Scopa (card game)

Scopa ( Italian for broom) is a popular Italian card game. The Italian-Spanish hand is usually played . This exists in different regional versions. The Neapolitan cards ( carte napoletane ) or the cards from Piacenza ( carte piacentine ) are popular. Mostly it is played in pairs. However, there are a lot of game variants that can differ in number of players, counting methods, rules and cards used. One of the most common variants is probably the Scopone , which is played with four people.

Neapolitan cards

The cards

The game has 40 cards in four colors. These are traditional

• denari - gold, represented as coins (also called suns)
• bastoni - bars
• coppe - chalices
• spade - swords

In all colors the values ​​of the cards run from one to ten, whereby the ace is the one with only one depicted object, the cards two to seven show the respective number of objects accordingly. The eight is (as Jack fante ), also called lady (depending on the deck Donna shown), the Nine as a rider ( Cavallo ) and the ten as King ( re ). These values ​​apply during the course of the game, but not when counting (see below).

Points

A game consists of several rounds. Rounds are played until the cards are used up, i.e. all forty cards in the tricks of the players. A game, however, usually ends when a score of 11 or 21 is reached, less often also of 16. Points are always counted at the end of each round. There are five ways to earn points. These result as follows:

There is one point each

• for a scopa . A scopa is achieved when a player can remove all cards from the table during the game. He "sweeps" or "sweeps" the table empty, hence the name "Scopa" (broom). Each individual scopa also counts one point. So several points can be made here. It should be noted that the last card of a round cannot be used as a scopa , as it always takes all cards off the table.

There is also exactly one point for the player or the party

• with most cards ( carte ): the values ​​of the cards are irrelevant, only the number counts. If both have 20 cards, this point is not distributed.
• with most gold cards ( denari ): Here, too, no point is awarded if there is a tie.
• with the coin sieve ( settebello ).
• with the better primiera . A primiera is a combination of four cards with one card of each color. For this purpose, when each party is counted, the best card of each color is laid out from the tricks won, whose eyes are now added together. It should be noted that - similar to German card games - the eyes of the cards differ from their ranking during the game according to card value. The individual cards count in the primiera as follows:
  • Seven: 21 eyes
  • Six: 18 eyes
  • Ass: 16 eyes
  • Five: 15 eyes
  • Four: 14 eyes
  • Three: 13 eyes
  • Two: 12 eyes
  • Picture cards: 10 eyes

If the eyes of both primiera are the same, this point also lapses. If a player or a party of one color has no cards at all, i.e. the primiera consists of only three cards, this point is automatically assigned to the opposing party. In the rare event that both have only three colors in their tricks , you regularly add up the eyes of both primiera from three cards. In many cases, with a little practice, it is enough to place the two primiera opposite one another to see which one is the most valuable . A common and much simpler variant of the counting method can be made by checking who got more sevens. If both have two, you see who got more sixes, then who got more aces, and so on. This has the advantage that almost no tie can be achieved.

Example of a primiera

In the tricks of one player, the highest cards are the gold seven, the rod seven, the goblet ace and the sword ace. Here the eyes add up with 21 + 21 + 16 + 16 = 74. As a result, the opponent must have the other two sevens (chalice and sword) and the corresponding sixes. If he also had the gold six and the staff six, he would have won with 78 points (21 + 21 + 18 + 18). The alternative way of counting would have come to the same result, since with this assumption the opponent has all sixes. If both players had two sevens and two sixes in the primiera, there would be no point for one side according to conventional counting, as there would be a tie. The alternative way of counting would now ask who has more aces in the tricks, then who has more fives, and so on.

In an alternative way of playing, another point is awarded to the player or the party

• with the golden king ( re bello ).

Course of the game

In Italy, the game is usually played counterclockwise. This means that after the dealer has determined, he lets the player cut on the left if requested, deals three cards face down to each and four face up in the middle of the table. Usually this is done in the following order: one on the table, one to each player, one more on the table, one more on each player, and so on, until everyone has three and there are four on the table. The rest of the cards remain face down as a talon .

Each player now plays exactly one card. Playing this card is compulsory, it is not allowed to pass. Cards can be swept in if the value of the card played is equal to the value of a card lying on the table or corresponds to the sum of several table cards. You can think of this process as a purchase where you buy place cards with cards from your hand. If the value of the card played corresponds exactly to the value of a table card, this must be swept in. If this is not the case, any other combination with the same sum of values ​​can be used. In principle, however, if you can buy, you have to buy. However, a player can place any card he wants to and can thus avoid an unwanted purchase, which is quite common, by playing a card that does not match any card or combination on the table. (One variant of the game tightens the rule that a single card has to be bought if possible, and stipulates that the combination of the fewest cards must be used. Alternatively, you can of course do without these rules altogether in order to have more freedom when stinging).

So after playing a card, the player, if he can buy, crosses both his hand and the cards he bought, or if this is not possible, leaves it to display a card, so that now after the first move five Cards would be face up on the table. Then it is the next player's turn.

