How to Play

Traversone is the reverse-scoring Italian cousin of Tressette: a 4-player no-trump game using a 40-card Italian pack where Aces, 2s, 3s, and face cards carry point-counts and the lowest total wins after a series of deals to 21.

Traversone (also Tressette Rovescio, Rovescino, or Ciapanò) is the reverse-scoring cousin of the Italian partnership game Tressette. Four players, usually individual (no partnerships) in Traversone, use a 40-card Italian or Latin-suited pack and try to avoid capturing point cards in tricks. Card ranks and point values are inherited from Tressette (3 high, then 2, Ace, King, Knight / Cavallo, Knave / Fante, 7, 6, 5, 4 low), and roughly 11 point-counts per deal are distributed among the players; the lowest total wins. A full match is usually played to 21 points (lowest wins).

Players

4 players, each for themselves (no partnerships in Traversone; the parent game Tressette uses 2 vs 2). A 2-player head-to-head variant exists with a draw deck; a 3-player variant drops one card of the pack or uses uneven deals. The first dealer is chosen by any agreed method; deal rotates counter-clockwise (anticlockwise, the Italian convention).

Card Deck

A 40-card Italian or Neapolitan/Sicilian regional pack: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Knave (Fante), Knight (Cavallo), King (Re) in four suits (Coins, Cups, Swords, Batons for Italian packs; or convert to French suits by using a standard 52-card deck with 8s, 9s, and 10s removed). Within each suit the trick-winning rank from high to low is 3, 2, Ace, King, Knight (Cavallo / Queen in French-suited packs), Knave (Fante / Jack in French-suited packs), 7, 6, 5, 4. There is no trump suit.

Objective

Collect as few point-counts as possible across a series of deals. Every deal contains approximately 11 point-counts split among the players according to the point cards they capture; the player who finishes the match with the lowest cumulative score wins. A player who captures all 11 points in a single deal performs a cappotto (slam), scoring zero for that deal while each opponent gets the full 11 against them.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle the 40-card pack thoroughly; the dealer offers the deck to the player on their left for a cut.
2. Deal all 40 cards counter-clockwise, one at a time (or in small batches of 5 for 4 players) so every player receives exactly 10 cards. Leave no stock or widow; the deal is complete when every card is in someone's hand.
3. Misdeal: If any player has the wrong number of cards, or if a card is exposed during the deal, the deal is void and the same dealer redeals.
4. The player to the dealer's right (counter-clockwise from the dealer) is eldest hand and leads the first trick.

Gameplay

1. Leading the first trick: Eldest hand (the player to the dealer's right) leads any card to the first trick.
2. Trick structure: Play proceeds counter-clockwise. Each player in turn plays one card face-up to the centre. You must follow suit if you hold any card of the led suit; if you are void you may play any card you choose (trump does not exist).
3. Winning the trick: The highest-ranking card of the led suit wins the trick, using the Tressette order (3 > 2 > A > K > Knight > Knave > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4). The trick winner collects the four cards face-down in front of themselves and leads to the next trick.
4. Partnership signals (optional in Traversone): The classic Tressette family allows three kinds of in-play signals between partners: busso (knocking the table: 'play your best card of this suit'), volo (laying the card with a flick: 'this is my last card of this suit'), and striscio (sliding the card: 'I hold many in this suit'). In individual-play Traversone, these signals are usually dropped; in partnered Traversone they are retained but are used inversely, because you want your partner to keep their high cards out of the point-heavy tricks.
5. End of hand: The hand ends when every card has been played (10 tricks). Each player totals the point-counts in their captured tricks using the scoring values below; the counts are added to the running score.
6. Renege (revoke): Failing to follow suit when you could have is a renege; the usual penalty is to transfer the running-total of point-counts from the hand directly to the offender and zero to everyone else, or at the group's discretion an automatic 11 penalty points for that deal.

