Scopa rules and scoring explained: primiera, settebello and scopa

01Scopa in one minute

Scopa is the best-known Italian fishing game. Cards lie face up in the middle, and on your turn you play one card from your hand to capture table cards that match its value or add up to it. If your capture empties the table, that is a scopa, the Italian word for broom, and it scores a point. When the pack runs out, each side counts its pile for four more points: most cards, most coins, the settebello and the primiera.

The quickest way to learn is to read the rules below once and then play Scopa online free against the Easy computer with capture hints switched on. The game highlights what each card can take, so the rules become habit within a few hands.

02The Scopa deck and card values

Scopa uses the 40-card Italian deck. The four suits are Coppe (cups), Denari (coins), Bastoni (batons) and Spade (swords), and each suit has an Asso, the numbers 2 to 7 and three figures: Fante, Cavallo and Re. If you only have a French-suited pack at home, remove the 8s, 9s and 10s and use Jack, Queen and King for the figures.

For capturing, every card has a number and the suit never matters:

• Asso counts 1.
• 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 count their face value.
• Fante counts 8, Cavallo 9 and Re 10.

03How the deal and turns work

In Scopa for two or for four in pairs, each player gets 3 cards and 4 cards are laid face up on the table. If three or four Re turn up on the table at the deal, the hand is dealt again, because with that many kings on show the game would be lopsided. Play goes counter-clockwise, to the right, starting with the player on the dealer's right.

When every player has used their three cards, three more are dealt to each, but nothing new is added to the table. In a two-player game that gives six rounds of three, and with four players three rounds. The hand ends when the last card from the pack has been played.

04Scopa capturing rules that settle most arguments

Play one card per turn. If a table card has the same value, you take it. If nothing matches, you may take any group of table cards that adds up to your card's value. Three rules sit on top of that, and they are where beginners go wrong:

• If you can capture, you must. You choose which card to play, but once played, a card that can take something has to take it.
• A single card beats a sum. With a 7 on the table and also a 4 and a 3, your 7 must take the single 7. If two 7s are there you pick which one.
• When several sums are possible, you choose. A Re (10) facing a 6, a 4, a 3 and a 7 can take 6 and 4, or 3 and 7. Our game shows both options and you tap the one you want.

05What counts as a scopa, and when it doesn't

A scopa is any capture that leaves the table completely empty. Each one is worth 1 point at the end of the hand, and in a close match the scope often decide the winner. Players traditionally mark them by placing one card face up across their pile.

There is one exception: sweeping the table with the very last card of the hand is not a scopa. At that point the remaining cards go to the last player who captured anyway, so the final sweep would be a free point. Those cards still count towards everything else. Under the Asso piglia tutto house rule, an Asso that sweeps the table is also not a scopa.

06Scopa scoring: the four points at the end of a hand

When the last card is played, the last player who captured takes whatever is left on the table. Then each side, one player in a two-player game or a pair of partners in a four-player game, counts its pile:

• Carte: most cards, so 21 or more. At 20 and 20 the point goes to nobody.
• Denari: most coin cards, so 6 or more. At 5 and 5 nobody scores.
• Settebello: 1 point for the 7 of Denari, the beautiful seven.
• Primiera: 1 point for the best set of four cards, one per suit, explained below.
• Scope: 1 point for each scopa made during the hand.

07How to count the primiera: a worked example

The primiera is the point people ask about most. Each side takes its single best card in every suit, using a special scale, and adds the four values. The higher total wins the point; a tie gives it to nobody. The scale is: 7 is 21, 6 is 18, Asso is 16, 5 is 15, 4 is 14, 3 is 13, 2 is 12 and every figure is 10. The highest possible primiera is 84, four sevens.

Here is a real hand. At the end, you hold the 7 of Coppe and the 7, 6 and Asso of Bastoni, plus the 6 of Denari and the 6 of Spade. Your opponent holds the 7 of Denari, the 7 of Spade, the 6 of Coppe and the 5 of Bastoni as their best cards.

• You: Coppe 7 (21) + Denari 6 (18) + Bastoni 7 (21) + Spade 6 (18) = 78.
• Opponent: Coppe 6 (18) + Denari 7 (21) + Bastoni 5 (15) + Spade 7 (21) = 75.

08A full hand scored, start to finish

Staying with the same hand: you captured 23 cards and your opponent 17, so Carte is yours. Your opponent took 6 Denari, including the settebello, against your 4, so Denari and Settebello are theirs. The primiera is yours, 78 to 75. During the hand you made two scope and your opponent one.

That gives you 1 (Carte) + 1 (Primiera) + 2 (Scope) = 4 points, and your opponent 1 (Denari) + 1 (Settebello) + 1 (Scopa) = 3 points. A match is played to 11, 16 or 21. You win by reaching the target with more points than the other side; if both pass it in the same hand the higher score wins, and if the scores are level you play another hand.

09Scopa vs Scopone: what changes

Scopone is Scopa for four players in two partnerships, with bigger hands and more planning. The scoring is the same: Carte, Denari, Settebello, Primiera and scope, usually played to 21 points.

• Scopa a 4: 3 cards each and 4 on the table, more threes dealt until the pack is gone.
• Scopone scientifico: all 40 cards dealt, 10 each, and the table starts empty, so the first card always lies down. With every card dealt from the start, strong players can work out a lot about the other hands.
• Scopone classico: 9 cards each and 4 on the table.

10House rules: Napola, Re bello and Asso piglia tutto

Many families add bonus points or special captures. These three are the most common, and each is an optional switch in our game:

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

11Scopa vs Briscola

Both games use the same 40-card deck, which is why Italian families often play them back to back, but they work very differently. Scopa is a fishing game: there are no tricks, no trumps, and you score by capturing the right cards from the table. Briscola is a trick-taking game with a trump suit, where card ranks and point values (Asso 11, Tre 10) matter more than sums. If you enjoy Scopa, read how to play Briscola next, and see our list of free card games for the whole family for more ideas.

12Play Scopa now

The best way to make the rules stick is to play a few hands. Play Scopa online free in your browser on phone or computer, with no download and no sign-up needed. Start against the Easy computer with capture hints on, then try Normal and Hard, which counts every card and looks ahead at your best replies. When you are ready, invite friends with a room link or code for Scopa a 4 or Scopone scientifico.