italian card games - scopa & scopone -
(more italian card games)

Download and start to play now with the freeware Scopone Scientifico for PC's with Windows only.

Important points to note:

• there is no obligation to play a card which makes a capture - it is legal (and sometimes better play) simply to add a card to the table;
• however if the played card does make a capture, the captured cards must be taken, even if the player would prefer to leave them on the table;
• if a card matches both a single card and a sum of cards on the table, the single card must be captured, not the group.

Example: the table contains 3, 5, 5, fante. Playing a 5 captures one of the 5s from the table at the player's choice. Playing a re (king) captures both 5s. Playing a fante (jack) captures the one on the table - the player is not allowed to take the 5 and the 3 instead. After all the cards from the players hands have been played, the last player who made a capture also takes any face up cards remaining on the table.

scoring
There are four points available to be won on each deal:

1. the cards, the point is won by whichever team takes the majority of the cards. If they split 20-20 the point is not awarded.
2. the coins, the point is won by whichever team takes more cards of the coins suit (or diamonds if you are using international cards). If they split 5-5 the point is not awarded.
3. the seven of coins, the point is won by whichever team takes the 7 of coins (diamonds), known as the settebello (beautiful seven).
4. the prime (la primiera ), the point is won by the team with the best prime. In practice this is usually the team with more sevens, but the actual rule is as follows. A prime consists of one card of each suit, and the cards have special point values for this purpose, as shown in the table. The value of the prime is got by adding up the values of its cards and whichever team can construct the more valuable prime wins the point. If a team has no cards at all of one suit then its prime will only consist of three cards and will be worth correspondingly less. If both teams' primes are worth the same, the prime point is not awarded. It is worth knowing that the ranking of the cards for the prime is 7 (highest), 6, ace, 5, 4, 3, 2, pictures (lowest) - so if you are tied on sevens, it is worth trying to capture sixes, then aces, and so on.

the sweep
In addition to the points mentioned above, you also win a point for each sweep (Italian scopa). You score a sweep when you play a card which captures the all table cards, leaving the table empty. Traditionally, the capturing card is placed face up in the trick-pile of the capturing side, so that the number of sweeps made by each side can easily be seen when the scoring is done at the end of the play. Taking the last cards from the table at the end of a hand never counts as a sweep, even if the last card played by the dealer does actually capture all the remaining table cards.

winning the game
The first team to have 11 or more points at the end of a hand wins. If both sides reach 11 in the same hand the side with more points wins. If both are equal, play further hands until one side has more points at the end of a hand.

variations

Scopone scientifico (scientific Scopone)
In scientific Scopone ten cards are dealt to each player at the start of each hand, and none to the table. This Trentino version has three further differences from the basic game of Scopone described above:

1. The game continues until one of both teams have 21 or more points. Whichever team has more at the end of that deal wins. If both are equal, further deals are played until one team is ahead.
2. A team which captures the ace, two and three of coins scores a number of points equal to the highest coin card they capture in unbroken sequence with these - for example if they took the A-2-3-4-5-6 of coins they would score 6 points (in addition to the point for coins). This bonus is called Napoli.
3. A team which captures all ten cards of the coin suit wins the game outright. This is called cappotto (coat).

re bello
The re bello (beautiful king) is the king of coins. Some players award a point to the team that wins this card (just as the winners of the sette bello get a point). In this version of the game there are 5 points to be scored in each deal (apart from sweeps) rather than four.

Scopa
Scopa is the game from which Scopone was developed. The rules of Scopa are the same as for Scopone , except that just 3 cards are dealt to each player and 4 to the table. After everyone has played their 3 cards, another 3 are dealt and played, and then another 3. As long as there are still more cards to be dealt, any cards left on the table when the players run out of cards stay there, and can be captured in the normal way after the next part of the deal. The special rules that cards remaining on the table belong to the last player who made a capture, and that a sweep cannot be scored for the final play, apply only at the end of the final deal when there are no further cards to be dealt. It is also possible to play Scopa with two players, in which case there are 6 deals of 3 cards in each hand.

