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Official S.E.W.N. rules
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SEWN
Seed and Harvest Trick Taking
The Pitch
Four fields. Half-known. Half-mystery. You built them — but you can't keep them. Pick a rival's field, choose trump, and harvest your points. Every card you plant is a gift or a curse to the player across from you. Seed. Plant. Pick. Harvest.
Game Details
- Players: 4
- Play Time: 35–55 minutes (4 rounds)
- Age: 10+
- Weight: Light to light-medium
- Genres: Trick-taking, shared tableau, partial information
- Theme: Seasonal farming — sow, plant, harvest
Components
- 1 standard 52-card deck (no jokers)
- 4 Field markers labeled South, East, West, North
- 1 TRUMP marker (coin or token)
- Score sheet and pencil
Setup
- Each player sits at one side of the table. Place one Field marker between each pair of adjacent players, forming a cross in the center: South, East, West, North.
- Each player should have one Field to their left and one Field to their right.
- Choose a dealer at random. The dealer rotates clockwise each round.
- Place the TRUMP marker near the center of the table.
- Shuffle the deck and deal 13 cards face-down to each player.
Seating matters. Each seat corresponds to a compass position (South, East, West, North). Keep your Field marker visible — it determines when you lead the first Harvest trick.
Objective
Score the most points after 4 rounds. Points are earned only during the Harvest Phase — each trick you win is worth 1 point. Highest total after 4 rounds wins. Ties share victory.
Round at a Glance
Each round follows four phases
| Phase | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Tricks | Scores? |
| Seed Phase | Play 6 tricks (no trump). After each trick, seed one card face-up and plant one card face-down into communal Fields. |
| 6 | No |
| End of Summer | Play your last card in a special 7th trick. Top two finishers split TRUMP and FIRST PICK. |
| 1 | No |
| The Pick | FIRST PICK picks a Field first, then clockwise. Pick restrictions apply (see The Pick). |
| — | No |
| Harvest Phase | Play 12 tricks with trump. Each trick won earns 1 point. |
| 12 | Yes |
After the Harvest Phase, collect all cards, shuffle, pass the deal clockwise, and begin the next round.
Standard Trick Rules
These rules apply during the Seed Phase and Harvest Phase. The End of Summer uses special rules described in its own section. Card Ranks: 2 is low, Ace is high. Follow Suit: When a trick is led, you must play a card of the led suit if you have one. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card. Trick Resolution Without Trump (Seed Phase): The highest card of the led suit wins the trick. Trick Resolution With Trump (Harvest Phase): If any trump cards are played, the highest trump wins. Otherwise, the highest card of the led suit wins.
Seed Phase
Goal: Build four communal Fields, each containing 6 face-up cards and 6 face-down cards. Every card you seed and plant builds a field someone else will pick. Pay attention — what you observe now determines how well you pick later. There is no trump during the Seed Phase. No points are scored. Leading: The player to the left of the dealer leads the first Seed trick. The winner of each Seed trick leads the next.
How to Play Each Seed Trick
Step 1 — Play the trick. The lead player plays a card face-up. Clockwise, each player follows suit if able; otherwise plays any card. The highest card of the led suit wins. Step 2 — Seed (simultaneous). All players pick up the card they just played and place it face-up on top of the Field to their left. Step 3 — Plant (simultaneous). All players choose one card from their hand and place it face-down into the Field to their right. You must plant a card — you may not skip this step. Repeat for 6 tricks. After 6 tricks, each player has 1 card remaining in hand.
What You've Built
Each Field now contains 12 cards — 6 face-up (seeded) and 6 face-down (planted). Each Field received all of its face-up cards from one player and all of its face-down cards from a different player.
The Information Landscape
This is the heart of SEWN.
- The Field to your left: You seeded it. You know all 6 of your face-up cards. But the 6 face-down cards were planted by your neighbor — those are hidden from you.
- The Field to your right: You planted it. You know all 6 of your face-down cards. The 6 face-up cards were seeded by your other neighbor — you watched them play during tricks, so you may remember some or all of them.
- The two Fields across the table: You contributed nothing to these. You only know what you observed during trick play.
You can never pick the Fields you contributed to. The cards you seed and plant will end up in someone else's hand. An attentive player can track a significant amount of information about the Fields they can pick. A distracted player is picking in the dark.
Field Handling Rules
- Fields are communal stacks. Never fan, spread, lift, or look through any Field.
- Only the top card of each Field is visible. It may be face-up or face-down depending on whether the last card placed was seeded or planted.
- Once a card is placed into a Field, no player may review or rearrange the stack.
