Seotda [섰다 or 섯다, lit. ‘stood up’] is a Korean Hanafuda game for 2-20 players in which players bet on the value of their dealt cards across multiple rounds, similar to other showdown games like Poker. The name comes from the word shouted to indicate the start of betting.
Initially played with Tujeon, nowadays the game uses Hwatu or Hanafuda instead and adopted some terminology and rules from Oicho-Kabu. Also, like Poker, Seotda has many different gameplay variations, but the most basic version (the one described below) is called 2-card Seotda.
A very similar game played using Kabufuda exists in Japan, called Kachi-kachi.
¶ Equipment
Seotda is played using 20 cards of a Hanafuda deck, consisting of only the two most valuable types of the cards from January to October.
You must be familiar with the month sequence of the cards to play the game.
The game can also be played using 40 cards from January to October including Chaff cards.
Additionally, chips or other small counters are used to keep track of bets and players’ scores.
¶ Gameplay
For the initial hand, determine the dealer using a method of your choice. For subsequent hands, the winner of the previous hand will deal the following hand. In the event of a draw, the dealer of the drawn hand will deal the following hand.
The dealer then deals each player two cards.
¶ Betting Round
Betting turns start from the dealer and moves counter-clockwise.
Betting rules greatly vary among regions and platforms. In real-life the betting rules are similar to Poker’s, but Korean online sites adopted betting rules of their own Poker implementations.
After all betting rounds, players who have not folded proceed to showdown. If all players except one fold, the last remaining player collects the pot without proceeding to showdown.
¶ Showdown
Starting with the dealer (or closest player in order), each player reveals their cards. Hands are evaluated according to the Hand Rankings chart below. The winner of the hand collects the pot and becomes the dealer for the next hand.
In case of a tie, the pot is kept intact. The players involved in the tie must play a hand between them as a tie-breaker, and the winner of the hand takes the pot.
Tiebreaker round consist of only a single betting round.
Also, in 3-card variants minimum number of cards is dealt during a tiebreaker.
For example, the dealer deals each player two cards in regular 3-card variant. In 3-card variant with a community card, the dealer deals each player a card and then deals a community card.
¶ Hand Rankings
Hands between Pairs and High sums (1 and 2 ~ 4 and 6), Bright Pairs and special hands were added after the introduction of Hwatu.
| HAND | CARDS |
|---|---|
| Bright Pair of 3 and 8 삼팔광땡 (Sampal Gwangttaeng) |
|
| Bright Pair 광땡 (Gwangttaeng) |
1 and 8 is stronger than 1 and 3. |
| Pair 땡 (Ttaeng) |
Any two cards of the same month. Latest month is the strongest. 10 is the strongest, and is called Jangttaeng (장땡). 1 is the weakest, and is called Ppingttaeng (삥땡). |
| 1 and 2 알리 (Alli) |
A Pine (1)  and a Plum Blossom (2)  . |
| 1 and 4 독사 (Doksa) |
A Pine (1) and a Wisteria (4)  . |
| 1 and 9 구삥 (Gupping, same as Japanese Kuppin) |
A Pine (1) and a Chrysanthemum (9)  |
| 1 and 10 장삥 (Jangpping) |
A Pine (1) and a Maple (10)  |
| 10 and 4 장사 (Jangsa) |
A Wisteria (4) and a Maple (10) Funeral house rule variant treats this hand as the strongest hand as the Korean word for ‘funeral’ is the same as this hand’s name. |
| 4 and 6 세륙 (Seryuk) |
A Wisteria (4) and a Peony (6)  |
| High sum 끗 (Kkeut) |
Cards do not form any of the hands above. Count the sum of the month numbers of the cards, and the ones digit of the sum will determine the value of the hand. 9 is the strongest, and is called Gap-o (갑오). 0 is the weakest, and is called Mangtong (망통). |
¶ Special Hands
These hands have special abilities.
| HAND | CARDS |
|---|---|
| 4 and 9 사구 / 구사 (Sagu or Gusa) |
A Wisteria (4) and a Chrysanthemum (9) . If you have this hand, you may declare a rematch if the winning hand is less than a Pair. Some variants allow folded players to join the rematch if they pay extra fee to the pot (normally 50% of the bet of each player). |
| Animal 4 and 9 멍텅구리 사구 / 구사 (Meongteongguri Sagu or Gusa) |
If you have this hand, you may declare a rematch if the winning hand is less than a Pair of 10. Some variants allow a rematch against a Pair of 10 too. Some variants allow folded players to join the rematch if they pay extra fee to the pot (normally 50% of the bet of each player). |
| Pair hunter 땡잡이 (Ttaengjabi) |
If an opponent holds a Pair of 1 to 9, this hand is ranked just below a Pair of 10, beating all the other hands. Otherwise, it is treated as Sum of 0. * Some play such that any Cherry Blossom (3)  card and any Bush Clover (7)  card counts as this hand. |
| Bright Pair hunter 암행어사 (Amhaeng-eosa) |
If an opponent holds a Bright Pair except 3 and 8, this hand is ranked just below a Bright Pair of 3 and 8, beating all the other hands. Otherwise, it is treated as Sum of 1. |
¶ Jeju Island Variant
This variant uses 40 cards instead of usual 20, and hand ranks are quite different from popular Seotda rules.