Scopa d' Assi
It is a version of Scopa where in addition to the normal rules of capture, playing an ace takes all the table cards. Within this there are a number of variations:

• practice varies as to whether or not taking all the cards with an ace counts as a sweep,
• some players play that if there is already an ace on the table, an ace played just takes the ace on the table, not the other cards as well,
• some play that if you wish, you can play an ace without capturing any cards, by just showing it and placing it in your tricks,
• some play that if one or more aces appear in the face-up cards in the original deal, the cards are thrown in and redealt.

Scopa di Quindici
It is a version of Scopa with a different rule of capture. The played card no longer captures a card or cards of equal value; instead it captures any one set of cards which, together with the played card, add up to 15. For example if the table cards are A, 3, 4, 7 and you play a 4, it captures either the 4 and the 7 or the A, 3 and 7 at your choice.

advice on playing Scopone
The most important card is the 7 of coins - it is worth a point by itself and contributes to all the other three points. You should aim to win the 7 of coins if at all possible. You should avoid giving away sweeps, and put your side in a position to win sweeps. Winning a sweep is just one point initially, but because it leaves the table empty, the next player has to put down a card.

If your partner can match the card played by the opponent you then get another sweep. This can go on for several plays. It is the simplest form of what is called a whirlwind. One obvious way to avoid giving away a sweep is to leave a total of at least 11 on the table. For this reason you may want to avoid apturing cards which would leave a total of 10 or less. If you leave exactly 11, your right-hand opponent (RHO) may wish not to capture for fear of giving your partner a sweep. So RHO plays a card to the table. If your partner can capture it this leaves 11 again, and your LHO may play a card that you can capture. This is another kind of whirlwind, though a rather weak one. Better than leaving 11 is to leave a smaller number which you know your RHO cannot match.

Suppose that two 3's have gone, you hold the third 3 and the fourth is on the table. It will then be good for you to capture all the other cards on the table and leave this 3 as an anchor for your team. Your RHO must now play a card. Your partner should trust you to have the last 3 and capture the RHO's card, leaving 3 again. Then you may be able to capture LHO's card, and so on. This is a rather more effective whirlwind, and the opponents also have the problem that if they play too small a card (7 or less) there is a possibility that you or your partner may make a sweep. Clearly it is good to establish an anchor, and to have cards on the table of ranks which your side controls. For this reason you should lead, or leave on the table, cards which you hold two or more of in your hand. Also if your partner plays (say) a 5 and your LHO takes it, you should also play a 5 if you have one, because it is likely that partner holds the fourth 5. Apart from the 7 of coins and sweeps, the next priority is to capture other sevens (for the prime), and also sixes, which come in useful if sevens are split. Coins are good to collect as well, and finally it does no harm to have the greater bulk of cards.

It is important to keep track of paired and unpaired cards. If all the captures were of single cards of equal rank, so that all the tricks consisted of pairs, then at the end the dealer's last card would match the last card on the table. If for example the dealer has a 7, it could be saved by keeping it until last and catching a 7 with it. As soon as someone captures more than one card at a time, this pattern is disrupted. If someone plays a king to capture a 7 and a 3, 3s, 7s and kings are now unpaired. If the rest of the game consists of single captures only, dealer will end up playing the final 7 to a table containing the unpaired 3 and king, and the three cards go to the last player who made a capture. Remembering which cards are unpaired is especially important for the dealer, who may then be able to arrange to make a capture with the last card. There is a certain amount of strategy around pairing and unpairing sevens. For example if the players have one seven each, then the dealer's side wants to keep them paired, so that by waiting until the end they can win all four in the last round. The non-dealer's side will want to unpair the sevens by using one of their sevens to capture a combination of cards, such as 5 + 2. Obviously in these circumstances the dealer's side will try to avoid leaving such combinations. There is much more that could be said about the strategy of Scopone. Perhaps some readers may like to comment on or add to the above notes.