Scopa rules: how to play, scoring and primiera

If you have played escoba de 15, the Spanish cousin, you already know half of scopa: the face-up table, the sweep and the end-of-hand count of cards, coins and sevens. The other half is what gives scopa its character. You are not trying to make fifteen; you match the value of the card you play, so every turn becomes a small calculation about what you leave for your opponent and what you hold back. This guide covers the full scopa card game rules for the classic version, scoring with the primiera table, the regional Italian decks, how to play scopa with a standard deck, and the main variants, from scopone scientifico to cirulla.

What scopa is and where it is played

Scopa is Italian for "broom", and the name describes the move at the heart of the game: sweeping every card off the table in one go. It belongs to the family of capturing games, known in English as fishing games, which have no tricks and no trumps: you take cards from the table by matching them with cards from your hand.

Together with briscola and tressette, scopa makes up the trio of Italy's most popular card games. There is no single national rulebook, largely because each part of the country has its own deck and its own house customs. The basic rules, though, are the same from Turin to Palermo.

Origins: what is known and what is not

The exact origin of scopa is not documented. What we do know is that by the 18th century it was widespread in Italy and especially popular in Naples. Its scoring hints at an old family tie: the primiera, the point for the best four-card combination, takes its scale of values from a Renaissance gambling game of the same name (called primero in English).

Italian emigrants took scopa to Argentina and Brazil, where it is mostly played in its fifteen-adding form. North Africa has its own very popular branch, Tunisian chkobba, with almost identical scoring. In Spain it gave rise to escoba, covered further down.

The deck: 40 cards with Italian suits

Scopa is played with a 40-card deck, with no numbered eights, nines or tens. Each suit has ten cards: ace to seven and three court cards, the fante (jack), the cavallo (knight) and the re (king).

40 cards: ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, fante, cavallo and re in each suit

The four suits are the same as those of the Spanish deck, under different names:

Denari is the only special suit. Italians sometimes call it "the beautiful suit", which is why the seven of denari is known as the settebello ("beautiful seven") and, in some variants, the king of denari as the re bello.

Card values for capturing

Scopa has no ranking of cards by strength: all that matters is the number value. The court cards continue the count after the seven.

Italian regional decks

Italy has no national deck. Each region keeps its own pattern, inherited from local card printers of past centuries, and in practice people play scopa with whatever deck the local tobacconist sells. There are three families, depending on the suit style.

• Spanish-style suits (round cups, straight swords, club-shaped batons): used in the south, the centre and parts of the north. These are the napoletane (Neapolitan), piacentine, siciliane, romagnole and sarde decks.
• Italian-style suits (curved swords and straight batons that cross each other on the number cards): the decks of the north-east and eastern Lombardy, such as the trevigiane (or trevisane), triestine, bergamasche, bresciane and trentine.
• French suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades): used in Liguria, Piedmont, Tuscany and Milan, with the genovesi, piemontesi, toscane and lombarde (or milanesi) decks. Here the court card worth 9 is a queen instead of a knight.

For the game it makes no difference which one you use: they all have 40 cards and the same values. What changes is the look, and sometimes the names players give the cards at the table. If you are curious about the history of these patterns, see our guide to types of playing card decks.

Players and the deal

The classic form is two players. It is also played three-handed, each for themselves, and four-handed in two teams, with partners sitting opposite each other. Six can play in three teams, though this is less common. For four players many Italians prefer scopone, covered under variants.

In scopa, dealing and play go counter-clockwise: the first to receive cards and the first to play is the player on the dealer's right.

1. Draw lots to choose the first dealer. After that, the deal passes to the next player in the direction of play.
2. The dealer shuffles and the opponent cuts.
3. Deal 3 cards to each player, face down.
4. Place 4 cards face up in the middle of the table.
5. The rest of the deck stays face down to one side.

When everyone has played their three cards, the dealer gives each player 3 more, but adds nothing to the table: the table only holds what players have left there. This continues until the deck runs out. With 36 cards left to deal after the opening 4, the rounds work out like this:

Three kings on the table: redeal

If the 4 opening table cards include three or four kings, the hand is cancelled and the same player shuffles and deals again. The reason is arithmetic: a king can only capture another king (a matching card always takes priority over a sum), and with too few kings left in the deck nobody could clear the table for the whole hand.

