Briscola-reëls
Briscola is one of the most popular card games in Italy, a quick trick taking game for two to four players with a 40 card deck. It is easy to learn but there is real skill in it: knowing when to spend a briscola, when to give up a trick and when to hold on to your aces. This is the edition played in Italy: one against one with two players, everyone for themselves with three, and two teams with four. The rules below describe how it is played here.
Objective
Win tricks that contain valuable cards. There are 120 points in the deck, and the player or team that has collected more than 60 points when all the cards have been played wins the game. With three players the one with the most points wins. If the top scores are level the game is a draw.
The cards
Briscola is played with a 40 card deck in the Italian or Spanish style: four suits, coins, cups, swords and clubs, each with the cards 1 (the ace) to 7 and three court cards, the jack (fante), the knight (cavallo) and the king (re). That is the deck used here by default. If you prefer ordinary playing cards you can switch to a French deck in the options. The 8s, 9s and 10s are then removed, and the jack, queen and king take the place of the jack, knight and king.
The cards rank differently from most other games. From high to low: ace, three, king, knight, jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2. So the three is the second highest card in every suit, and the 7 is the highest of the worthless cards.
Only five cards in each suit are worth points:
- Ace: 11 points
- Three: 10 points
- King: 4 points
- Knight (or queen): 3 points
- Jack: 2 points
- 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2: no points
Four suits of 30 points each, 120 points in total. The aces and threes are the big cards, the Italians call them carichi, loads. Most of the game is about who gets them.
Players
Briscola can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players. Two players play one against one. With three players everyone plays for themselves, and one card, the two of coins, is taken out of the deck so that the 39 cards divide evenly. With four players you play in two teams, and your partner sits opposite you. Partners collect their points together, and the team with more than 60 points wins.
Dealing
Each player is dealt three cards, one at a time. The next card is turned face up and placed sideways under the rest of the deck, so that it stays visible. This card is the briscola, and its suit is the trump suit for the whole game: any card of that suit beats any card of the other suits. The briscola is the very last card drawn from the deck, so you always know which card is coming. The dealer changes after every game.
Playing
The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick by playing any card, and the others follow in turn, each playing any card from their hand. There is no obligation to follow suit, and no obligation to play a briscola: you can always play whichever of your three cards you like.
The trick is won by the highest briscola in it. If no briscola was played, it is won by the highest card of the suit that was led. A card of another suit can never win a trick. The winner collects the cards and puts them face down in front of them.
Then everyone draws a card from the deck, the winner of the trick first and the others in turn. The winner leads the next trick. The briscola is the last card drawn, and the last three tricks are played without drawing.
Scoring
When all the tricks have been played each player adds up the points in the cards they have collected, partners together. More than 60 points wins, with three players the most points wins, and level top scores are a draw. The points you have collected so far are shown next to your trick pile during the game, so you can always see how you stand.
The clock
Briscola is a quick game, so in online games you get 20 seconds for each card. A small clock by your face counts the seconds down, and when it runs out a card is played for you, the one the computer would have played. Let it run out twice in a row and you get 10 seconds a card for the rest of the game, three times in a row and you concede the game. Against the computer there is no clock, take all the time you like.
Tips
Lead worthless cards. A 2, 4, 5, 6 or 7 of a plain suit gives nothing away, and if your opponent takes it they have spent a card to win nothing. Keep your aces and threes in hand until you can win a trick with them or your opponent is forced to let you have one.
Spend briscolas on big tricks. Trumping a worthless card is a waste, trumping an ace or a three is the whole point. Remember that the opponent can see which briscola is coming last, and so can you.
Count. There are only 40 cards, and you have seen most of them by the end. In the last three tricks of a two player game you know exactly which cards your opponent holds, so play them out carefully, that is where close games are decided.
With a partner, feed the tricks they are winning. When your partner has the trick safely, play your most valuable card into it instead of a worthless one, and never take a trick away from your own team.
Playing with friends
You can play Briscola against the computer, or against other people online. Click the Multiplayer button to open the lobby, where you can join a public table with 2 to 4 players, or create a private table for just you and your friends. When you create a private table you get a code that you give to your friends, and they can use the code to join your table.
Variations
In Italy partners are often allowed to signal their cards to each other with agreed gestures, which we leave to the kitchen table. There is also a five player version, Briscola Chiamata, with changing partnerships. In Spain and Latin America the game is known as Brisca, with a few differences in the deck and the rules. The version here is the classic Italian game.
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Oor Briscola
This online version of Briscola was made by us here at SimpleGames.io. Briscola is the second card game on the site, and the first one with the Spanish style deck. It is a game that gets played in cafés, kitchens and on beaches all over Italy, it takes a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to play well, and it is just as good for a quick game on the phone as it is at the table. You can play one against one, three players for themselves, or four players in two teams, against the computer or with other people online.
The computer opponent has three levels, which you pick in the options, and none of them can see your cards. On easy it plays loosely and makes plenty of mistakes. On medium it plays like an attentive player: it leads worthless cards, takes the big tricks with the cheapest card that wins them, keeps its briscolas for when they matter and feeds its partner points. On hard it also counts the cards that have been played, so it knows when an ace is safe to lead and when a briscola is no longer needed, and once the deck is gone it plays the last three tricks perfectly, since by then it can work out exactly which cards you hold. If you find the Spanish suits confusing you can switch to ordinary playing cards in the options too.
The game is made using html+JavaScript+css with jQuery used for the animations. The Spanish deck is the one from our sister site Cardgames.io, drawn for its Escoba game. The French playing card images were made by Nicu Buculei, and the player images were made by Gerald G, both found at OpenClipArt.
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