If someone does a scopa , i.e. buys up all the cards from the table, the next player has to play one of his cards on the empty table without having any other option. This card is then of course quite easy to smear in a scopa and should therefore be considered. If, for example, three riders have already taken the tricks, it is advisable to play the fourth rider, if you have it, because it cannot be bought on the next move and the following player can only put it down again.

When the three cards in hand are played in this way, the dealer gives each player three more. Until all cards are played. The very last card played that takes a trick automatically takes all remaining place cards with it, without this being a scopa , regardless of whether the values ​​of the hand card and place cards coincide by chance or not.

Now the winning points are counted and noted, whereupon the player to the right of the dealer becomes the dealer of the next round.

The game ends when a player reaches 11 points or 21 points. If two players get exactly 11 (21) points in the last round, the type of scoring decides the winner, whereby the value of the decisive point always applies strictly in the order carte , denari , settebello , primiera , scopa . If a team fills up the 11 (21) points with carte , the opposing party with a scopa , the one with carte wins .

Example of buying up

If there are an ace (1), a three, a four, a six and a king (10) on the table, placing one king would force the other king to be picked up; picking up four and six is ​​not permitted. Placing a seven, however, allows the combination of ace and six (1 + 6 = 7), as well as three and four (3 + 4 = 7). Playing an eight, in turn, would force the picking up of ace, three and four (1 + 3 + 4 = 8) as this would be the only way to buy, but must also be bought when can be bought.

variants

The rules described above are usually played in pairs, but you can also play in groups of three without changing the rules. With four players there are three possibilities that each player plays for himself, that, as in skat , the dealer fails to play, or that you form two parties, with the players sitting opposite each other always playing together. With the latter option, however, the rules are often slightly changed to a variant called Scopone.

Scopone

The main change in Scopone is that there is no talon, but all cards come into play at the beginning. To do this, the dealer deals three cards, deals two face down in the middle, deals three cards again, puts another two in the middle and then again deals three cards to each player. If all players now have nine cards in hand, the four in the middle are revealed. If there are three or four kings on the table at the beginning, it is thrown together and the same dealer deals again. As a variant of this, all players can also get ten cards in hand, so that the first player has to play on an empty table (Scopone scientifico).

Scopa d'Assi

In this variant, the rules of Scopa are played according to the rules described above, except that placing an ace buys all table cards. This may or may not be counted as scopa , depending on how you want to arrange it. If there is already an ace on the table, when you play an ace only this is bought, all other cards then remain.

Scopa a Quindici

A variant that takes a bit of getting used to is the Scopa a Quindici, in which a card does not buy place cards of the same value, but takes one or more cards with it, which add up to 15, so that, for example, a king takes a two and a three could, or a five.

Another variant

Another variant accelerates the flow of the game without major changes. Based on the standard Scopa, it is also initially played with 3 cards in hand and four cards on the table. The rest is on the table ( talon ). The game can be played with two to four players, each playing against each other. If a hand is empty, the player only receives one new card from the dealer (and does not receive three new cards from the talon ). If he can buy with the newly received card, he may do so immediately. For the sake of simplicity, the primiera is ignored in the count. Most cards, most suns (coins), most sevens (alternatively the sixes or aces), the owner of the seven sun (coin) and the points from individual scopas count. This type of counting speeds up the flow of the game. The tactical elements are retained, but allow a slightly more variable number of players.

Of course, all of the variants mentioned can also be combined with one another.

tactics

An essential element in the tactical considerations of a player must of course be to work towards as many of the five goals as possible, whereby the most points can be scored with many scopes . But the different goals are also differently difficult to achieve. So the settebello , the gold seven can be an easy-to-calculate point, especially if you get them yourself. At the same time, it should be considered in every move that the opponent, who is always the next end of the game, can prevent these goals. Here, too, it is of course mainly important to avoid an opposing scopa by playing in such a way that more than ten points remain on the table, as these cannot all be bought in one go. It is also very clever to leave a single card on the table, of which kind you still have two in your hand. The opponent's chance of being able to buy this card is very small, whereas the probability that it will stay until it is your turn to move is quite high. So saving up good purchases can definitely make sense. However, it is always difficult to play on the empty table after a scopa .

For this and in order to be able to predict individual tricks, it is important to remember as precisely as possible which cards have already been played, of course especially for the cards with high points and the cards with a high number of pips. Only in this way can certain things be consciously avoided in the decisive final tricks. For example, if you know that all kings and three riders have already passed, a single rider on the table can no longer be bought, so it inevitably goes to the end of the game. Since the rules of the game require little attention, this counting characterizes a good Scopa or Scopone player, although the latter can of course play more tactically because he knows nine or ten cards from the start. In the opposite direction, people like to play quickly and with half-drawn cards in order to provoke the opponent to make mistakes.

Incidentally, since cards that have been crossed out always have to be even, you can use place cards and your own hand cards to easily calculate whether the other person's last card is even or odd.

swell

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