Introduction

Denari

Coppe

Spade

Bastoni

A deck of Italian cards consist of 40 cards, divided into four suits. Neapolitan, Piacentine, Triestine cards are divided into Denari (Coins), Coppe (Cups), Spade (Swords) and Bastoni (Clubs)

1 = Asso (1)
2 = Due
3 = Tre
4 = Quattro
5 = Cinque
6 = Sei
7 = Sette
La Donna (8)
Il Cavallo (9)
Il Re (10)

In these rules we do not use the Milanesi and Toscane cards:
Milanesi and Toscane cards use the 'French' suits, that is Cuori (Hearts), Quadri (Diamonds, literally "Squares"), Fiori (Flowers) and Picche (Spades, literally "Pikes").

Scopa

Scopa is an trick-taking card game, and is played with a standard Italian 40-card deck, mostly between two players or four in two partnerships, but it can also be played by 3, 5, or 6 players.

The name Scopa is an Italian verb meaning "to sweep", since taking a scopa means "to sweep" all the cards from the pool.

Value of the cards

Asso = 1
2 = 2
3 = 3
4 = 4
5 = 5
6 = 6
7 = 7
La Donna = 8
Il Cavallo = 9
Il Re = 10

Since the Denari (Coins) are important in winning some tricks, the cards of that suit are also nicknamed as "bello" (handsome): so, "il settebello" is the Seven of Denari , "l'asso bello" is the Asso of Denari.

Gameplay

All players arrange themselves around the playing surface. If playing in teams, team members should be opposite each other. One player is chosen to be the dealer.

Beginning with the player on his right, and moving counter-clockwise, the dealer deals out three cards to each player, one card at a time. During this deal, the dealer will also place four cards face up on the table. A table card may be dealt before the deal begins, immediately after dealing a card to him but before dealing to the next player, or after dealing all players all three cards.

As it is impossible to sweep in a game where the initial table cards include three or four kings, such a deal is considered invalid. The cards are re-shuffled, and the dealer deals again.

The player to the dealer's right begins play. This player has two options: Either place a card on the table, or play a card to take a trick. A trick is taken by matching a card in the player's hand to a card of the same value on the table, or if that is not possible, by matching a card in the player's hand to the sum of the values of two or more cards on the table. In both cases, both the card from the player's hand and the captured card(s) are removed and placed face down in front of the player. These cards are now out of play until scores are calculated at the end of the round. If by taking the trick, all cards were removed from the table, then this is called a scopa.

Example: The player's hand contains the 2 of Denari, 5 of Spade, and 7 of Bastoni. On the table are the ace of Denari, 5 of Coppa, and 6 of Spade. The player's options are:

Place the 2 of Denari on the table
Take the 5 of Coppa using the 5 of Spade, and placing both cards face down in front of him
Take the 6 of Spade and ace of Coppa using the 7 of Bastoni, and placing all three cards face down in front of him.

Note that it is not legal to place a card on the table that has the ability to take a trick. If, for example, a 2 and 4 are on the table, and a player holds a 6, the player must either take that trick, or play a different card from his hand.

In any circumstance in which a played card may capture either a single or multiple cards, the player is forced to capture only the single card. For example, if the table has contains a 1, 3, 4, and a Donna, and the player plays another Donna, the player is not allowed to capture the 1, 3, and 4, even though their total does add up to 8. Instead, the player is only allowed to capture the Donna.

After all players have played all three cards, the dealer deals out three more cards to each player, again beginning with the player to his right. That player then begins play again. No additional cards are dealt to the table. This process is repeated until no cards remain in the deck.

After the dealer has played the final card of the final hand of the round, the player who most recently took a trick is awarded any remaining cards on the table, and points are calculated for each player or team. If no team has yet won the game, the deal moves to the right. The new dealer shuffles and deals the cards as described above.

Scoring

Points are awarded at the completion of each deal. If playing in teams, the team members combine their captured cards before counting to calculate points.

