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Play the games of Italy

The Italian deck

Italian card games use a 40-card deck: four suits, ace to seven, then the jack, the knight and the king. Many regions have their own design. Some, like the Neapolitan and Sicilian decks, use these Latin suits; others use French suits.

The rules of Scopa

1. The deck has 40 cards. Ace to seven count their number, the jack counts 8, the knight 9 and the king 10.
2. Each player gets three cards and four go face up on the table. When the hands are empty, three more each are dealt until the deck runs out.
3. On your turn, play one card. It captures a table card of the same value, or a group of table cards that add up to its value. If it can take a single card of the same value, it must take that card, not a group.
4. If your card captures nothing, it stays on the table.
5. Taking every card on the table is a scopa, worth one point. A sweep on the very last play of the deal does not count.
6. At the end of the deal, cards left on the table go to the player who made the last capture.
7. Then one point each for: the most cards, the most coins, the seven of coins (settebello), and the best primiera. A tie in a category scores nothing.
8. The first to reach 11 points, with more than the other side, wins.

The primiera is your best card in each suit, added up with these values (faces are the jack, knight and king):

The full Scopa rules, with the variations and some strategy, are on the Scopa rules page.

The rules of Briscola

1. The deck has 40 cards. Each player gets three, and the next card is turned up beside the stock: its suit is the briscola, the trump suit.
2. The dealer’s opponent leads. The other player may play any card: there is no need to follow suit or to trump.
3. The higher card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump is played; a trump beats any other suit. A card of a different suit that is not a trump never wins.
4. The winner draws first from the stock, then the other player, and the winner leads the next trick. The loser of the trick that empties the stock takes the turned-up trump.
5. The cards rank ace, three, king, knight, jack, then 7 down to 2.
6. Points: ace 11, three 10, king 4, knight 3, jack 2, the rest nothing. There are 120 points in the pack, and 61 wins. At 60 each the game is a draw.
7. A match is usually the best of three or five games.

More on Briscola, with variations and strategy, is on the Briscola rules page.

A short history of the Italian table

Playing cards reached Italy in the 1370s, coming from Mamluk Egypt, and the tarot was invented in northern Italy in the early 15th century. Today the most common Italian deck is the 40-card stripped deck, without eights, nines and tens.

Scopa, Briscola and Tressette are counted as Italy’s three big national card games. Scopa was especially popular in Naples in the 18th century, and it is thought to come from Spanish games such as Primero that were played in the port of Naples. Briscola is a close descendant of Brusquembille, an old French game that is also the ancestor of bezique.

Until 1972, every deck of cards sold in Italy had to carry a tax stamp.

Italian words at the table

Scopa (broom)

Sweeping every card off the table with one capture, worth a point.

Settebello (beautiful seven)

The seven of coins, a point on its own.

Primiera (prime)

Your best card in each suit, added up. The higher total wins a point.

Denari (coins)

The coin suit. Taking more coins than your opponent is worth a point.

Carte (cards)

The point for capturing more cards than the other side.

Briscola (trump)

The trump suit, and the name of the game played with it.

Carico (loaded)

An ace or a three in Briscola: together they hold 84 of the 120 points. A card worth nothing is a liscio (smooth).

Fante, Cavallo, Re (J, Kn, K)

The jack, the knight on horseback and the king.

Scopone (big broom)

Scopa for two teams of two, with all nine cards dealt at once.

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