What Is Sergeant Major?
Sergeant Major — also called 8-5-3 — is a British trick-taking game for exactly three players that originated in the Royal Air Force. Each player has a different trick target: the dealer must win 8 tricks, the player to the left must win 5, and the remaining player must win 3. After each hand, players who won more tricks than their target give away their best extra cards to players who fell short. It is a game of card management as much as trick-taking.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- Exactly three players
The Targets
- Dealer: Must win 8 tricks
- Player left of dealer: Must win 5 tricks
- Remaining player: Must win 3 tricks
These roles rotate each hand — the dealer role moves one player left after each hand.
Setting Up the Game
- Deal 16 cards to each player, one at a time.
- The remaining 4 cards go face-down as the kitty.
- The dealer picks up all 4 kitty cards, looks at them, keeps any they want, and discards back to exactly 16 cards.
- The dealer declares the trump suit based on their final hand.
How to Play
- The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick.
- Players must follow suit if they can. If they cannot, they may play any card including trump.
- The highest trump wins any trick where trump was played. If no trump, the highest card of the led suit wins.
- The winner of each trick leads the next one.
- Play all 16 tricks.
Settling Up — The Card Exchange
After all 16 tricks, compare each player’s actual tricks won against their target:
- Players who won MORE than their target must give their extra cards (best ones) to players who fell short — one card per extra trick.
- Players who fell short receive cards equal to the deficit. They look at the received cards, keep them, and discard an equal number of their own cards.
Scoring
Track over multiple hands. Score 1 point per trick above target; lose 1 point per trick below target. Highest cumulative score after an agreed number of hands wins.
Tips
- As the dealer (8-trick target), use the kitty to void a suit — being able to trump that suit later gives you enormous control.
- As the 3-trick player, your target is easy — focus on not accidentally winning too many tricks, which forces you to give away good cards.
- The card exchange is crucial — always give away your very worst cards when you overshoot.