How to Play

Tunisia's national card game, a Scopa-family fishing game on a 40-card deck where capturing clears the table for a bonus chkobba point.

Chkobba is the most popular card game in Tunisia, a fast fishing game in the Scopa family played with a 40-card deck. On your turn you play one card from your hand to the table. If it matches a table card in value, or if it matches the sum of several table cards, you capture all those cards into your scoring pile. If it matches no combination, it simply joins the table. Clearing every card from the table with a single play is a chkobba, worth a bonus point. After the deal is exhausted, partnerships or players score for captured diamonds, the seven of diamonds (the bermila), the overall card majority, and each chkobba earned along the way. Matches are played to 11 or 21 points.

Players

Two players head to head, or four players in two partnerships with partners sitting opposite. Three-player Chkobba is possible but uncommon, with each player scoring for themselves.

Card Deck

• A 40-card pack made from a standard French-suited deck by removing all 8s, 9s, and 10s; or a 40-card Italian/Spanish-suited pack of the same composition.
• Card values (used for capturing): Ace = 1, 2 through 7 = face value, Jack = 8, Queen = 9, King = 10.A♠K♠Q♠J♠
• The seven of diamonds is called the bermila and scores a dedicated point.
• Diamonds (or coins, in a Latin-suited deck) are the scoring suit.

Objective

Be the first player or partnership to reach the agreed target score (usually 11 points, sometimes 21) by capturing cards in a way that wins you the most captured cards, the most diamonds, the bermila, and as many chkobbas (sweeps) as possible.

Setup and Deal

1. Choose a dealer for the first hand (low cut takes the first deal); the deal rotates counter-clockwise thereafter.
2. Shuffle and deal three cards to each player, one at a time.
3. Deal four cards face up in the centre of the table.
4. If the four table cards include three or four kings, redeal: three kings on the table is considered an unplayable opening because kings can only capture other kings.
5. The rest of the pack is set aside face down; after each player's three cards are used up, the dealer deals three more to each player (no further cards go to the table) until the stock is exhausted.

Gameplay

1. Play a card. Starting with the player to the dealer's right, each player plays one card face up from their hand onto the table.
2. Capture by rank. If the played card matches the rank of a single card on the table, take both cards into your scoring pile, played card on top.
3. Capture by sum. If the played card matches the sum of two or more table cards (for example, a 7 capturing a 3 and a 4, or a King capturing a 6 and a 4), take all of those cards together with the played card.
4. Rank match trumps sums. If one or more table cards are of the same rank as the played card, you must capture them by rank; you may not pick up a summing combination instead.
5. Jacks, Queens, and Kings. Face cards can only capture matching face cards, since their values (8, 9, 10) are impossible to reach with 2 through 7 combinations alone unless a face card of that value is present on the table.
6. No capture. If no single card and no combination of table cards matches your played card, the card stays on the table face up, becoming catchable on a later turn.
7. Chkobba. If your play captures every card on the table, you score a chkobba: place the capturing card face up on top of your pile so the bonus is visible at hand end. Capturing the final card of the deal's last trick does not score a chkobba because no cards are left to sweep.
8. Redeal. After every player has played their three cards, the dealer deals three more to each player (no more cards are placed on the table) and play continues. When the stock is empty and hands are emptied, the hand ends.
9. End of hand. The last player who made a capture takes any remaining table cards into their scoring pile (this does not score a chkobba).

Scoring

• Cards (carte): 1 point to the player or partnership with the most captured cards overall.
• Diamonds (denari): 1 point to whoever captured the most diamonds (of the ten in play).2♦7♦J♦
• Bermila: 1 point for capturing the seven of diamonds.
• Chkobba: 1 point for each sweep of the table during play.
• Tie on cards or diamonds: the point is not awarded that hand (some local rules give the point to whichever side took the very last capture).
• Match target: Play deals until one side reaches 11 points (short game) or 21 points (long game). If both sides reach the target on the same hand, the side with the higher total wins; if still tied, play one more hand.

Winning

A hand ends when all cards have been dealt and played. Scores are tallied, and the match ends when one side crosses the agreed target. In partnership play, partners share their captured cards and bermila/chkobba bonuses, calculating each hand's score as a team.

Common Variations

• Two-player Chkobba: The standard form, with the same rules as above; the player who captures last at hand end takes any remaining table cards.
• Partnership Chkobba: Four players in two fixed pairs, partners sitting opposite. Partners combine captures and announce nothing that reveals their hand.
• Bastra-style sum cap: Some North African houses allow capturing only single cards and single sums but never both at once even when available; standard Tunisian rules keep rank-match priority.
• Scopa scoring (primiera): Rarely added in Tunisia, this extra point awarded to whoever has the strongest four-suit combination of primiera values (7, 6, A, 5, 4, 3, 2, K, Q, J in order), mirroring Italian Scopa.7♠6♠A♠5♠4♠3♠2♠K♠Q♠J♠
• Target 16: A middle-length match used at family tournaments, shorter than 21 but more decisive than 11.

Tips and Strategy

• Track the bermila. Once the seven of diamonds appears on the table or in a capture pile, the risk of losing that point is fixed; until then, hold a 7 or a matching combination ready.
• Watch the table total. If the table totals 10 or less with ranks that match a single card in your opponent's hand, you are offering a chkobba. Leave residues like a jack and a king (unsumable by the 2-7 cards) whenever you can.
• Prefer captures that remove diamonds even when a non-diamond capture is equally large; diamond majority is worth a full point.
• Keep your last card of the hand in mind. Players who end a hand with the final capture grab any leftover table cards, tipping the card majority point in their favour.
• In partnerships, signal through play: leading a card that only your partner can usefully capture is safer than leaving table totals that the opponents can sweep.

Glossary

• Chkobba: A sweep of the entire table, scoring 1 bonus point.
• Bermila: The seven of diamonds, worth 1 point for its capturer.
• Denari: Diamonds (in French-suited play); the scoring suit.
• Yejri: The Tunisian term for the initial deal of 3 cards each plus 4 on the table.
• Redeal: Handing out three fresh cards to each player once hands are empty; no new table cards are added.
• Primiera: A rare Italian-style bonus point, not standard in Tunisian Chkobba.