In addition, there are up to four points available for the following, each worth 1 point apiece:

(a) CARTE = captured the greatest number of cards.
(b) DENARI = captured the greatest number of cards in the suit of Denari.
(c) SETTO BELLO = captured the seven of Denari
(d) PRIMIERA = See below

Primiera

The "primiera" for each team is determined by selecting the team's "best" card in each of the four suits, and totaling those four cards' point values. When calculating the primiera, a separate point scale is used. The player with the highest number of points using this separate point scale gets one point toward the game score.

The most common version of the separate scale is:

Sette (7) = 21 points
Sei (6) = 18 points
Asso (1) = 16 points
Cinque (5) = 15 points
Quattro (4) = 14 points
Tre (3) = 13 points
Due (2)= 12 points
Re = 10 points

If one team captures the sevens of Coppa and Denari, the six of Bastoni and the Asso of Spade, that team's primiera is (21 + 21 + 18 + 16) = 76.

Other versions of the primiera's point scale exist. Most use the same ranking of cards but have variant scores, e.g. 0 points for face cards instead of 10. A variant that is popular in America but disliked by purists is to award the primiera to the person with the most sevens, or the person with the most sixes if there is a tie, down to aces, and so on. Obviously, the seven of Denari (Sette Bella is the most valuable card in the deck, as it alone contributes to all the four points. It should be noted, however, that a player or team can win the "primiera" even with only one seven but other useful cards. If one player has three sevens (3x21) and no cards of the fourth suit (sum=63), his opponent can win the "primiera" with one seven (21) and three aces (3x16), for his sum would be 69. Therefore, it is a common tactic, while playing the game, to capture aces and sixes whenever possible.

Likewise, if a player is holding a four and there are two twos, one ace and one three on the table, he should chose the three plus the ace, unless of course he has already taken the seven or the six of the suit of the ace and unless one of the twos is a two of coins and he hasn't made the point of coins yet.

If two or more teams or players capture the same Carte, same Demari, or the same primiera value, no point is awarded for that result, e.g. if both Team 1 and Team 2 capture 20 cards total, neither gets a point for the most cards).

Scopa points

In addition to the four standard points (called "punti di mazzo", literally "deck's points"), teams are awarded additional points for every "scopa" they took during game play. Clearing the table on the last play of the last hand of a round does not count as a scopa.

End of the game

The game is played until one team has at least 11 points and has a greater total than any other team. It is important to note that no points, including scopa points, are awarded mid-round; they are all calculated upon completion of the round. For that reason, if the current score is 10 to 9, and the team with 10 points captures the seven of coins or a scopa, the team cannot immediately claim victory. It is still possible that the opposing team could end up with a tied or higher score once all points are calculated.

In some Italian cities before the game the players can agree to play with the "cappotto" variant, in that scenario if a player is winning 7 points to 0, the game can be considered over and the player does not have to reach the total of 11 points.

It is also possible to agree on a different score, usually with increments of ten, e.g., 21 or 31 points.

Idioms

Traditionally, one card from a sweep is turned face up in the captured cards, to remind players while calculating points that a scopa was won, and to taunt them. Many players deal the initial table cards in a 2x2 square.

Alternate Variations

Playing with Anglo-French

When playing with standard Anglo-French cards, 12 cards need to be removed from the deck. Easiest for most new players is to remove the face cards, and therefore play with cards ranging numerically from one through ten. More traditional is to remove the eights, nines, and tens from the deck. Under this style, the Queen is 8, the Jack is 9, and the King is 10, although the Jack and the Queen are sometimes swapped to avoid confusing those who expect the Jack to have a lesser value than the Queen. Regardless of which cards are removed, the diamonds suit are used for the Italian Demari suit, making capturing the most diamonds and the seven of diamonds each worth a point.

