Scopa rules

The fishing game of Italy, and one of the most satisfying two-player games there is. You capture cards off the table by matching numbers. Each player holds three cards and plays one a turn, taking a table card of the same value or several that add up to it. Clearing the table is a scopa and scores at once; the other points go to the most cards, the most coins, the seven of coins and the primiera. A match is played to 11 or 21.

The deck

40 cards — an Italian pack, or a 52-card deck with the eights, nines and tens removed. Ace counts 1 up to king counting 10.

The layout

Three cards each, and four cards face up on the table.

Your turn

Play one card from your hand. Then:

If it matches the value of a card on the table, you capture that card. If it matches the total of several table cards added together, you capture all of them. If it matches a single card and also a combination, you must take the single card. If it captures nothing, it stays on the table.

Captured cards go face down in front of you.

Scopa

Clear the entire table with a capture and you score a point immediately — a scopa. Turn one card sideways in your pile to remember it. The last card of the hand does not count as a scopa even if it empties the table.

When hands are empty, three more are dealt. When the deck runs out, whoever made the last capture takes any cards still on the table.

Scoring, one point each

Most cards captured. Most coins (or diamonds). The seven of coins — the settebello. The primiera: the best set of one card per suit, valued seven 21, six 18, ace 16, five 15, four 14, three 13, two 12, court cards 10.

Plus a point for every scopa. Game is 11 or 21 points.

Scopa: an example game

One game of Scopa followed from the deal to the finish, move by move, with the reason for each choice.

The deal

Two players, you and Ada, with a 40-card pack. Coins are diamonds here (♦), so the seven of diamonds is the settebello. Ada deals: four cards face up on the table — 2♣, 4♥, 5♠ and Q♦ — and three to each of you.

You hold 7♦, 7♥ and A♠. Ada holds 3♥, K♣ and J♦. The jack counts 8, the queen 9 and the king 10, so the table reads 2, 4, 5 and 9. The player to the dealer's left plays first, which is you.

Securing the settebello

No seven is on the table, but 2 and 5 make seven, so either of your sevens can take them. You play 7♦ and take 2♣ and 5♠. The settebello is now in your pile, where nobody can take it from you. The table is 4♥ and Q♦.

Ada can capture nothing: no three, no ten and no eight can be made from 4 and 9. She lays down 3♥. That is a mistake: a four and a three make seven, and there are four sevens in the pack.

Keeping the table above ten

Your 7♥ could take 4♥ and 3♥ now, but that would leave Q♦ alone on the table, and anyone with a queen would sweep it. Instead you lay down A♠. The table is 4, 9, 3 and 1, which adds up to 17, so no single card can clear it.

Ada has two ways to capture. J♦ (8) takes 4, 3 and the ace; K♣ (10) takes the queen and the ace. She plays K♣ and takes Q♦ and A♠, a coin and an ace. The table is 4♥ and 3♥ — seven.

Two scopas

You play 7♥ and take 4♥ and 3♥. The table is empty, and that is a scopa: one point straight away. Ada has only J♦ left and has to lay it on the bare table.

New hands of three are dealt. You get J♠, 6♦ and 2♥; Ada gets 5♣, 6♠ and Q♥. Your J♠ matches J♦ exactly, so you take it, and the table is empty again: a second scopa, and a second coin. A single card left on a bare table is an open invitation.

Playing to a bare table

Ada has to lay a card on the empty table and puts down Q♥. You cannot take a 9 with a 6 or a 2, so you lay down 2♥ — 9 and 2 make 11, too much for any single card. You keep 6♦, a coin.

Ada lays 5♣ (the table is 9, 2 and 5) and your last card, 6♦, can take nothing, so it goes down too. Ada's 6♠ matches it exactly, and she takes it. You lost a coin, but the table — Q♥, 2♥ and 5♣ — is still out of reach of a sweep.

The count

Four more rounds of three are dealt before the pack runs out, and whoever captures last takes what is left on the table. At the end you have 22 cards to Ada's 18 and six coins to her four, and the settebello is yours: three points. Ada wins the primiera, 78 to 73, with the sevens of clubs and spades she caught later and two sixes.

With your two scopas the deal ends 5–1 to you. The game goes to 11, so it will take a couple more deals, and Ada will be watching what she leaves on the table.