How to Play

Italy's national card game: a fishing game for 2 to 4 players on the 40-card Italian pack in which you capture table cards by matching rank or sum. Points go for Most Cards, Most Coins, the 7 of Coins, Primiera, and each scopa sweep; first to 11 wins.

Scopa (Italian for 'broom' or 'sweep') is one of Italy's three national card games and the archetypal fishing game: capture cards from the centre of the table by matching your played card's value to a single table card or to the sum of several. Clear the table with a single capture and you score a scopa (sweep), worth one bonus point. At the end of each deal, partnerships or players score 1 point each for Most Cards, Most Coins (Denari), the Sette Bello (7 of Coins), and the best Primiera (a special multi-suit ranking), plus 1 per sweep. First to the agreed target (usually 11 points, sometimes 21) wins. Played with the 40-card Italian pack, Scopa is fast, tactical, and deeply woven into Italian café culture.

Players

2, 3, or 4 players. The 2-player head-to-head form is the cleanest; the 4-player form is played in two fixed partnerships with partners sitting opposite and is the most social. A 3-player cutthroat form exists (no partnerships). For 6 players, two teams of three sit alternately around the table. Play runs counter-clockwise; deal rotates counter-clockwise after each hand.

Card Deck

A 40-card Italian deck with four suits (Coppe / Cups, Denari / Coins, Spade / Swords, Bastoni / Batons) and ranks Ace (1), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Fante (Jack, counts as 8), Cavallo (Knight, counts as 9), Re (King, counts as 10). A standard 52-card French pack substitutes by removing all 8s, 9s, and 10s, keeping Ace through 7 plus Jack, Queen, King. For scoring purposes the Coins suit (or Diamonds, in a French-suited substitute) is special and so is the 7 of Coins (the Settebello or Sette Bello). No trump suit.

Objective

Capture as many high-value cards as possible from the shared table. After the deal ends, the player or partnership that accumulates the most across the four fixed scoring categories (Most Cards, Most Coins, Settebello, Primiera) plus any scopas made during play wins that hand. Across multiple hands, first to 11 points (or 21 in longer matches) wins the match.

Setup and Deal

1. Cut for dealer; lowest card deals. Deal rotates counter-clockwise after each hand.
2. Shuffle the 40-card deck. Deal 3 cards face down to each player, one at a time counter-clockwise.
3. After dealing hands, turn 4 cards face up to the centre of the table. If 3 or 4 of those table cards are Kings, most rulebooks require a redeal because Kings (10-value) cannot be captured by sum combinations and the hand becomes unworkable.
4. The player to the dealer's right plays first.
5. When all players' hands are empty, the dealer deals another 3 cards to each (no new table cards) and play continues. Repeat until the stock is exhausted.

Gameplay

1. Play one card per turn. On your turn you must play exactly one card from your hand face up on the table.
2. Capture by rank match. If the played card matches the value of a single table card exactly (for example a 5 played onto a 5), you capture that card. Pick up both your played card and the matched table card and place them face down in your personal capture pile.
3. Capture by sum. If your played card's value equals the exact sum of two or more table cards, you may capture that entire combination. For example, a played 7 can capture a 3 + 4 together, or a 2 + 2 + 3. A played Re (King, 10) can capture a 4 + 6 or a Fante (8) + 2.
4. Mandatory-match rule. If a single table card matches your played card's rank exactly, you MUST capture that single card and may not take a sum combination instead. Only when no single rank match exists may you choose a sum capture.
5. Choice among sums. If several valid sum captures exist and no single-card match, you pick your preferred combination.
6. Trail (no capture). If nothing on the table can be captured by your played card, your card stays face up on the table for others to capture later.
7. Scopa (sweep). A capture that leaves the table empty scores a scopa (1 extra point). Mark it by placing one captured card face up in your capture pile.
8. Last-trick scopa exception. The very last capture of the deal (the last card played) does NOT score a scopa even if it empties the table. This is a universal Italian rule.
9. End of deal. When the stock is exhausted and all hands have been played, any cards still face up on the table go to the player or team who made the most recent capture.

