What Is Briscola?
Briscola is one of Italy’s most beloved card games, played in homes, cafes, and clubs across the country for centuries. Players win tricks to capture valuable cards — but only five card types score any points at all. The trump suit (called Briscola) beats every other suit. The most important rule that makes Briscola unique: you are never required to follow suit. You can play any card from your hand at any time, which creates enormous strategic freedom.
What You Need
- A 40-card deck — remove all 8s, 9s, and 10s from a standard 52-card deck. This leaves Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Jack, Queen, King in all four suits.
- Two players (or four in two partnerships, or three)
Card Rankings and Point Values
In Briscola, the ranking of cards within each suit is completely different from normal. From highest to lowest: Ace, 3, King, Queen (or Maid), Jack (or Knave), 7, 6, 5, 4, 2.
Only five card types score points when captured:
- Ace: 11 points each
- 3: 10 points each
- King: 4 points each
- Queen (Maid): 3 points each
- Jack (Knave): 2 points each
- All other cards (7, 6, 5, 4, 2): 0 points
Total points available: 120 per deck.
Setting Up the Game
- Shuffle all 40 cards.
- Deal three cards to each player.
- Place the remaining deck face-down as the stock. Flip the bottom card face-up and slide it partially under the stock so it remains visible. Its suit is the Briscola — the trump suit for the entire game. This face-up card is the last one drawn from the stock.
How to Play — Step by Step
- The player to the left of the dealer (or the non-dealer in two-player) leads any card face-up.
- The other player (or each other player going clockwise) plays one card each. There is NO requirement to follow suit — play any card you want.
- Determine the winner of the trick. If one or more Briscola (trump) cards were played, the highest Briscola wins the trick. If no Briscola was played, the highest card of the suit that was led wins. Cards of other non-led suits cannot win — they are simply discarded.
- The winner of the trick takes all played cards into their personal capture pile. They lead the next trick.
- After each trick, each player draws one card from the stock to refill to three cards. The trick winner draws first, then the other player(s). Continue until the stock and the face-up Briscola card are all drawn.
- Once no cards remain in the stock, players continue with whatever cards remain in their hands until all cards are played.
Scoring
After all tricks are played, each player counts the point values in their capture pile. The player who scores more than 60 points wins the hand. In a multi-hand game, track cumulative hand wins — first to an agreed number of hand wins takes the match.
Partnership Rules (4 Players)
Partners sit across from each other. Partners cannot speak or signal to each other — communication is strictly forbidden. Points captured by both partners are combined at the end.
Tips for New Players
- Save your Briscola cards for important moments — the Ace of Briscola wins any trick it enters, so use it to capture an opponent’s Ace or 3 (worth 10-11 points).
- You never have to follow suit, so discard your worthless 2s, 4s, 5s, and 6s when you don’t want to win a trick.
- Track which high-value cards have been played — if both Aces of one suit are captured, you can safely play cards in that suit knowing they won’t face trump competition.