"Scopa" is a traditional Italian card game, played mostly with two or four players (in this case the players play together in pairs), with a 40-cards deck.
The Deck
The deck used when playing Scopa is very peculiar: a classic Poker deck could be used as well, but the most commonly used cards are the traditional "Napoletane" (cards from Naples) or "Piacentine" (cards from Piacenza).
The difference between the two lies in the drawings of some cards... choose the ones you like best!
The cards are divided in four suits: Denari (also known as Ori ) , which corresponds to Diamonds, is perhaps the most important, Bastoni (which corresponds to Clubs), Spade (Swords, the same as Spades), and Coppe, (cups, corresponding to hearts).
The values of the cards are the number of objects of the suit for the cards from One to Seven, the others are the Jack, the Horse and the King, which have a value of 8, 9 and ten, respectively.
The most important card is the Settebello ( = Pretty Seven), which is worth one point.
The Rules
At the beginning the dealer (who changes at each hand) gives three cards to each player, and puts four of them uncovered on the table.
Figure 1 : Start of the game. (The cards of the opponent are covered)
Then, the player to the right of the dealer starts the game putting a card on the table.
He has the faculty to take back his card, together with a card on the table of the same value, or (but only if there are no cards on the table with the same value) with a number of cards that, summed together, produce the number of the card played.
Figure 2a : I can take the five of clubs with the five. Note that I can't take the
one and the four just because a five is on the table.
Figure 2a : Five plus one plus three plus one equals nine!
When on the table there are more sets of cards that can be taken with a card (for example, in the picture above with the nine), the programs lets you choose which one you like if you click again on the card to be played.
If none of his cards matches those on the table, the player simply puts down one of his cards.
All the players play one card in turn: when all the players have no cards left the dealer gives them three cards each from the deck (but without putting any more cards on the table), until the end of the deck.
When the deck is over, the score is checked and a new hand begins.
A player scores a "Scopa" when he plays a card which takes all of the cards from the table. In this case, the next player will simply have to put a card on the table.
Figure 3 : Scopa!
The game is over when a player reaches a predefined number of points (usually 11, 16 or 21).
Note that when a player scores a Scopa he or she has to leave the card with which he did it uncovered.
The Score
Every Scopa scores a point. The other points are:
• cards: one point to the player who has the largest number of them: if they have the same number,
no points are given.
• denari : the same as cards, but looking only at the cards of diamonds (Denari ).
• the Settebello scores one point
• primiera: One point.
The point is given to the player who gets the best score with four cards, one for each suit,
with the following values:
21 for the seven,
18 for the 6,
16 for the One,
15 for the 5,
14 for the 4,
13 for the 3,
12 for the 2 and
10 for all the other cards.
Note that if a player scores a Scopa just the turn before the hand is over, the point is not valid.
Moreover, the cards left on the table when the hand is over are taken by the player who last took some cards.
Variants of Scopa
Other games very similar to Scopa are "Scopone" (= Big Scopa), which is played in four in pairs, where 9 cards are given to each player and 4 are put on the table.
Then there is "Scopone Scientifico" which is like "Scopone" but with no cards on the table (10 cards are given to each player).
These two games require much more ability and memory, because it's important to remember the cards that were played.
Remember that there is no need to use a computer to play Scopa, you can play with your friends as well!
