Scopone Scientifico

How to play Scopone Scientifico

Scopone Scientifico — the "scientific" Scopone — is the deep, partnership form of Italy's beloved fishing game Scopa. What makes it scientific is the deal: the entire 40-card deck is dealt out, ten cards to each of four players and nothing on the table. Because every card is in someone's hand, a careful player can track all forty and plan the whole round. You and your partner sit across the table from each other and play as a team against two bots — or online with friends in real time.

Play Scopone online with friends

Want real partners and opponents? Choose Play online to be matched into a four-player game, or share a private invite link so all four of you play together right in the browser — no account and no app. The server deals the whole deck and keeps every hand in sync.

The cards

A 40-card Italian deck (Ace, 2–7, Jack, Queen, King in four suits). Capture values: Ace = 1, the pips at face value up to 7, then Jack 8, Queen 9, King 10. The "coins" suit is diamonds (denari), and the 7♦ is the settebello, the single most prized card.

Capturing

• On your turn you play one card from your hand to the table.
• If a single table card has the same value, you must take it (only single-card captures are allowed in that case).
• Otherwise you may take any set of table cards that sums to your card's value.
• Capture nothing and your card simply joins the table for others to fish.
• Clear the whole table with a capture and you score a scopa (+1) — except on the very last card of the round.

The first player faces an empty table, so the round opens with a placed card. When every hand is empty, the last side to have captured sweeps the cards still on the table.

Scoring

Captured cards are pooled by team. Each round awards: most cards (+1), most coins (+1), the settebello (+1), the primiera (+1, the best four-suit "prime" set — sevens are worth most, then sixes, then aces), and one point per scopa. A tie on a category scores nothing. The first team to 11 points wins.

Strategy

Scopone rewards memory and timing. Avoid leaving the table summing to a value your opponents can sweep, and try to keep cards that match what they'll be forced to place. Hunt the 7s and the settebello for both the points and the primiera, and remember the coins. Above all, play with your partner: feed them captures when they sit after an opponent, and set up a clean board for them rather than the other side. Tap a hand card, then tap the table cards you want to take. N starts a new game.