Scoring

1. Carte (Most Cards): 1 point. Player or team with 21 or more of the 40 cards captured. Tied at 20 each: no point.
2. Denari (Most Coins): 1 point. Most cards of the Coins suit (6 or more of the 10). Tied at 5 each: no point.
3. Settebello: 1 point. Whoever captured the 7 of Coins scores this point.
4. Primiera: 1 point. Both sides pick their highest-scoring card of each suit from their capture pile and sum the Primiera scale: 7 = 21, 6 = 18, Ace = 16, 5 = 15, 4 = 14, 3 = 13, 2 = 12, face cards (Fante, Cavallo, Re) = 10. The higher 4-suit total wins the point. A team missing any suit entirely cannot win Primiera unless the other side is also missing more. Tied sums: no point.
5. Scope: 1 point each. Every sweep captured during play counts 1 additional point.
6. Match target. First to 11 points wins a short match. Longer matches use 16 or 21. If both sides cross the target on the same hand, the higher total wins; if tied, play another hand.

Winning

Each deal contributes points to the running score. The match ends when one player or partnership reaches the agreed target (commonly 11 points, sometimes 16 or 21) at the end of a hand. If both sides cross the target simultaneously, the higher total wins; if tied on the same total, play one more hand.

Common Variations

• Scopone: 4-player partnership version dealt with all 40 cards at the start (10 cards each, no table cards to begin). The purest strategic form of the fishing family, covered as a separate game.
• Scopa di Quindici: Instead of matching rank or sum, captures must total exactly 15 when the played card is added to the chosen table cards. A more challenging mental-arithmetic form.
• Scopa d'Assi (Asso piglia tutto): Every Ace captures everything on the table regardless of values, treating the Ace as a super-capture card. Does not score as a scopa unless it also leaves the table empty naturally.
• Cirulla (Ligurian): Adds bonus points for starting table totals of 15 and for capturing the 3 or 6 of Coins. Significant regional variant.
• Rebello: Adds the 6 of Coins as a second bonus card worth 1 point (alongside the Settebello).
• Napola: Capturing the Ace, 2, and 3 of Coins in the same hand scores a Napola bonus (3 points, extending by 1 per consecutive Coins rank held up to 10 points for Ace-7 of Coins).
• Escoba (Spanish): Widely played Spanish cousin that works exactly like Scopa di Quindici; capture totals of 15 with 3-card hands on a Spanish 40-card pack.

Tips and Strategy

• Never leave the table summing to 10 or less unless you want your opponent to sweep. With a King or other 10-value card in hand, a clean sum of 10 is a gift.
• Prioritise the 7 of Coins whenever possible. It earns the Settebello point outright, counts for Most Coins, and is the single most important Primiera card (21 points in the Primiera scale).
• Count captured coins throughout the hand. The Coins point plus Settebello is 2 of the 4 fixed points per deal, so tracking 5-or-more captured coins for your side is often the difference between winning and losing the hand.
• Save 7s. Primiera heavily favours 7s (21 points each); holding multiple 7s into the endgame gives you both sweep and Primiera leverage.
• Against the mandatory-match rule, trail cards that have duplicates likely to reappear. If you trail a 5 on turn 1, the next player is forced to capture it with any 5 they hold, which may not be their best line.
• In partnership Scopa or Scopone, avoid leaving the table set up for the opponent on the dealer's right (they play before your partner); instead clear or leave complex sums that only your partner's specific holding can capture.

Glossary

• Scopa: A sweep capture that empties the table; worth 1 bonus point. Also the name of the game.
• Settebello: The 7 of Coins; 1 point to whoever captures it.
• Denari: The Coins suit; has special scoring weight (most-coins point and Settebello).
• Primiera: The multi-suit highest-card category, scored using a special scale (7=21, 6=18, A=16, 5=15, 4=14, 3=13, 2=12, face cards=10).
• Carte: The most-cards category (21+ of 40).
• Fante, Cavallo, Re: The three Italian court cards, valued at 8, 9, and 10 respectively for capture and Primiera purposes.
• Trail: Playing a card that does not capture, leaving it on the table for others to capture later.
• Eldest hand: The player to the dealer's right, who plays first each hand.