How to play Scopa
Just want the rules? Read the complete Scopa rulebook.
Scopa is Italy's beloved capturing game - forty cards, three in your hand, four on the table, and a single beautiful idea: your card takes what it equals. Play a 7 onto a table holding a 7 and you take it; onto a 3 and a 4 and you take them both. Court cards join the arithmetic as jack 8, queen 9, king 10. Capturing is mandatory, an exact match beats a sum, and a card that takes nothing stays on the table for Emma to feast on - so watch what you leave behind. Clear the whole table and that's a scopa: a point on the spot.
- Round scoring - most cards, most coins (♦), the settebello (7♦) and the best primiera are a point each, plus every scopa.
- The primiera - your best card in each suit, with sevens worth most (21), then sixes (18) and aces (16).
- Game end - first to 11 points after a full round, with the lead.
- Click or drag - tap a hand card (then pick its capture when there's a choice) or drag it onto the table.
Strategy tips that win more rounds
- Guard the sevens. The settebello is a fixed point and sevens dominate the primiera - never trail a seven, and grab every one you can.
- Count to a safe table. Before trailing, add up what your card leaves behind: a table summing 10 or less hands your opponent a possible scopa.
- Remember the pairs. Each value exists exactly four times. If two kings are gone and you hold the third, your king can only be captured by the last one.
- Coins are quiet points. The diamond suit decides two categories (coins + settebello); when a capture choice is otherwise equal, take the ♦ option.
- The last capture inherits the table. Near the end of a round, capturing anything - however small - means the leftovers fall to you too.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of Scopa?
Scopa is an Italian capturing game for two players with a 40-card deck (ace to 7 plus the three court cards in each suit). You hold three cards, four lie face up on the table. On your turn you play one card: if it matches a table card by value, or adds up with several table cards to its value, it captures them - and capturing is mandatory. A card that captures nothing stays on the table. When the deck runs out the round is scored, and the first player to 11 points wins.
What are the card values in Scopa?
Pip cards count their face value, ace is 1, and the court cards are the top three numbers: jack 8, queen (cavallo) 9, king 10. A queen can therefore capture a 5 and a 4 together, and a king captures a 6 and a 4 - the court cards are pure capturing tools, they carry no extra points.
What does "scopa" mean and how do sweeps work?
Scopa is Italian for broom. When your card captures everything on the table - sweeping it clean - that is a scopa, worth one point, and the card is turned sideways in your pile to remember it. The only exception: the very last capture of a round never counts as a scopa, even if it clears the table.
How does scoring work in Scopa - cards, coins, settebello, primiera?
Four points are contested every round, plus sweeps: one for capturing the most cards, one for the most coins (the diamond suit here), one for the settebello (the 7 of coins), and one for the primiera - the best four-card "prime", one card per suit, where sevens count 21, sixes 18, aces 16 and so on. Tied categories award nobody the point. A player missing a whole suit can never win the primiera.
Is capturing mandatory in Scopa? Can I choose what to take?
If the card you play can capture, it must capture. When a single table card matches your card exactly, you must take that card rather than a combination adding to the same value. You only get a choice when several equal cards or several different sums are available - and you always choose which card to play from your hand in the first place.
Is Scopa the same game as Escoba?
They are close cousins, not the same game. Escoba (the Spanish version, also on this site) captures by adding to a fixed total of 15 with every card counted, while Scopa captures by matching your played card's own value. Scopa also adds the primiera and scores to 11 rather than 21. If you know one, you will learn the other in a hand or two.
More free card games
Scopa's Spanish cousin Escoba captures to a fixed 15 - try both and pick a side. Italy's other national game is Briscola, all tricks and trumps. And if adding to targets is your thing, Cribbage turns it into an art form.