The name carries the number: sitta, six. Six players, no more and no fewer, so when six who love it are together in a majlis the game begins. It is among the oldest things played in Kuwait, and it is still played today, at home and travelling.
The deal
Two teams of three. One player from each draws a card and turns it up, and the unluckiest deals. Then nine cards to each player, the dealer included.
The bidding, and the word “taf”
The player to the dealer’s right begins. He has two choices: enter a bid in his name, or say “taf” and pass to the next on his right. And so on until it reaches the dealer.
If the dealer enters no bid it falls to him, and he is then called “malzoom”, obliged: he and his team must take five tricks.
The arithmetic that punishes overreach
Whoever bids six, seven or eight must have his team take the equal of his bid.
- He succeeds: the number is scored for him.
- He fails: double what he bid is scored against him. Bid six and make it, take six; fail, and twelve goes against you.
Only the malzoom sits outside this rule: five for him if he wins, five against him if he loses. No doubling.
The order of the cards
Highest is the joker, then khal al hukum, then the meeker, then bash al hukum, and down to the two. The joker and the meeker cannot lead, so there must be a card before them in the “meed”.
The end
Play ends at a hundred and one. And whoever reaches fifty-one while the other team has not scored a single point has won, with no need to finish counting.
What loses a team the game
The rules are written around losing rather than around points alone. Anyone who holds back a card called for from the zat or the hukum and does not put it in the meed — deliberately or by mistake — loses it for his team. And anyone who agrees signals with his team-mates to tell each other their cards loses it for his team too, as soon as it is discovered.
Photo: playing cards on a wooden table. By Benebiankie, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Al Qabas, the “Dreesha Turathiya” series by Dr Saud Mohammad Al Osfour, “Kout bosta, an old and current game in Kuwait”.
Kuwait One, once a week.
The most useful stories we published this week, in your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