Questions and clarifications
Frequently asked questions
Goal: Determine who controls TRUMP and FIRST PICK for the rest of the round. Each player plays their one remaining card. This trick uses special rules that override the Standard Trick Rules: • No follow suit requirement. Play any card. • Highest rank wins. If ranks tie, suit breaks the tie: Spades > Hearts > Diamonds > Clubs. The highest card wins. That player is the Season Winner. The second-highest card earns the remaining privilege. 3rd and 4th place receive nothing. Set the four End of Summer cards aside face-down. They are out of play for the rest of the round. The Season Winner declares first: "I take TRUMP" or "I take FIRST PICK." The runner-up (2nd place) receives the other. • TRUMP: Choose the trump suit for the Harvest Phase. Announce it immediately and place the TRUMP marker as a reminder. You are choosing trump now, before the Pick — based on what you observed during the Seed Phase, not on the hand you will pick. • FIRST PICK: You will pick first in the next step. 💡 Strategy Note: The card you hold for End of Summer never enters any Field. Holding a high card gives you a better shot at a privilege — but that's a powerful card removed from the Harvest entirely. Sometimes the smarter play is to seed or plant your strongest card during the Seed Phase and take your chances with what's left. Goal: Each player picks one Field as their 12-card Harvest hand. You may not pick the Field you seeded (your left Field) or the Field you planted (your right Field). You must pick one of the two remaining Fields. You and the player seated across from you will always compete for the same two Fields. Choose wisely during the Seed Phase — the cards you seed and plant may end up helping or hurting your rival. The FIRST PICK player picks first. Picking then proceeds clockwise. Pick immediately when it is your turn — no stalling. You may look at the top card of each Field. The top card may be face-up or face-down depending on whether the last card placed was seeded or planted — this is the only card you may inspect before choosing. You may not lift, fan, or look beneath it. Take the entire 12-card stack. You may now look through and arrange your Harvest hand freely. Goal: Win tricks to score points. Each trick won is worth 1 point. Trump is active. The suit chosen by the TRUMP player is trump for all 12 Harvest tricks. The first Harvest trick is led by the player seated at the compass position for that round: • Round 1 (South): The player seated at South leads. • Round 2 (East): The player seated at East leads. • Round 3 (West): The player seated at West leads. • Round 4 (North): The player seated at North leads. After the first trick, the winner of each trick leads the next. The lead player plays a card face-up. Clockwise, each player follows suit if able; otherwise plays any card (including trump). Resolve the trick: • If any trump was played, the highest trump wins. • If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner collects the four cards and places them face-down in a personal won-tricks pile. No player may look at the faces of any won-tricks pile, including their own. Players may count the number of tricks in any pile at any time. Play all 12 tricks. After 12 Harvest tricks, each player counts the tricks in their won pile and adds that number to their running total. Collect all cards (including the set-aside End of Summer cards), shuffle, and pass the deal clockwise. After 4 rounds, the player with the highest total score wins. Ties share victory. Players are seated: Alice (South), Ben (East), Carol (North), Dave (West). Ben leads the 9♠. • Ben leads 9♠. • Carol plays Q♠ (follows suit). • Dave plays 3♠ (follows suit). • Alice has no spades and plays K♥ (cannot follow suit — cannot win). • Carol wins with Q♠. Step 2 — Seed (simultaneous): All players place their played card face-up on the Field to their left. • Alice places K♥ on the West Field. • Ben places 9♠ on the South Field. • Carol places Q♠ on the East Field. • Dave places 3♠ on the North Field. Step 3 — Plant (simultaneous): All players choose a card from hand and place it face-down on the Field to their right. • Alice places a hidden card on the East Field. • Ben places a hidden card on the North Field. • Carol places a hidden card on the West Field. • Dave places a hidden card on the South Field. After 6 Seed tricks, each player has one card left. • Alice plays 3♦. • Ben plays J♠. • Carol plays 8♣. • Dave plays J♥. Ben and Dave both played Jacks — tie! Suit breaks it: Spades > Hearts, so Ben wins 1st place. Dave takes 2nd. Ben (Season Winner) declares: "I take FIRST PICK." Dave (runner-up) receives TRUMP. Dave announces diamonds as trump. Alice and Carol receive no privilege. All four cards are set aside face-down.
End of Summer (7th Trick)
Split Power
The Pick
Pick Restriction
Pick Order
Before Picking
When You Pick
Harvest Phase
First Lead by Round
How to Play Each Harvest Trick
Scoring
Examples
Example 1: One Seed Trick
Step 1 — Play the trick
What everyone now knows: The Q♠ is sitting face-up on the East Field — everyone saw Carol play it and seed it there. But the card Alice just planted face-down on the East Field?
Only Alice knows what it is. And neither Alice nor Carol can pick the East Field — it will go to Ben or Dave. Carol leads the next Seed trick.
Example 2: End of Summer and Split Power
Rules & resources
Keep the game close at hand.
Use the official links below for the printable rulebook, online play, and community listings.