How to play
Scopa (“broom” in Italian) uses 40 cards: ace to 7 and the jack, queen and king of each suit. Aces count 1, number cards their number, jacks 8, queens 9 and kings 10. It’s played by two, or by four in two teams with partners sitting opposite.
- The deal: three cards each and four face up on the table. When everyone’s hand is empty, three more each, until the deck runs out.
- Your turn: play one card. If a table card has the same value, you must take it (if there are two, you choose). Otherwise you may take any group of table cards that adds up to your card. If nothing matches, your card stays on the table.
- Scopa: taking every card on the table is a sweep and scores a point straight away, except on the very last play of the round.
- When the deck and hands are empty, whoever took cards last gets whatever is left on the table.
Scoring
After each round, one point each goes to the side with the most cards, the most diamonds, the 7 of diamonds, and the best prime, plus a point per scopa. The prime is your best card in each suit added up: a 7 is worth 21, a 6 18, an ace 16, then 5 (15), 4 (14), 3 (13), 2 (12) and court cards 10; you need a card in every suit to have a prime at all. Ties score nothing. The first side to 11 wins; if both pass 11 level, play another round.
Tips
Sevens are the cards to fight for: they decide the prime, and the 7 of diamonds is a point by itself. Before laying a card down, add up what you’d leave on the table; 10 or less invites a sweep. Taking with several small cards gets you more cards for the “most cards” point.