Gamehelpbriscola

Briscola is a popular Italian card game and can be played in 2 (1v1) or 4 (2v2) players. Team mates are generally allowed to communicate except for the very first hand of the game. If you are communicating with your partner, please do not tell them exactly what cards you have - instead be descriptive, for example 'I have a Briscola' and not say 'I have the Ace of Briscola'

Overview

Briscola is typically played with an Italian deck of 40 cards, there are no 8's, 9's or 10's in the deck. A French deck may also be used and again, the 8's, 9's and 10's are removed There are a total of 120 points, and a player or team needs 61 points to win.

Game Play

Each player is dealt 3 cards and one card is turned face up - this is the Briscola or 'trump' suit. Play begins to the left of the dealer in a clockwise order. Each player takes turns to play a card in order to win or lose the trick. A player does not have to follow suit of the lead card. In order to win a trick, a player must either follow suit with a higher card (see table below for card rank) or any Briscola (in the case that multiple Briscola are played, the highest one will win) The player or team who wins that trick collects all points in that trick. For example if an A and a 3 are played, the winner takes a total of 21 points. The winning player then draws the first card and all others players draw 1 card in clockwise order. Play continues as normal with the player who won the previous trick playing first. On the last hand where it is possible to draw cards, the player who wins takes the last card and the player who lost takes the Briscola that was face up at the start of the game. Optional: In a 4 player game, each team may look at their partners hand. Players can communicate, however do not reveal what exact cards you have. Play continues as normal with the final 3 cards until all each player has no cards left. No new cards are drawn on the final 3 tricks.

Point Scoring

The points for each card are as follows:

Italian Deck

Rank	A	3	Re	Cavallo	Fante	7	6	5	4	2
Points	11	10	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	0

French Deck

Rank	A	3	K	Q	J	7	6	5	4	2
Points	11	10	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	0

Tips & Tricks

Briscola is based on luck and skill, sometimes you will end up with lots of high cards in your hand and will need to sacrifice one in order to try and keep or win the others Most games will end up with some high value cards in the final 3 rounds, so be sure to keep a Briscola and try to win some points