| HAND | CARDS |
|---|---|
| Pair of 10 장땡 (Jangttaeng) |
Two Maples (10) |
| Draw hand 파분 (Pabun) |
A Wisteria (4) and a Chrysanthemum (9) . If you have this hand, you may declare a rematch except when the winning hand is a Pair of 10. |
| Pair 땡 (Ttaeng) |
Any two cards of the same month. Latest month is the strongest. 1 is the weakest, and is called Ppingttaeng (삥땡). |
| 7 and 5 곤질 (Gonjil) |
An Iris (4)  and a Bush Clover (7) |
| 4 and 6 세륙 (Seryuk) |
A Wisteria (4) and a Peony (6) |
| Bright Pair 광땡 (Gwangttaeng) |
In this variant only 3 and 8 Pair is considered as a valid Bright Pair and the rank is much lower compared to popular rules. |
| 1 and 3 삼삥 (Sampping) |
A Pine (1) and a Cherry Blossom (3) . |
| 1 and 2 이삥 (Ipping) |
A Pine (1) and a Plum Blossom (2) . |
| 1 and 10 장삥 (Jangpping) |
A Pine (1) and a Maple (10) |
| 1 and 9 구삥 (Gupping) |
A Pine (1) and a Chrysanthemum (9) |
| 1 and 4 사삥 (Sapping) |
A Pine (1) and a Wisteria (4) . |
| 1 삥 (Pping) |
A Pine (1) and any other card which does not form any of the hands above. Latest month is the strongest. |
| High sum 끗 (Kkeut) |
Cards do not form any of the hands above. Count the sum of the month numbers of the cards, and the ones digit of the sum will determine the value of the hand. 9 is the strongest, and is called Gabo (가보). 0 is the weakest, and is called Tteok (떡). |
¶ Other Variants
¶ Dealing Variants
Seotda’s base rules are 2-card straight.
However, the game can be played with variations like 2-card draw, 3-card straight (삼봉 섰다 - Sambong Seotda), 3-card stud (3-card Seotda serviced on Korean online platforms), 3-card draw (Hangame services this variant as 섯둑이 - Seot-dugi), 3-card community (2 cards in hand and a community card, Hangame services this variant as 홀덤 섯다 - Hold’em Seotda) and etc.
In 3-card Seotda variants, all surviving players must select 2 cards to use (thus choosing their hand rank) just before showdown.
¶ 3-card combinations
In this 3-card Seotda variant a set of 3 cards may form a hand instead of 2 cards among them, which trumps all regular hands.
| HAND | CARDS |
|---|---|
| Three Brights 광봉 (Gwangbong) |
|
| Five Birds 고도리 (Godori) |
|
| Poetry Ribbons 홍단 (Hongdan) |
|
| Blue Ribbons 청단 (Cheongdan) |
|
| Grass Ribbons 초단 (Chodan) |
|
| Three of a kind 봉 (Bong) |
Any three cards of the same month. Latest month is the strongest. This hand is possible only while using 40 cards. |
¶ Dorijitgo-ttaeng
Dorijitgo-ttaeng [도리짓고 땡] is a Korean Hanafuda showdown game for 2-8 players which shares the same hand ranking list as Seotda. This game also originates in Tujeon and then changed cards used into Hwatu or Hanafuda later.
¶ Hand
A hand of Dorijitgo-ttaeng consists of 5 cards. Players must form a combination of 3 cards whose value total is divisible by 10 (10, 20, 30) and use two remaining cards to determine the hand rank, similar to Gomai-kabu.
If a player fails to create a 3-card combination, the player busts (황, hwang) and loses regardless of other two cards unless all the other players bust (and score a tie) or fold (in this case the surviving player wins as the normal rules).
¶ Double Pair
In Dorijitgo-ttaeng, a single hand may compose multiple hand rank combinations.
For example, may be considered as a 1 and 9 (5-5-0 / 1-9) or a Pair of 5 (1-9-0 / 5-5).
In Double Pair variant (춘추땡, chunchu-ttaeng), a hand which results in 2 different pairs trumps all regular hands. If two or more players have a Double Pair, compare the higher Pairs. If still tied, compare the lower Pairs.
is a Double Pair of 7 and 2.
is a Double Pair of Bright and 2 (only when Bright Pairs are allowed)
¶ Dealing variants
Like Seotda, Dorijitgo-ttaeng can be played with variations, albeit much like Poker such as 5-card draw, 7-card stud or Hold’em since the hand consists of 5 cards just like Poker. Common rules use 5-card straight.
¶ References
- http://harryshwatuhowto.blogspot.com/2015/06/how-to-play-seotda.html
- http://moonrabbithanafuda.weebly.com/seotda.html
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ソッタ
- 미래컨텐츠창작연구소, 화투의 기술, 21세기북스, 2015, pp. 100-115.
- https://namu.wiki/w/섰다
- https://namu.wiki/w/도리짓고 땡