(Public Domain)
Introduction
Satat is the most popular card game in Mauritius. Its name comes from the from the Hindi "saat hant" meaning "seven hands" and it is related to the Indian game of Seven Hands (also known as Court Piece). The objective is to win at least seven of the 13 tricks, or even better to win the first 7 tricks, or better still all 13 tricks.
Players and Cards
The game plays with four players in fixed partnerships using a standard 52-card pack. What distinguish Satat from other Whist-like trick tacking games are the fact that the 2 of heart is the highest trump card of the game and the ways trump is decided.
Making Trumps
The dealer shuffles, the player to dealer's right cuts, and the dealer deals a batch of five cards to each player. The trump maker, to dealer's left, looks at these five cards and announces the trump suit. Alternatively, if unwilling to decide trumps on the basis of these first five cards, the trump maker may elect to use the last four cards to determine the trump suit.
End Game and Scoring
Normally the play ends when one team wins by taking seven tricks. However, if a team wins the first seven tricks (a 7-0 win) they may continue the play and try to win all the tricks (13-0 win). The winning team then gets to pass cards to the losing team in exchange for trump cards in a way similar to Sergeant Major.
There is no formal system of scoring and no fixed length to the game, but the players may like to keep track of how many games each team has won or lost.
Variations
Trup kasiet
In this "hidden trump" variation, instead of announcing the trump suit, the trump maker places one card of the trump suit face down. If the trump card is selected unseen from the last four, the trump maker looks at it before placing it face down.
In this variation 7-0 and 13-0 wins are more frequent, but no cards are exchanged after a 7-0 or 13-0 win.
