Scopa is a game using the Italian 40 card deck. Players start with 3 cards in their hand and an additional 4 cards are dealt face up on the table. The aim is to match in value 1 of your 3 cards to 1 or more of the open table cards. So if you have a king in your hand (worth 10 points for a capture) and the table cards include two 5s, you can click the king to ‘capture’ the two 5s from the centre. If you cannot make a match you choose 1 of the cards in your hand to be added to those in the centre. Players take it in turn making these captures/table additions until their hand is empty at which point another 3 cards are dealt - and so on until the deck is exhausted. Any player who clears the table card(s) through a capture scores a sweep or ‘scopa’ worth 1 point. More points are awarded for other achievements as follows:

Scopa – 1 point for each (except on last play when deck is exhausted)

• Most cards captured – 1 point
• Most diamonds captured – 1 point
• 7 of diamonds captured – 1 point
• ‘Primera’, or highest card from each suit (note the card ranking is different here with 7’s counting highest - see cards guide at top right of game screen) – 1 point

The winner is the first to a certain number of points or having most points after a set number of hands are played, depending on the rule type chosen.

Captures

All captures are based on the value of cards.

• A 5 may capture another 5, or an ace may capture another ace
• More cards may be captured at the same time, if their sum is equal to the value of the card played. For example, a 7 may capture a 5 and a 2 or a 10 (king) may capture a 1 (ace) and a 9 (Queen)

The player is generally free to choose which cards to capture, if there are several value combinations available. For example, if on the table there is a 2, 5, 7 and 4 and the player holds a 9 (knight), he may capture either the 5 and 4 or the 7 and 2. However, if on the table there is one card whose value matches the one played, the player is not free to choose: he must take the single matching card. For example, if the table has a 5, 9 and a 4 and you choose to play a 9 in your hand, you must take the table 9, not the 5 and 4.

During the game, a variable number of cards may be on the table at any time, although there will typically be around 3 or 4 face up. Players are not forced to make a capture, if they don't wish to do so but are not permitted to discard a card which can make a capture. If a player who is capturing makes a clean “sweep" of the table, leaving it without cards, he scores a scopa, worth 1 point. See more on scoring below.