Capture cards from the table, and sweep it clean for a point.
The fishing game of Italy, and one of the most satisfying two-player games there is. You capture cards off the table by matching numbers.
40 cards — an Italian pack, or a 52-card deck with the eights, nines and tens removed. Ace counts 1 up to king counting 10.
Three cards each, and four cards face up on the table.
Play one card from your hand. Then:
If it matches the value of a card on the table, you capture that card. If it matches the total of several table cards added together, you capture all of them. If it matches a single card and also a combination, you must take the single card. If it captures nothing, it stays on the table.
Captured cards go face down in front of you.
Clear the entire table with a capture and you score a point immediately — a scopa. Turn one card sideways in your pile to remember it. The last card of the hand does not count as a scopa even if it empties the table.
When hands are empty, three more are dealt. When the deck runs out, whoever made the last capture takes any cards still on the table.
Most cards captured. Most coins (or diamonds). The seven of coins — the settebello. The primiera: the best set of one card per suit, valued seven 21, six 18, ace 16, five 15, four 14, three 13, two 12, court cards 10.
Plus a point for every scopa. Game is 11 or 21 points.