How to play scopa: capturing

The player on the dealer's right leads. On each turn a player places a single card from their hand face up, and one of two things happens:

• Capture. If the table holds a card of the same value, or a group of cards whose sum equals the value of your card, you take those cards together with the one you played and put them face down in your pile.
• Discard. If your card cannot capture anything, it stays on the table with the others.

The three capture rules

1. Matching value. A 5 takes a 5. If there are two fives on the table, you choose one of them, but only one.
2. By sum. If no card matches your value, you may take two or more cards that add up to exactly that value. A re (10) can take a 6 and a 4, or a 7, a 2 and an ace. If several combinations are possible, you choose.
3. The matching card comes first. If the table has both a card of your value and a group that adds up to the same, you must take the matching card and leave the group. This rule settles more arguments than any other, and it is the biggest difference between scopa and escoba.

An example of the third rule: the table has a fante (8), a 5 and a 3. You play your fante. Even though 5 and 3 make 8, you have to take the other fante, and the 5 and 3 stay on the table. If there were no fante on the table, you could take the 5 and the 3.

Another point people often ask about: one card makes one capture. If you play a 7 and the table has a 4, a 3, a 5 and a 2, you can take 4 + 3 or 5 + 2, but not all four cards at once, even though they form two groups of seven.

Do you have to capture?

You are free to choose which card to play, including one that captures nothing. What you cannot do, under the most common rule, is play a card that can capture and leave it on the table without taking anything. If the card you play can capture, it captures. Some tables, especially in scopone, leave this to the player; if you are playing with new people, agree on it before you start.

The scopa: sweeping the table

When a capture takes every card on the table, you have made a scopa and score a point. So it is not forgotten at the count, the card you made it with goes face up and sideways in your pile of captured cards. At the end of the hand these crossways cards are counted.

After a scopa the table is empty, and the next player has no choice but to leave a card there, which starts a new table.

There is one important exception: the last play of the hand never counts as a scopa, even if it clears the table. The last card of the hand is played by the dealer (or the dealer's partner), and if that play counted it would be an almost free point every hand.

The end of the hand

Once every card in the deck has been played, any cards left on the table go to the last player who made a capture. They count towards cards, denari and primiera, but not as a scopa.

Scopa scoring: cards, coins, settebello and primiera

At the end of each hand every player (or each team, combining their piles) goes through their captured cards. There are four fixed points at stake, plus one for each scopa:

With three players the thresholds drop: with 14 cards nobody can beat you for the cards point, because the other two only have 26 between them. If two players tie for the highest figure, nobody gets the point.

The primiera, step by step

The primiera (in some areas called settanta, "seventy") is the hardest point to grasp at first, and also the one that most often decides close hands. It works like this:

1. From your captured cards, pick the best card in each of the four suits.
2. Each card has a special primiera value, different from its capture value.
3. Add the four values. The highest total wins the point.
4. If you are missing a suit, you cannot win the primiera, even if your other three cards are sevens.

Two things stand out. First, the ace is worth more than the 5 even though it captures as a 1: this is the scale inherited from the old game of primiera. Second, court cards are the worst thing you can hold for this count. The highest possible primiera is 84, with all four sevens (4 × 21).

Primiera examples

A beats B 76 to 72, and the difference lies in the sevens: A has two and B only one, even though B has two sixes. As a rule of thumb, whoever has more sevens usually wins the primiera, and if sevens are level, whoever has more sixes. You only need to add things up properly when both piles have the same sevens and sixes. That is why hardly anyone does the sum at the table: you count sevens, then sixes, then aces.

Here is a full two-player hand as an example. Marco ends with 23 cards, 4 denari, the settebello, a primiera of 76 and two scope. Lucia has 17 cards, 6 denari, a primiera of 72 and one scopa. Marco scores cards, settebello, primiera and two scope: 5 points. Lucia scores denari and her scopa: 2 points.

