Gurka

Swedish Trick-Taking Card Game

Cucumber card game is a north European card game of Swedish origin for 2 or more players.

The goal of the game is to avoid taking the last trick.

Today the game is played in different national variants under different names: as Agurk in Denmark, Gurka in Norway and Sweden, Ogórek in Poland, Kurkku and Mätäpesä in Finland, and Gúrka in Iceland.

Cucumber is played with a regular pack of French-suited playing cards without the Jokers. The Ace is the highest, the Deuce, the lowest card. Suits are irrelevant.

Deal and play are clockwise. Each player receives seven cards and any remaining cards are set aside. Forehand leads to the first trick and everyone has to head the trick if able, which they can do by playing a card of a higher or equal rank. A player who cannot head the trick, plays the lowest card held. The player who played the highest card makes the trick and leads to the next.

In the last trick, the player who takes it by playing the highest card, scores penalty points to the value of that card, numerals scoring their face value, and the courts as follows: Jack 11, Queen 12, King, 13 and Ace 14.

Aces have a special role. If an Ace is led, the lowest card must be played, even if by players who hold an Aces themselves.

Once a player accumulates a total of 30 points or more, that player is out of the game. The winner is the last player left in.

A cucumber is drawn to indicate that a player has dropped out.