Scopa

Scopa was already widespread throughout Italy in the 18th century, but there is no earlier evidence of its origin.[4]

A set of "Napoletane" cards. The rows depict the suits denari, coppe, bastoni, and spade.

A deck of Italian cards consist of 40 cards, divided into four suits. Neapolitan, Piacentine, Triestine, and Sicilian cards are divided into Coppe (Cups), Ori or Denari (Golds or Coins), Spade (Swords) and Bastoni (Clubs), while Piemontesi, Milanesi and Toscane cards use the 'French' suits, that is Cuori (Hearts), Quadri (Diamonds, literally "Squares"), Fiori (Flowers) and Picche (Spades, literally "Pikes").

The values on the cards range numerically from one through seven, plus three face cards in each suit: Knave [Fante in Italian] (worth a value of 8), Knight [Cavallo in Italian] in the Neapolitan-type decks, Queen [Donna in Italian] in the Milanese-type decks (worth 9), and King [Re in Italian] (worth 10). A Knave is a lone male figure standing. The Knight is a male figure riding a horse; the Queen is a female figure. The King is a male figure wearing a crown. To determine the face value of any numeric card, simply count the number of suit icons on the card. Since the Coins/Diamonds are important in winning some points, the cards of that suit are also nicknamed as "bello" (handsome): so, "il settebello" is the Seven of Coins/Diamonds, "l'asso bello" is the Ace of Coins/Diamonds.

All players arrange themselves around the playing surface. If playing in teams, team members should be opposite each other. One player is chosen to be the dealer.

Initial setting of the game

Each player receives three cards. The dealer deals them out one card at a time, in a counter-clockwise direction, beginning with the player to their right. During this deal, the dealer will also place four cards face up on the table. A table card may be dealt before the deal begins, immediately after dealing a card to themselves but before dealing to the next player, or after dealing all players all three cards.

As it is impossible to sweep in a game where the initial table cards include three or four kings, such a deal is considered invalid. The cards are re-shuffled, and the dealer deals again.

The player to the dealer's right begins play. This player has two options: Either place a card on the table or play a card to capture one or more cards. A capture is made by matching a card in the player's hand to a card of the same value on the table, or if that is not possible, by matching a card in the player's hand to the sum of the values of two or more cards on the table. In both cases, both the card from the player's hand and the captured card(s) are removed and placed face down in a pile in front of the player. These cards are now out of play until scores are calculated at the end of the round. If by capturing, all cards were removed from the table, then this is called a scopa, and an additional point is awarded at the end of the round.

Opponent is capturing two cards with one card from his hand (1+3=4).

Example: The player's hand contains the 2 of coins, 5 of swords, and 7 of clubs (or batons). On the table are the ace of coins, 5 of cups, and 6 of swords. The player's options are:

1. Place the 2 of coins on the table;
2. Capture the 5 of cups using the 5 of swords, and place both cards face down in front of themselves;
3. Capture the 6 of swords and ace of coins using the 7 of clubs, and place all three cards face down in front of themselves.

Note that it is not legal to place on the table a card that has the ability to capture. For example, if a 2 and a 4 are on the table and a player holds a 6, the player must either take that trick or play a different card from their hand.

In any circumstance in which a played card may capture either a single or multiple cards, the player is forced to capture only the single card. For example, if the cards on the table are 1, 3, 4, and 8 (Knave, or Fante in Italian), and the player plays another Knave, the player is not allowed to capture the 1, 3, and 4, even though their total does add up to 8. Instead, the player is only allowed to capture the Knave.

After all players have played all three cards, the dealer deals out three more cards to each player, again beginning with the player to their right. That player then begins play again. No additional cards are dealt to the table. This process is repeated until no cards remain in the deck.

After the dealer has played the final card of the final hand of the round, the player who most recently captured is awarded any remaining cards on the table, and points are calculated for each player or team. If no team has yet won the game, the deal moves to the right. The new dealer shuffles and deals the cards as described above.

Points are awarded at the completion of each deal. If playing in teams, the team members combine their captured cards before counting to calculate points. Players get one point for each "scopa".

