Cirulla rules
Cirulla is Scopa with a few extra surprises: you can also capture by making 15, the ace takes all, whoever has a low hand knocks and the napoli of coins brings lots of points. Games are longer and full of twists.
Players and cards
- On FantaCarte it's played one against one.
- You use the 40 Neapolitan cards: coins, cups, swords and clubs, from ace to king. Jack is worth 8, knight 9, king 10.
- The dealer places 4 cards face up on the table and gives 3 to each player. When the cards in hand run out 3 more are dealt, until the deck is finished.
- If the 4 cards on the table add up to 15, the dealer takes them straight away and scores a scopa; if they add up to 30, two scope.
How you capture
You play one card at a time. Besides the captures of classic Scopa there are two new ones:
- the equal card: if there's a card of the same rank on the table, you can take it;
- the sum: if there's no equal card, you take several cards that add up to the value of yours (a 7 takes a 3 and a 4);
- the 15: you take one or more cards that, together with the card you play, make 15. With a 6 you take a 9, or a 5 and a 4. You can choose this capture even when there's an equal card on the table;
- the ace takes all: if there are no aces on the table, the ace takes all the cards on the table. This capture doesn't count as a scopa. If there's already an ace on the table, the ace takes that one.
If you don't capture anything, the card stays on the table. When several captures are possible, you choose which to make.
The scopa
If a capture takes all the cards off the table you make a scopa: one point. The last capture of the hand doesn't count as a scopa, and neither does the ace taking all. The cards left on the table at the end go to whoever captured last.
Knocking
As soon as you receive your 3 cards you check how much they add up to:
| Your three cards | Points |
|---|---|
| They add up to 9 or less (for example ace, 3 and 5): you knock | 3 |
| They're three of a kind (for example three 6s) | 10 |
The 7 of cups is a wild card: for knocking it's worth whatever you need. On FantaCarte knocking happens by itself: when you receive the right cards the game records it for you and your opponent sees it too.
End-of-hand points
| Item | Points |
|---|---|
| Cards: whoever captured the most (at least 21) | 1 |
| Coins: whoever has the most coins (at least 6) | 1 |
| Settebello: the 7 of coins | 1 |
| Primiera: see how to count it | 1 |
| Each scopa | 1 |
| Napoli: ace, 2 and 3 of coins | 3 or more |
| Grande: jack, knight and king of coins | 5 |
On a tie in cards, coins or primiera the point goes to nobody.
How the napoli is counted
Whoever captured the ace, 2 and 3 of coins has the napoli: it's worth 3 points. If they also captured the 4 of coins it's worth 4, with the 5 it's worth 5, and so on as long as the sequence continues. With all the coins from ace to king the napoli is worth 10.
Who wins
It's played to 51 points. Whoever gets there with more points than the other wins; if you're level at the end of the hand another hand is played.
Play it online
On FantaCarte choose Scopa, then Cirulla. You can play with other people, with a friend at a private table or against the computer. If you don't know Scopa yet, start with how to play Scopa.