Scopone

The game of Scopone is based on Scopa. In this game, which must be played in 2 teams of 2, players are dealt all nine of their cards at the start of each round. Play proceeds around the table until all players have played all of their cards.

In another form of the game, the scopone scientifico, the players are dealt ten cards each so that none is left. This makes things tricky for the player who opens the game, for the following player can immediately score a scopa if he owns a card of the same value. The opening player will choose a value of which he has two or three cards, to reduce the probability of his opponent having one too.

Trentino Scopone

In this variation of Scopone, the game is played until one team has 21 points, rather than 11. Also, a team capturing the ace, two, and three of Denari is awarded additional points equal to the highest consecutive Denari they obtain, e.g. if a team captures the asso, two, three, four, and five, and eight of Denari, that team is awarded 5 additional points. If a team manages to capture all 10 Deari in a single round, that team wins the game immediately.

Scopa d'Assi (Asso piglia tutto)

In this variation of the game, playing an Asso captures all cards currently on the table. Play varies as to whether or not this counts as a scopa. Usually, if there happens to be an asso already on the table, the player who draws an asso will not take all the cards, but only the asso that is there. This event, that every player will try to avoid, is called burning an ace.

Since there are no formal rules regulating the scopa d'assi, it is good manners to agree with the other players on the rules that are to be used before starting a game.

Re Bello

In the Re Bello ("Beautiful King") version, the King of Denari also counts as a point, just as does the Seven of coins.

Scopa di Quindici

In this variation, the played card does not take a card or set of cards that sum to the value of the card played. Rather, it takes any set of cards including itself that add to 15. If the table is A, 3, 5, 7, playing a 2 would take itself plus the A, 5 and 7 (A + 2 + 5 + 7 = 15).

Scopone Messina

In this variation three players are dealt 13 cards each, with the remaining card placed on the table as a start card. Play is counter clockwise. The regular rules of scopone thereafter apply. First to score 21 wins. Because the totals needed to win carte, denari or primiera are lower than the totals in standard scopone, the play can become very goal or goal denying orientated. While temporary alliances are permitted as two players may often do against an opponent who acquires a large early lead, it is forbidden for the players to expressly say which cards they are holding.

Cirilla

This Genoese variation is highly popular in Liguria and bordering zones; it is basically a mixture of traditional scopa, "Scopa di quindici" and "Scopa d'assi", plus it awards additional points for the "Grande" (Big One - 5 points go to the player able to take all three figure cards of Denari), "Piccola" (Small Ones - 1 point awarded for each consecutive card of Denari after the asso, note that's entirely possible for a player to get the "most denari" point but neither the Big One nor Small One bonus due to the opponent securing vital cards in the sequence). Moreover Cirulla players whose hand of three cards adds up to less than 7 have to put all of them down on the table and mark three points as if he scored that many "scopa", if the hand is made up of three identical cards he has to lay them down and mark ten "scopa" for himself. To the end of such calculations the seven of coppa counts as "matta" ("joker"): the player decides its value. With such a high degree of point-awarding combinations and the possibility of scoring dozens of points in a single hand Cirulla games are tense affairs, where seemingly desperate situations can be reversed in a matter of minutes and where the ultimate goal can be set at hundreds of points, up to 1001 in some cases.

Napoli

The "napoli", or "napola" is awarded if a team manages to capture the asso, the two and the three of denari, plus one additional point for each card in the denari sequence above the three. For example, if a team captures the asso, the two and the three of denari they are awarded one point; if, however, they capture also the four and the five of denari, they are awarded a total of three points from the "napoli". It should be noted, though, that in most games the "napoli" is not awarded at all, i.e. the Asso, Two and Three of denari are captured by different teams. In some variations, capturing all denari awards the "napolone" trick, ending the gams with victory for the team (or player) who captured all denari.

Calabrese

In some regions of Calabria (especially near Cosenza), a point is awarded for the seven of cups in addition to the seven of coins.