam, kilwar, chaukat), and satti is the seven: the player holding the 7 of hearts puts it down first. From then on, each suit grows on the table from its seven, one card at a time, down to the ace and up to the king. On your turn you must put down a card that fits, and if none of yours fits, you pass.

House rules vary from one family to the next. This page gives the rules played at bs.fyi, the ones used in the popular Indian apps, and says where other tables play differently.

The British version, with the 7 of diamonds and chips: Sevens (Fan Tan)

Badam Satti rules at a glance

Players

3 to 7, each for themselves (best with 4)

Pack

One 52-card pack, no jokers. Every card is dealt: 13 each with 4 players; with 3, 5, 6 or 7 some players get one card more.

Card order

In each suit: A (low), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K (high)

Start

Whoever holds the 7♥ (Badam Satti) plays it first

Play

On your turn put down one card: a 7 to start a new suit, or the next card below or above a suit already on the table

Pass

Only when none of your cards can go down. If you can play, you must.

Winning a deal

The first player to put down their last card

Points

The others score the cards left in hand: A 1, 2 to 10 their number, J, Q and K 10 each

Winner

The lowest total after five deals (three in a short game)

How to play Badam Satti, step by step

1. 1

   Deal

   The dealer shuffles and deals the whole pack, one card at a time, starting with the player on their left. With four players everyone gets 13 cards. With three, five, six or seven players the cards don't share out evenly, so the players nearest the dealer's left get one card more. The deal moves one seat to the left each time.

2. 2

   Sort your hand

   Arrange your cards by suit and in order. The sevens are the key cards: each one opens a suit on the table.

3. 3

   The 7 of hearts starts

   Whoever holds the 7♥ puts it face up in the middle of the table. This is the start of the hearts row. Then play passes to the left.

4. 4

   Build the rows

   On your turn you may put down one card: a 7 of another suit, which starts that suit's row, or the next card of a suit already started, either just below its lowest card or just above its highest. On the 7♥ you may play the 6♥ or the 8♥; once the 6♥ is down, the 5♥ can follow, and so on down to the A♥ and up to the K♥.

5. 5

   Play if you can, pass if you can't

   If any card in your hand fits, you must play one (you choose which). Only when none of your cards fits do you pass. At bs.fyi the cards you may play are lit up, and the Pass button appears only when you have nothing to play.

6. 6

   Go out

   The first player to put down their last card wins the deal. Everyone else counts the cards still in their hand as penalty points.

7. 7

   Five deals

   Add up each player's points over five deals (three in a short game). The player with the lowest total wins the game; equal totals share the win.

The layout: how the rows grow

Every suit has a single row on the table, and every row starts with its seven. The row grows in both directions, one card at a time: down through 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 to the ace, and up through 8, 9, 10, jack and queen to the king. The ace is the lowest card here, so it is the last card at the bottom of a row; nothing goes beyond the ace or the king.

A card can only go down next to the end of a row. If the spades row runs from 5♠ to 9♠, the only spades you can play are the 4♠ and the 10♠. A suit whose seven is still in someone's hand can't be started by any other card. Holding the 8♣ with no 7♣ on the table, you must wait.

Table: 7♥ only

Playable: 6♥, 8♥, and any other seven (7♠, 7♣, 7♦)

Table: hearts 5-9, clubs 7

Playable: 4♥, 10♥, 6♣, 8♣, 7♠, 7♦

Table: spades A-K

The spades are finished: no spade can be played

Penalty points

When someone goes out, every other player adds up the cards still in hand. The winner of the deal scores nothing. After five deals, the lowest total wins, so you want to finish each deal holding few cards, and few big ones.

Some families count the jack as 11, the queen as 12 and the king as 13 instead of 10 each, and some simply count one point per card. bs.fyi uses the count of the popular Indian apps: picture cards 10.

Ace

1 point

2 to 10

The number on the card (the 9♦ is 9 points)

J, Q, K

10 points each

Example

Caught holding K♣, 9♦ and A♠: 10 + 9 + 1 = 20 points

Badam Satti with 3, 5, 6 or 7 players

All 52 cards are always dealt, so with more players each hand is smaller and the game is quicker; with three it is long and tactical. When the pack doesn't share out evenly, the first players to the dealer's left get the extra card: with three players 18-17-17, with five 11-11-10-10-10, with six 9-9-9-9-8-8 and with seven 8-8-8-7-7-7-7. Because the deal moves around the table, the extra cards move around too.

Badam Satti and Sevens: how they differ

Badam Satti is the Indian name for the game known in Britain as Sevens, Fan Tan, Domino or Parliament. The building rules are the same. The British game usually starts with the 7 of diamonds instead of the 7 of hearts, and is often played for chips: everyone puts a chip in the pool, each pass costs another chip, and the winner takes the pool plus a chip for every card left in the other hands. bs.fyi has a separate Sevens table with those rules.

Badam Satti strategy tips

• •Hold on to your sevens. A seven opens a whole suit for everyone, in both directions. Unless you have cards of that suit waiting to be played, keep it and make the others pass.
• •Play towards your own cards. When you have a choice, play the card that leads to more of your own cards: put down the 8♠ if you also hold the 9♠ and J♠, not a card that opens a row you have nothing in.
• •Block the end cards. A card at the edge of a row stops everything behind it. Holding the 6♦ keeps every diamond from 5 down to the ace off the table, and the players holding them stuck.
• •Count what is left. All 52 cards are dealt, so every card not on the table and not in your hand is in someone else's. Before you play a card, think about which cards it lets the others play.
• •Watch who passes. A player who passes has none of the cards that could be played at that moment. Remember it: it tells you which rows you can open safely.
• •Get rid of the big cards. If you can't go out, at least don't be caught with kings and queens. When someone is down to one or two cards, play your 10-point cards first.

Badam Satti FAQ