Scoring

• Card point-counts: Aces = 1 point each; 2s, 3s, and face cards (Knave, Knight, King) = 1/3 point each. There are four Aces (4 points) and four each of 2s, 3s, Knaves, Knights, and Kings (24 cards × 1/3 = 8 points), giving a total of 12 whole points per deal. In practice the last-trick bonus (see below) redistributes the fractional leftover so the final numbers are integers.A♠K♠
• Last trick bonus: The winner of the final (tenth) trick scores the leftover fractional points as a 1-point bonus (or a half-point in some groups). This makes integer totals possible. The traditional summary is that the deal has 11 points to distribute: Aces = 1 each (4), 2s/3s/face cards pool together as 6 points distributed by counts of thirds, plus 1 point for the last trick.
• Cappotto (slam): A player who captures every point-count in a deal (all 11 points including the last-trick bonus) performs a cappotto: they score zero for that deal and each opponent scores the full 11 points against them.
• Running total: Add each deal's score to each player's cumulative total. The match continues until any player reaches or passes the agreed threshold (21 points standard, occasionally 31).
• Partial fractions: When scoring by the thirds method, drop fractions of a point at the end of each deal from the player's per-deal subtotal; fractions do not carry between deals.

Winning

• Match winner: When any player's cumulative score reaches or passes 21 (or the agreed threshold), the hand is finished and scores are totalled. The player with the lowest score wins the match.
• Tie-breakers: If two or more players are tied on the lowest score at match end, play one extra deal between only the tied players; lowest in that deal wins. Repeat if necessary.
• Cappotto as an instant win: Some groups rule that a successful cappotto not only scores 0 / 11 for the deal but also ends the match immediately in the slammer's favour; declare this house rule before starting.

Common Variations

• Rovescino: Common name for the reverse-scoring Tressette family; essentially the same as Traversone with minor regional differences.
• Ko Manje: Croatian/Montenegrin name for the same reverse-scoring game, with the same 40-card Italian-style pack.
• Partnered Traversone: Play as two partnerships; use the Tressette signals in reverse. Lowest combined partnership score wins.
• Straight Tressette (not reversed): The parent game; points reverse (you want high point-counts). Use the same deck and mechanics, different scoring direction.
• No last-trick bonus: Drop the bonus point for the final trick; forces the game to settle on fractional subtotals or to rescale the values.
• Cappotto instant-win: A successful cappotto ends the match immediately in the slammer's favour rather than merely scoring 11 each on opponents.

Tips and Strategy

• Point cards are spread across ranks (Aces, 2s, 3s, face cards), so the danger is capturing any trick that happens to contain one. Shed your 3s and 2s early by under-playing to tricks you cannot win anyway.
• Void a suit deliberately. Once you are out of a suit, you can discard a 3, 2, Ace, or face card there as a safe throw-away.
• Leading the 4 of a suit is almost always safe: it is the lowest card and cannot win the trick.
• Track the 3s and 2s played. Once all the 3s are down, the 2 becomes the new top of its suit, and Aces become vulnerable to being captured on subsequent tricks.
• Under partnership rules, signal that you are long in a low-point suit (striscio) so your partner leads it; both of you then dump high cards of other suits onto each other's safely-won tricks.
• Cappotto attempts are rare but possible with a hand of 3s, 2s, Aces, and face cards across multiple suits. If you see yourself stacked that way, consider going for it because a successful cappotto shifts the deal from -3 to -0 instead of -3 to -11.

Glossary

• Tressette (parent game): The positive-scoring Italian trick-taking partnership game of which Traversone is the reverse-scoring variant.
• Rovescino / Ciapanò / Ko Manje: Regional names for the same reverse-scoring game.
• Point-count: The fractional or whole point value of a captured card; 1 for Aces, 1/3 for 2s, 3s, and face cards in the traditional scoring.
• Cappotto (slam): A single-player sweep of all point-counts in a deal; scores 0 for the capturer and 11 for each opponent.
• Busso / Volo / Striscio: Tressette's three traditional table signals in partnership play; rarely used in individual Traversone.
• Eldest hand: The player to the dealer's right (counter-clockwise deal direction); leads the first trick.
• Follow suit: Play a card of the led suit if you hold one; mandatory in Traversone.