How to play Briscola
Never played Briscola? No problem: it is one of the easiest card games to learn. Here is everything step by step, with an example trick. The full rules are on the Briscola rules page.
1. The cards
You use the 40 Neapolitan cards: four suits (coins, cups, swords and clubs) and in each suit ace, 2 to 7, jack, knight and king. You need no other cards.
2. Dealing and turning the briscola
Each player gets 3 cards. Then a card from the deck is turned face up and placed under the deck: its suit is the briscola, the trump suit. If the 5 of cups comes up, cups are the strongest suit for the whole round.
3. Everyone plays one card
The leader plays any card, then the other player answers with any card. You do not have to follow suit: you can play whatever you like. The trick goes to:
- the highest trump, if at least one trump was played;
- otherwise the highest card of the suit led.
The card order, strongest first, is: ace, 3, king, knight, jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2. Watch out for the three: it beats the king.
4. An example trick
Cups are trumps. Anna leads the king of coins. Bruno has three cards: the ace of coins, the 4 of swords and the 2 of cups.
- With the ace of coins Bruno wins: same suit, higher card. He takes 11 + 4 = 15 points.
- With the 2 of cups he also wins, because it is a trump: 4 points, but he has used a trump.
- With the 4 of swords he does not win: it is another suit and not a trump. Anna takes the king.
The best move here is the ace: it takes more points and does not waste a trump.
5. Drawing and carrying on
Whoever wins the trick draws a card from the deck first, then the other player draws, so everyone has 3 cards again. The winner of the trick leads the next one. The last card drawn is the face-up trump. When the deck is used up, the last cards are played without drawing.
6. Counting the points
Only five cards count: ace 11, three 10, king 4, knight 3, jack 2. The others are worth nothing. There are 120 points in total: whoever makes at least 61 wins the round. On FantaCarte the game goes to whoever wins 2 rounds. Counting with an example is explained on the Briscola scoring page.
Try it at your own pace
FantaCarte has a guided game that shows you the first tricks one at a time. Then you can practise with Luca, on easy, normal or hard. When you feel ready, read the Briscola tips.