In addition, there are up to four points available for the following, each worth 1 point apiece:

• captured the greatest number of cards.
• captured the greatest number of cards in the suit of coins.
• captured the seven of coins ("sette bello").
• obtained the highest "prime" (literally, primiera), erroneously referred to as simply "capturing the majority of sevens".

If two or more teams or players capture the same number of cards, the same number of coin cards, or the same prime value, no point is awarded for that result, e.g. if both Team 1 and Team 2 capture 20 cards total, neither gets a point for the most cards.

The "prime" for each team is determined by selecting the team's "best" card in each of the four suits, and totaling those four cards' point values. When calculating the prime, a separate point scale is used. The player with the highest number of points using this separate point scale gets one point toward the game score.

The most common version of the separate scale is:

If one team captures the sevens of cups and coins, the six of clubs and the ace of swords, that team's prime is (21 + 21 + 18 + 16) = 76.

Other versions of the prime's point scale exist. Most use the same ranking of cards but have variant scores, e.g. 0 points for face cards instead of 10. A variant that is popular in America but disliked by purists is to award the prime to the person with the most sevens, or the person with the most sixes if there is a tie, down to aces, and so on.

Obviously, the seven of coins is the most valuable card in the deck, as it alone contributes to all the four points. A player or team can win the "prime" even with only one seven but other useful cards. If one player has three sevens (3x21) and no cards of the fourth suit (sum=63), their opponent can win the "prime" with one seven (21) and three aces (3x16), for their sum would be 69. Therefore, it is a common tactic, while playing the game, to capture aces and sixes whenever possible.

Likewise, if a player is holding a six and there are an ace, a two, a four, and a five on the table, they should choose the five plus the ace, unless they have already taken the seven or the six of the suit of the ace and unless one of the two remaining cards is of the coins suit and they haven't made the point of coins yet.

In addition to the four standard points (called "punti di mazzo", literally "deck's points"), teams are awarded additional points for every "scopa" they took during game play. A scopa is awarded when a team manages to sweep the table of all cards. That is, if the table contains only a 2 and a 4, and player A plays a 6, player A is awarded a scopa. Clearing the table on the last play of the last hand of a round does not count as a scopa.

The game is played until one team has at least 11 points and has a greater total than any other team. No points, including scopa points, are awarded mid-round; they are all calculated upon completion of the round. For that reason, if the current score is 10 to 9, and the team with 10 points captures the seven of coins or a scopa, the team cannot immediately claim victory. It is still possible that the opposing team could end up with a tied or higher score once all points are calculated.

In some Italian cities, before the game the players can agree to play with the cappotto variant. In that scenario, if a player is winning 7 points to 0 then the game can be considered over and the player does not have to reach the total of 11 points.

It is also possible to agree on a different score, usually with increments of five or ten, e.g., 16, 21 or 31 points.

Traditionally, one card from a sweep is turned face up in the captured cards, to remind players while calculating points that a scopa was won, and to taunt them. Many players deal the initial table cards in a 2x2 square.

There are many variations of scopa. Since there are no formal rules, it is good manners to agree with the other players on the rules that are to be used before starting a game.

Many of the variations here can be combined. For example, a common variant in the Milan area combines "Scopone scientifico", "Scopa d'Assi" and "Napola".

There is a playable version of Scopa within the Nancy Drew game The Phantom of Venice.

There are apps for Android smartphones and the Nokia internet tablet running the Maemo operating system, as well as for iOS iPads and iPhones.

• Briscola
• Cassino
• Escoba
• Koi-Koi
• Pasur
• Zwicker
• The Scientific Cardplayer, a 1972 Italian film about a Scopa player

• french wikipedia article about chkobba https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chkobba

• Andrea Angiolino; Beniamino Sidoti (2010). Dizionario dei Giochi. Bologna: Zanichelli. ISBN 978-88-08-19349-0.

• McLeod, John, ed., Scopone and Scopa, Card Games Website
• The five-point categories at the Italian Wikipedia (in Italian)
• Kaszinó Hungarian variant of Scopa at the Hungarian Wikipedia (in Hungarian)