How to Play Briscola

Briscola is one of Italy's most beloved card games—standing right alongside Scopa as a timeless classic. Fast to learn yet full of bluffing, memory, and tactical depth, Briscola is a two-player trick-taking game where you don't have to follow suit and two cards—the Ace and the Three—carry the bulk of the points.

What is Briscola?

Briscola is a traditional Italian trick-taking card game played with a 40-card Italian deck. One suit is revealed at the start of the hand as the trump suit—called the briscola. Players compete over 20 two-card tricks to capture at least 61 out of 120 total deck points.

The 40-card deck, rank strength & point values

Briscola uses the standard 40-card Italian deck divided into four suits: Denari (coins), Coppe (cups), Spade (swords), and Bastoni (clubs). What makes Briscola unique is that both the Ace (Asso) and the Three (Tre) outrank the face cards and are known as carichi (loads) because of their high point value.

Each suit contains 30 points (11 + 10 + 4 + 3 + 2), making 120 points in total across the four suits.

Dealing and setting the Briscola

1. Shuffle the 40-card deck and deal 3 cards to each player.
2. Flip the next card face up on the table and slide it perpendicular underneath the remaining 33-card face-down stock. This face-up card is the Briscola, and its suit is the trump suit for the entire hand.
3. The non-dealer leads the first trick.

Playing a trick

Each trick consists of two cards—one led by the first player, and one played in response by the second player:

• No obligation to follow suit: Unlike most trick-taking games, you are never required to match the led suit or play a trump card. You may play any of the 3 cards in your hand.
• If the second player plays the same suit as the lead card: the card with the higher Briscola rank strength wins the trick.
• If the second player plays a trump (Briscola) against a non-trump lead: the trump card wins the trick, even if it is a 2 of trumps taking an Ace of another suit.
• If the second player plays a different non-trump suit: the lead card always wins the trick, regardless of how high the second card is.

Drawing from the stock & the final 3 tricks

1. After each trick, the winner of the trick draws the top card of the stock first, and the loser draws second.
2. The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
3. On the 17th trick, only two cards remain: the last face-down card and the face-up Briscola card underneath. The winner of the 17th trick draws the face-down card, and the loser draws the face-up Briscola card.
4. The final 3 tricks (tricks 18, 19, and 20) are played using the remaining 3 cards in each player's hand without drawing.

Scoring and winning the match

• 61 to 120 points: You win the hand (1 hand win).
• 60 to 60 points: The hand is a tie (pareggio), and an extra tiebreaker hand is played.
• Matches are commonly played as a Single Game, Best of 3 (first to 2 hand wins), or Best of 5 (first to 3 hand wins).

Briscola strategy tips

• Protect your carichi (Aces and Threes): Avoid leading an Ace or 3 early when your opponent could cut it with a cheap trump. Instead, save them to capture same-suit leads (a move called strozzare).
• Cut wisely: Don't waste a trump on a 0-point lead (liscio). Save your small trumps to capture opposing Aces, Threes, or face cards.
• Fight for (or intentionally lose!) the 17th trick: If the face-up Briscola card at the bottom of the deck is an Ace, 3, or King, losing the 17th trick on purpose guarantees that you draw that powerful trump for the final 3 tricks! Conversely, if the face-up card is a 2, losing the 17th trick still gives you an extra trump and lets you play second on the 18th trick.
• Count points and trumps: There are 10 cards per suit and 120 points total. Tracking how many trumps and carichi have been played makes the final 3 tricks completely solvable.

Popular Briscola variants

• Briscola in 4 (Partnership Briscola): Four players in two partnerships sitting opposite each other; partners may exchange traditional signals in some regional variants.
• Briscola Chiamata (Briscola a 5): A five-player bidding game where the highest bidder secretly calls a partner card and chooses the trump suit.
• Briscola Scoperta: Played with hands face up on the table as a game of pure calculation.

Frequently asked questions