Portugal's partnership game — forty cards and 120 points to split.
Portugal's national card game, and the one played in every café in the country. Four players in partnerships, forty cards, and no bidding to slow it down.
40 cards — the 52-card deck without eights, nines and tens. Ten cards each, and the whole deck is dealt.
Ace, seven, king, jack, queen, six, five, four, three, two. Both the seven above the king and the jack above the queen are surprises worth memorising before you sit down.
Ace 11, seven 10, king 4, jack 3, queen 2, and the rest nothing. 120 points in the deck.
The dealer's last card is dealt face up, and its suit is trump. The dealer takes it into hand.
The player to the dealer's right leads. You must follow suit if you can; if you cannot, you may play anything, including a trump but without any obligation to. Highest trump wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.
Count the card points your partnership took.
61 to 90 points: 1 game point. 91 to 119: 2 game points. All 120: 4 game points. 60 each: nobody scores.
A match is usually first to 4 game points.
No talking, no signalling, and no looking at tricks already taken. Sueca is played fast and strictly, and the whole skill is in reading your partner's discards.