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The game: to 11 or to 21

Points carry over from hand to hand, and the game ends when someone reaches the agreed target:

• 11 points: the classic target for two players.
• 16 points: common with three players.
• 21 points: usual for teams and for variants with extra points. Games to 31 are played when there are many bonuses.

Points are counted at the end of the hand, not during play, so you cannot claim the win mid-hand even if you hold the settebello and a scopa with 10 points on the board. If both players pass the target in the same hand, the one with more points wins. If they are level, another full hand is played.

Scopa and escoba: how they differ

Spanish escoba and Italian scopa are the same kind of game, and it shows in the table layout, the sweep and much of the scoring. They are not interchangeable, though, and players switching from one to the other tend to make the same mistakes. The full rules of the Spanish version are in our guide to escoba de 15; here is just what changes.

In practice this changes a lot. In scopa, a single card on the table is an invitation to whoever holds its twin, and the game revolves around pairs of matching cards. In escoba pairs mean nothing: what you watch is what you leave on the table so that nobody can complete fifteen. Italy also has a variant played exactly by adding to fifteen, scopa a quindici, described a little further down.

Scopa variants

Italy has dozens of local scopa variants. These are the five most widely played, and the ones worth knowing before you sit down at an Italian table.

Extra points many tables add

Besides the full variants, there are bonuses added to normal scopa by prior agreement. The most common:

With napola, a team holding the ace, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of denari scores 5 points, on top of the denari point if they have the majority. Because these bonuses push scores up, games with napola are played to 21 or 31.

Chitarrella's rules

Any serious discussion of scopone sooner or later brings up the name Chitarrella, whom many Italians regard as the authority on card game rules, much as Edmond Hoyle is in the English-speaking world. Two collections circulate under that name: one on tressette and its variant mediatore, and another, added later, on scopone, with 44 rules.

Who was Chitarrella?

Nobody knows. Tradition speaks of a Neapolitan priest who supposedly wrote his rules around 1750, and that date is repeated in many books and websites. Research into playing card history takes it apart:

• The famous 1750 edition has never turned up. The publisher who had mentioned it admitted he had made it up.
• The oldest surviving edition of the tressette rules dates from 1840, printed in Naples: a 16-page booklet with the Latin text on one side and the Italian translation on the other, organised into numbered chapters and sections like a legal code.
• The scopone rules do not appear in that edition or in any 19th-century one. Their first documented edition is from 1937, in Milan, presented as the second edition of a 1932 printing that has never been found.

The strongest theories place the origin of the texts among the lawyers and law students of 19th-century Naples, which is also where scopone became fashionable. The style, with very short sentences in mock Latin that sound like proverbs, fits that setting far better than an 18th-century cleric. In short, the rules are real and have been quoted for almost a century, but the author is a pseudonym and the texts are much younger than the legend claims.

What they say about scopone

Chitarrella's scopone rules are not a rulebook on dealing or scoring but a playing manual: which card to play in each situation. Their central idea, picked up by every later text, is that the two teams have different goals:

• The dealing team (the mazzieri) has the advantage of playing the last card of the hand and taking whatever is left on the table. Their game is to keep the cards paired: if a 6 lands on the table, they try to bring out the other 6, so the number of cards of each value stays even and captures follow a predictable rhythm.
• The leading team tries the opposite: sparigliare, to unpair. They do it by capturing by sum (an 8 taking a 5 and a 3), which leaves the remaining fives and threes in odd numbers and throws off the opponents' count.

All the other advice follows from this: remember how many cards of each value have been played, do not leave a card on the table whose twin your opponent may hold, and play the card your partner can cover. It sums up why scopone is known as a game of memory and calculation rather than luck.

Strategy: how to play better

Scopa looks like a game of luck on the first evening, and stops looking like one as soon as you start counting. These are the principles that make the most difference.

Watch the table total

The highest card value is 10. So if the table adds up to 11 or more, nobody can make a scopa with the next card (in scopa d'assi the ace is the exception). Before you play, add up what will be left on the table. If your card leaves the table at 10 or less, you are offering your opponent a scopa: with a 4 and a 3 on the table, any 7 sweeps it.

The most dangerous case is leaving a single card on the table. Only do it if you know the other three cards of that value have already gone or are in your hand.

