BECKNERWEB · BEGINNER GUIDE

Read the table.

Scopa is an Italian capture game. Play one card, find its match, and build a strong captured pile. Your captured cards and sweeps earn points after a complete deal. The default match target is 11.

1. Meet the deck

The game has 40 original French-suited cards: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, J, Q, K in diamonds ♦, clubs ♣, hearts ♥ and spades ♠. Printed 8s, 9s and 10s are absent. Diamonds represent the traditional coins suit. The seven of diamonds is the settebello.

Capture values decide which table cards you can take. Primiera values are used only at end-of-deal scoring.

2. Deal and play order

The first dealer is chosen randomly. Deal three cards to each player, then four face up to the table. An initial table containing three or four kings is shuffled and redealt. The non-dealer begins in two-player play.

Four-player Scopa uses three-card hands too. Seats 1 and 3 are partners; seats 2 and 4 are partners. Seats are numbered clockwise around the table. Turn order is 1 → 4 → 3 → 2 → 1, beginning with the seat immediately to the dealer’s right. The dealer rotates the same way after every complete deal.

Every player plays exactly one card per turn. When all hands are empty, deal three more cards per player. Keep the table cards in place. A refill is not the end of a complete deal. Two-player deals have six three-card hands; partnership deals have three.

3. Choose a card and make a capture

1. Single-card priority. If your chosen card matches a single table card’s capture value, take one matching card. If several singles match, choose one.
2. Otherwise, add. If no single matches, take any one combination adding exactly to your played card’s capture value.
3. If nothing matches, leave it. An uncapturing card remains face up on the table.

You may choose any hand card, including one that cannot capture when another card could. But once you choose a card that can capture, you must make one legal capture. There are no special ace-sweep rules.

Examples: A 5 must take a table 5 rather than 2 + 3. Without a table 5, it can take 2 + 3. A jack (8) can take 6 + 2, or 5 + 3, if there is no matching single jack.

Tap a hand card to explore. Gold borders show possible captures. Use the numbered capture options or select table cards directly. Review the total, then press Confirm Capture or Play Card. Cancel selection leaves the position untouched.

4. Sweep the table

A capture clearing every table card is a scopa, meaning sweep, worth one point. Counts stay with the player or partnership for the entire deal. There are two important exceptions:

• A capture using the very last played card of the entire deal earns no scopa, even if it clears the table.
• At the deal’s end, the last player to make a capture takes all leftover table cards. This collection earns no scopa.

The played card joins your captured cards along with the cards you take. In partnerships, both partners contribute to the same pile.

5. Score the complete deal

Tied Cards, Diamonds or Primiera categories award no point. Settebello belongs to the side holding that specific card.

For primiera, take the highest primiera-value card in each suit from your captured pile and add the four values. You must have at least one captured card in every suit. Four sevens total 84. Seven, six, ace and king in different suits total 21 + 18 + 16 + 10 = 65. The scorecard shows each selected card and its value.

Finish the complete deal before deciding the match. If a side reaches 11 (or the selected 16 or 21), the higher total wins. Tied leaders continue another deal. Sweeps during play never trigger an early victory.

6. Start with a little help

Use Learn by playing for eight interactive lessons. Beginner and Easy offer optional position-specific tips. Suggest a move explains a legal possibility; you still confirm the turn. Suggestions and displayed contextual hints mark local results as assisted.

Sevens help primiera. Diamonds help the coins majority. The seven of diamonds is especially valuable. Before leaving a small total, consider whether the next player might sweep. Unknown cards remain unknown: hints describe risks as possibilities.

7. Computer levels

• Beginner: chooses randomly among legal moves.
• Easy: favors captures, the settebello, diamonds and sweeps.
• Medium: adds primiera values and estimates immediate sweep risks.
• Hard: weights sweep risks using publicly known cards, considers partnership alignment, and checks future captures from its own remaining hand.

All levels receive only their own hand, the public table, captured cards, public counts and scores. They cannot inspect opponents’ private hands or the order of the undealt deck. Hard is a heuristic opponent, not a guaranteed perfect player.

8. Private hands, keyboard and sound

Pass-and-play uses an Open my hand screen before each human turn. Hands are hidden when the page loses visibility. Other people can still inspect a shared device’s local backup, so only share exported progress with people you trust.

Use Tab and Shift+Tab to reach controls, Enter or Space to activate a card or button. Capture options offer a keyboard alternative to selecting individual table cards. Table cards and history have contained scroll regions. Settings include high contrast and reduced motion.

Voice narration is optional. Choose a device English voice, rate and volume. Stop Speaking cancels speech immediately and clears queued speech; Repeat Last Announcement repeats the latest eligible announcement. Private-hand speech requires a warning and reads cards only after the hand is open. Screen-reader turn announcements work with the game voice off.

9. Save and return

Local play automatically saves completed turns, including the exact deck order. Reloading restores the deal without reshuffling and discards unconfirmed selections. Export progress for a JSON backup; Import progress validates it before replacing the current match. A corrupt save is left untouched until you explicitly start or import another match. Export before clearing browser data.

Online play stores the authoritative game on the server. Join with a room code; reconnect with your private seat key. At least two human players must be ready. Four-seat rooms fill unused seats with computer players when the host starts. The host advances to the next complete deal. Rooms expire after 48 hours without activity.

Rule cross-check: Pagat’s Scopa rules. The three/four initial kings redeal convention is stated explicitly above. This installation offers standard Scopa, not Scopone or special ace-sweep variants.