Scopa Card Game Rules: How Do You Play Scopa?
Setup: Choose the score sheets
Take out the two scorecards and keep the rest of the deck as is.
Shuffle the 40 playing cards remaining in the deck.
In a two or three players game, deal out three cards to every player, one at a time, starting with the player on the left.
In a four-player game, hand out nine cards to each player, one at a time—players sitting opposite each other at a table form partnerships.
Put four randomly chosen cards face up in the middle of the table.
Game Play: The Scopa card game rules dictate that the player to the left of the dealer starts. That player must either play a card that helps them “make a match” and capture an opponent’s cards or place one card on the table (known as trailing). If this is impossible, they may play a card equivalent to the total of two or more cards already on the table.
Players make a match when they play a card with the same numerical value (ignoring suits) as an existing card on the table. The captured card(s) and the card(s) from the player’s hand are both turned over and positioned face down directly in front of them. Players will not use these cards again until they take the final score for the round.
Illustration: Let’s say there’s a 6 of clubs, 1 of swords, and 5 of cups on the table, and the active player has a 2 of cups, 7 of swords, and 5 of coins; they can either place the 2 on the table (trailing) or play the 7 of swords and “make a match” with the 1 of swords and 6 of clubs, placing all three cards in front of them. Alternatively, they can take the 5 cups from the table and the 5 coins on hand and put them on the table in front of them.
Rules for Making a Match: If a card in the player’s hand can make a match, Scopa card game rules say they can’t play it as a trailing card. For instance, when there are 2 and 5 number cards on the table, the player holding a 7 card must either make that match or play a new card from their hand.
Scopa Scoring: Players achieve a Scopa when they make a match that removes every card on the table. Since they left no cards on the table, the following player must trail one onto the ground. Players only earn a point whenever they score a Scopa during a round.
Single Card Capture and Single Card Play: Scopa card game rules forbid a playing more than a single card during their turn. When a played card has the potential to capture multiple cards, the player is limited to capturing just one.
Round Continuation: Starting with the player on the left, the dealer gives out a new hand of three cards to each player after each player in a game of two or three has played their initial three cards, keeping the game on.
In a game with four players, all cards are dealt at the beginning and cannot be changed. Players repeat until there are no more cards in the deck and without adding more cards to the table.
Ending of the Round: If any remaining cards are on the table after the dealer has dealt the last card of the round, give them to the last player to make a match. If no player made a match in the last round, discard these cards and calculate the points.
Scoring: By the end of the round, players will have achieved 1 point for every Scopa, and they can now be awarded additional or bonus points of up to four points.
The player or team that successfully captures the most cards is awarded 1 point but no award if there is a tie.
The player who captures the most significant number of Coin cards is awarded a point with no award if there is a tie.
According to Scopa card game rules, the player who captures the Seven of Coins (or “sette bello”) is awarded 1 point.
Winning the Primiera is awarded 1 point and no award if there is a tie.
How to score Primiera: Select the highest Primiera value card from each suit card and find the sum of the four numbers. Note that 7, 6, and 1 are the highest Primiera value cards (21, 18, and 16 value each).
Winning a Scopa Card Game: When the game has two players, they should play the game until one reaches 11 points. If the game has three players, a round is considered won when one player has 8 points or more according to Scopa card game rules.
In a four-player Scopa game, the round ends in a game when one partnership has 15 points or more. The winner is the player or team with the most points if more than one meets the requirement. If no one wins that round, play can continue.
