How to Play Scopa

Scopa is Italy's favourite card game: a quick, clever two-player game of captures and sweeps played with a 40-card Italian deck. Here are the full rules, how scoring works, and some strategy to help you win.

What is Scopa?

Scopa (Italian for broom) is a traditional Italian card game in the "fishing" family, related to games like Casino. You capture cards from the table by matching their value or the sum of their values, and you score a point every time you sweep the table clean. It is played in bars, kitchens and beaches all over Italy, and every region has its own deck design.

The Italian 40-card deck

Scopa uses a 40-card Italian deck with four suits: Denari (coins), Coppe (cups), Spade (swords) and Bastoni (clubs). Each suit has Ace to 7 plus three face cards: the Fante (knave, worth 8), the Cavallo (knight, worth 9) and the Re (king, worth 10).

Regional patterns include the Napoletane (Naples), Piacentine (Piacenza), Siciliane (Sicily), Bergamasche (Bergamo), Trevisane (Treviso) and Milanesi (Milan). The rules are the same whichever deck you use.

Setting up and dealing

1. Shuffle and deal 3 cards to each player, one at a time, starting with the non-dealer.
2. Place 4 cards face up on the table. If three or more of them are kings, the hand is re-dealt.
3. The non-dealer plays first, then players alternate.
4. When both hands are empty, deal 3 more cards each. Keep going until the deck is used up: a round is six deals.

Playing a turn: captures

On your turn you play one card from your hand face up:

• Single-card capture: if a table card has the same value, you take it along with your card.
• Sum capture: otherwise you can take a group of table cards whose values add up to your card. A 7 can take a 4 and a 3, or a 5 and a 2.
• Single card first: if a matching single card is on the table you must take it rather than a sum. A 7 cannot take 4 + 3 when a 7 is showing.
• Capturing is compulsory: if your card can capture, you must capture. When there are several options, you choose.
• Trailing: if your card can't take anything, it stays face up on the table.

Scopa: sweeping the table

If your capture takes every card on the table, that's a scopa and it's worth 1 point. Players traditionally mark it by keeping the card face up in their pile. A sweep on the very last play of the round does not count as a scopa.

End of the round

When the deck is empty and the last cards have been played, any cards left on the table go to the player who made the last capture.

Scoring

How primiera works

Choose your best card in each suit and add up their primiera values. The higher total wins the point; a player missing a whole suit cannot win it.

Winning the game

Play rounds until a player reaches the target score, usually 11, 16 or 21, and is ahead. If it's tied, play another round.

Scopa strategy tips

• Count the sevens. Sevens win primiera and one of them is the settebello. Capture them whenever you can.
• Don't leave an easy scopa. If the table adds up to 10 or less after your play, your opponent may be able to sweep it in one card.
• Remember what's gone. Track which cards have been played; late in the round you can often work out your opponent's hand.
• Grab coins. Denari count towards both the coins point and the card count.
• Watch the last capture. Taking the final trick wins all leftover table cards.

Popular Scopa variants

• Scopone: a four-player partnership game. In Scopone Scientifico all 40 cards are dealt, nine to each player and four to the table.
• Scopa d'Assi (Asso piglia tutto): an Ace sweeps the whole table.
• Scopa a 15 (Scopa di Quindici): you capture cards that add up to 15 together with the card you play.
• Cirulla: a variant with extra bonus combinations and special scoring.

Frequently asked questions