italian card games - coteccio
(more italian card games)
According to Giampaolo Dossena: Giochi di Carte Italiani (Arnaldo
Mondadori 1984), the name Coteccio or Cotecchio is applied
to various negative point trick games in Italy. He goes on to
describe Cottecchio alla Carpigiana, which is played in Modena.
The game of Coteccio described here is played in Trieste. The
following account is based on games played during the 1989 Convention
of the International Playing Card Society (IPCS).
object of the game
This is a negative point trick game; normally whoever takes the
most points in tricks loses, but if one player takes all the tricks,
that player wins.
players and cards
Up to 7 players using an Italian suited 40 card pack (Triestine
regional pattern). From high to low, the cards in each suit rank:
Asso (ace), Re (king), Cavallo (knight), Fante (jack), 7, 6, 5, 4,
3, 2.
value of cards
Asso = 6, Re = 5, Cavallo = 4, Fante = 3, other cards = 0, last trick
= 6. This caused some excitement at the IPCS Convention because
it is exactly the same system as was used in the famous game Trappola.
Trappola is now thought to be extinct, and as far as we know Coteccio
is the only surviving game using this point system. It seems likely
that Coteccio and Trappola were related, perhaps deriving from
a common ancestor; the probability of this is slightly increased
by the fact that Coteccio, like early forms of Trappola, is played
without trumps. On the other hand the structure of the pack used
is different, and one of the main features of Trappola, the bonus
for winning a trick with a two, is absent from Coteccio.
dealing and playing
The game is played anticlockwise. 5 cards are dealt to each player.
The player to dealer's right leads to the first trick. Players
must follow suit; if unable to do so they may play any card. There
are no trumps; the highest card played of the suit led always
wins the trick. The winner of a trick leads to the next. Tricks
are kept face up in front of the player who won
them.
scoring
At the beginning, everyone contributes an equal stake to a pool
- say 1000 Lire. Each player begins with four lives. Normally
at the end of a hand the player whose tricks contain most card
points (including the 6 extra for whoever took the last trick)
loses one life. If two or more players tie for most points they
each lose a life. However if the first four tricks are all won
by the same player, that player has two options:
- annul the hand - no one loses a life, and the same dealer
deals again;
- lead the last card - if it wins the trick the player who won
all the tricks gains one life for making capotto,
and the other players lose one life each; if the lead to the last
trick is beaten the player who won four tricks loses one life
(irrespective of the number of card points won) and the winner
of the last trick gains one life for saving the
Capotto.
A player with no lives left can call the doctor, provided that
there remain at least two other players in the game who have not
lost all their lives. The price of calling the doctor must be
agreed before the game (say 500 Lire), and a maximum limit is
usually placed on the number of times the doctor may be called.
The player in ned of the doctor pays the doctor's fee to the pool
and receives in return a number of lives equal to those of the
player who has fewest lives left (for example if there are 3 other
players left in the game when I lose my last life and they have
3, 1 and 4 lives, then I get one life for my 500 Lire; if they
have 2, 2 and 4 lives then the doctor gives me 2 lives).
A player with no lives who cannot or does not wish to call the
doctor drops out of the game. Those left alive continue until
only one player remains. This last player wins and collects the
entire contents of the pool.
special situations
As players drop out, the turn to lead to the first trick continues
to rotate anticlockwise, passing to the next player if the player
whose turn it would have been is dead. The dealer is always the
player to the left of the leader. So for example if the player
who was about to deal dies, the same player who dealt the previous
hand will deal again. If all the remaining players have one life and they all tie for
most points, thus dying simultaneously, none of them can win the
pool. In such a case the game is restarted; all the players (including
any who died earlier) are given 4 lives and they continue playing
for the same pool. This situation most commonly occurs when only
two players are left in the game with one life each and they tie
for most points on what was to have been the last hand.
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