Sergeant major (card game)

Sergeant Major is a trick-taking card game for three players using a standard 52-card pack, dealt sixteen cards to each player with four left over as a kitty. The dealer names trumps, swaps four cards with the kitty and plays first against fixed trick targets: eight tricks for the dealer, five for the player to the dealer's left and three for the player to the right. A player who falls short pays stakes, and a player who exceeds the target collects them. After the first hand, players who finished above target give away unwanted cards to players who fell short and take back those players' highest card of the same suit. The first player to win twelve or more tricks in a hand ends the game. The game was reported as once popular in Britain's Royal Air Force.