Scopa is the card game you are most likely to find on a table in an Italian bar, and it asks for nothing more than a forty-card Italian deck. The four suits are coins, cups, swords and clubs, and each one runs from ace up to seven and then three court cards — knave, knight and king — which count as eight, nine and ten whenever you are matching values. Two, three or four people can play. At four it becomes a partnership game: partners sit opposite one another and pool everything they capture.
Playing a hand
The dealer gives three cards to each player and turns four face up in the middle of the table. On your turn you play exactly one card from your hand. If it matches the value of a single table card you capture that card; if it matches the total of two or more table cards you capture the whole group. When both a single card and a combination would work, the single card wins — you do not get to pick the more profitable capture. A card that matches nothing stays face up on the table and becomes material for whoever plays next. Once every hand is empty the dealer deals three more, and so on until the deck runs out. Whoever made the last capture of the hand also takes any cards still lying on the table.
Sweeps
A capture that clears the table completely is a scopa, or sweep, and it is worth one point immediately. Players usually leave the capturing card face up in their pile so the sweeps can be counted afterwards without argument. There is one exception: the final capture of the last deal never scores a sweep, because the table would have been emptied anyway. Sweeps are the reason strong players keep track of what has already gone and avoid leaving the table on a total an opponent can reach.
The four points
With the deck exhausted, four further points are settled. One goes to whoever captured the most cards, one to whoever captured the most coins, one to whoever took the seven of coins — the settebello — and one for primiera. Primiera is decided by taking your best card in each of the four suits and adding up their special values: a seven counts twenty-one, a six eighteen, an ace sixteen, a five fifteen, a four fourteen, a three thirteen, a two twelve and any court card ten. The highest total takes the point. If two sides tie on cards, coins or primiera that point is simply not awarded; only the settebello can never be split.
Reaching the target
Hands follow one another until somebody reaches eleven points, which is the usual finishing line. Some tables prefer sixteen or twenty-one; the scoring is identical, the game just lasts longer. If two players cross the target in the same hand the higher total wins, and a genuine tie means one more hand.
Keeping score with Score Buddy
Score Buddy sets Scopa to a target of eleven points and offers +1, +2 and +3 quick buttons above the keypad, which covers most hands. At the end of a hand tap a player, add up their sweeps together with whichever of the four points they took, enter the total and confirm. The standings reorder themselves and show how far each player still has to go.