Scopa

How to play Scopa

Scopa uses a 40-card deck of four suits: Coppe (cups), Denari (coins), Bastoni (batons) and Spade (swords). Each suit runs Asso, 2 to 7, Fante, Cavallo and Re. Our cards are drawn in the Napoletane style with the value printed in the corner, and the Deck setting swaps them for French suits if you prefer Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades with Jack, Queen and King.

In Scopa for two or four players, everyone gets 3 cards and 4 cards go face up on the table. If three or four Re land on the table at the deal, the cards are dealt again. Play goes counter-clockwise, to the right, and the player on the dealer's right starts. When every hand is empty, each player gets 3 more cards, with nothing added to the table, until the pack runs out.

• On your turn you play exactly one card from your hand.
• If it can capture, you must capture and put the cards in your pile.
• If it can't capture anything, it stays face up on the table.
• When the last card of the hand is played, the last player who captured takes everything left on the table.

Scopa rules: card values and capturing

For capturing, every card has a number: Asso is 1, the 2 to 7 count their face value, Fante is 8, Cavallo is 9 and Re is 10. Suits don't matter for a capture, only the numbers.

A card takes a table card of the same value. If there is no match, it can take any group of table cards that adds up to its value: a Cavallo (9) can take a 5 and a 4, or a 6, a 2 and an Asso. One rule decides most arguments: a single matching card always comes before a sum. If a 7 is on the table, your 7 must take it, even if a 4 and a 3 are also there. With two matching cards you choose which one, and when several sums are possible the game shows you the choices.

What is a scopa?

A scopa happens when your capture leaves the table empty. It is worth 1 point at the end of the hand, and the cards are usually marked by turning one face up in your pile, which is where the word scopa, broom, comes from: you have swept the table clean.

There is one exception. Clearing the table with the very last card of the hand is not a scopa, because the table would be emptied anyway. That last capture still counts for cards, coins and primiera.

Scopa scoring: how points are counted

After each hand both sides count their piles. In two-player Scopa a side is one player; in four-player games it is a pair of partners sitting opposite each other. The results screen lists every item with the counts, so you can check how each point was won.

• Carte: most cards, so 21 or more of the 40. At 20 each nobody scores it.
• Denari: most coin cards, so 6 or more. At 5 each nobody scores it.
• Settebello: whoever took the 7 of Denari, the most famous card in the game.
• Primiera: the best set of four cards, one from each suit, counted with special values.
• Scope: 1 point for each scopa made during the hand.

How to count the primiera in Scopa

For the primiera each side picks its best card in every suit using these values: 7 is 21, 6 is 18, Asso is 16, 5 is 15, 4 is 14, 3 is 13, 2 is 12 and Fante, Cavallo and Re are 10 each. Add the four cards together and the higher total wins the point. A tie gives it to nobody.

Suppose you hold the 7 of Coppe and the 7 of Bastoni, plus a 6 of Denari and a 6 of Spade: 21 + 21 + 18 + 18 is 78. Your opponent has the other two sevens but only a 6 and a 5 in the remaining suits: 21 + 21 + 18 + 15 is 75, so the primiera is yours. You need a card in all four suits to count at all. A side missing a suit loses the primiera to a side that has all four.

Scopa a 4 and Scopone scientifico

Scopa a 4 is the same game in two pairs: 3 cards each, 4 on the table, more cards dealt in threes until the pack is gone. Partners add their piles together, so you play for your partner's captures as well as your own.

Scopone is the serious four-player version. In Scopone scientifico all 40 cards are dealt, 10 to each player, and the table starts empty, so the first card always stays down and every move can be planned from the very start. Scopone classico deals 9 cards each and puts 4 on the table. Scopone usually goes to 21 points, while Scopa matches are played to 11, 16 or 21.

Scopa house rules: Napola, Re bello and Asso piglia tutto

Families and regions add their own extras, and three of the most common are optional switches in House rules and speed:

• Napola: holding the Asso, 2 and 3 of Denari scores 3 points, plus 1 for each further coin card in an unbroken run, so the 4 and 5 of Denari make it 5.
• Re bello: the Re of Denari scores 1 extra point, a partner for the Settebello.
• Asso piglia tutto, also called Scopa d'assi: an Asso sweeps the whole table, but it is not counted as a scopa. If an Asso is already on the table, your Asso simply takes that one as a normal match.

Scopa strategy tips for beginners

Good Scopa players think one move ahead of the table. These habits will win you more hands:

• Watch the table total. If the cards add up to 10 or less, your opponent may hold that exact value and sweep. Leave a total above 10 whenever you can.
• Go after the sevens. Each one is the best primiera card in its suit, and the 7 of Denari is a point by itself.
• Take coin cards when the choice is otherwise equal. Denari decide one point and the Settebello another.
• Prefer captures with more cards. Carte is a whole point, and big captures also empty the table less dangerously.
• Count what has gone. If three 5s are in the piles, a 5 you play to the table is safe from a direct match.
• In the last round of the deal you can work out the remaining cards exactly, and remember that the last capture takes everything left.

Play Scopa online with friends or against the computer

Choose Play vs computer for a game straight away. Easy computers sometimes play loosely, which suits learners. Normal computers count cards and use solid rules of thumb. Hard computers count every card and look ahead: for each move they deal the next opponent many possible hands from the unseen cards, find that player's best reply and then their own best answer. A match against the computer is saved, so you can resume it later.

To play with friends, open Invite friends and share the room link, use the WhatsApp button, or give out the room code to type into the Have a room code? box. Friends take computer seats, the host can move them between seats, and empty seats stay with the computer, which also covers for a friend who drops out. Online rooms have emoji and short chat plus optional voice chat, and Quick match pairs you with other players when it is available.

On a computer, the number keys play the card in that position, L shows the last plays and Esc cancels a choice or opens the menu. On a phone, tap a card to see what it can take and tap again to play it. Capture hints, the lightbulb, highlight what each card can take. Signed-in players also collect achievements, such as Scopa master for beating Hard computers, and appear on the leaderboard.

In italiano: gioca a Scopa online gratis

Gioca a Scopa online gratis, direttamente dal browser del telefono o del computer, senza scaricare nulla e senza registrazione. Puoi sfidare il computer a tre livelli di difficoltà oppure giocare con gli amici condividendo un link o un codice stanza. Ci sono la Scopa a 2, la Scopa a 4 in coppia, lo Scopone scientifico e lo Scopone classico, con le regole facoltative della Napola, del Re bello e dell'Asso piglia tutto. Le carte sono napoletane da 40, ma con un tocco passi alle carte francesi.

Where Scopa comes from

Scopa belongs to a family of fishing games, where you capture table cards by matching them, that has been played around the Mediterranean for centuries. It is strongest in southern Italy, and Scopone scientifico has a classic set of rules traditionally credited to Chitarrella, a Neapolitan writer of the eighteenth century. Italian emigrants took the game abroad, which is why many Italian-American families call it Scopetta. Spain's Escoba is a close cousin in which captures add up to 15 instead of matching values.