Count the cards of each value

There are four cards of each value. Keeping track of how many sevens, sixes or kings have gone is what separates the casual player from the one who wins. If three fives have gone and you hold the fourth, you can leave a 5 on the table without worry. If two have gone and you hold one, your opponent may have the last one.

Sevens count double

Every seven works for two points at once: the primiera and, if it is the seven of denari, the settebello. A seven is also a useful capturing card on almost any table. When you can choose between two captures, the one that gets you a seven is nearly always better. A sensible order of priority is: settebello, other sevens, sixes, denari and, last, number of cards.

Take more cards when nothing else matters

If two captures are equal for primiera and denari, take the one with more cards. For example, with a re you can take a 7 and a 3, or a 6, a 3 and an ace: if sevens are not a concern, the second capture adds one more card towards the cards point.

Think about the end of the hand

Cards left on the table at the end go to the last player who captured. The dealer plays the last card of every hand and has the edge in taking them, so the opponent should try to capture in their final turns or leave little on the table. Holding back a card you know will capture in the last round is an easy way to collect a pile of cards at the end.

In teams: play for your partner

In four-player scopa and in scopone, your partner plays straight after the opponent who follows you, so every card you leave on the table is also a chance for them. If your partner leaves a 5, an opponent takes it with another 5 and you hold a third, playing it is usually safe: only one 5 is left in play. And if an opponent leaves a card your partner can capture, do not take it away without good reason. Everything is communicated through the cards, never through gestures.

Common beginner mistakes

• Taking a sum when a matching card is on the table. If you play a fante and there is a fante on the table, you take the fante, even if there is a 5 and a 3 next to it.
• Counting the last play as a scopa. The final sweep of the hand does not score.
• Giving the primiera to someone with three sevens and a missing suit. Without all four suits there is no primiera.
• Mixing up scopa and escoba. In classic scopa your card is not added towards fifteen: it is the value you need to match.
• Making two captures with one card. One card, one capture, even if the table has two groups with the same total.

If you enjoy capturing games and want more for two, our guide to two-player card games has scopa alongside other classics, and the one on card games for four or more covers team alternatives. For another long-session Italian game, see the burraco and scala 40 rules.

Italian table vocabulary

If you play with Italians or with an app in Italian, these are the terms you will hear.

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From €5 to over €100. The 52 cards and the rules stay the same; this is what changes.

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Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in a scopa deck?

40 cards in four suits of ten: ace to 7 and three court cards (fante, cavallo and re). With a 52-card poker deck, just remove the eights, nines and tens.

What are the fante, cavallo and re worth?

For capturing, the fante is worth 8, the cavallo 9 and the re 10. In the primiera, however, all three are worth 10 points each, less than any number card.

Do you have to take a matching card?

Yes. If the table has a card of your value, you must take that one and not a group adding up to the same. If there are two cards of your value, you choose one.

How is the primiera worked out in scopa?

Pick your best card in each suit and add their values: 7 = 21, 6 = 18, ace = 16, 5 = 15, 4 = 14, 3 = 13, 2 = 12 and court cards = 10. The higher total wins. If you are missing a suit you cannot win it, and if there is a tie nobody gets the point.

How many scopa points are there in each hand?

Four fixed points (cards, denari, settebello and primiera) plus one for every scopa. Cards, denari and primiera can go unclaimed if tied; the settebello is always awarded.

Does the last play count as a scopa?

No. A capture that clears the table with the last card of the hand does not score a scopa point, although the cards still count for the rest of the scoring.

How many points is a game of scopa?

11 points in the classic two-player version. In teams, or with extra bonuses such as napola, 21 is the norm, and sometimes 31.

What is the difference between scopa and scopone?

Scopone is always played by four, in two teams, and almost all the cards are dealt at the start (9 each with 4 on the table, or 10 with none). With no stock, you can work out the other players' hands, which makes the game far more tactical.

You do not need a special deck for scopa: if you have no Italian regional deck, any French-suited deck without the eights, nines and tens works just as well. Our shop has a selection of playing cards suited to scopa and many other table games.

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• Escoba de 15 rules
• Brisca rules
• Spanish deck games
• How many cards are in a deck
• Complete list of card games

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