Overview

• Italian deck: 40 cards (no 8910).
• French deck: remove 8910.
• 120 points/round ⇨ 61 points or more win the round.
• Cards ranking (high to low): A, 3, K, Q, J, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2.

Communication

• Teammates are generally allowed to communicate except for the very first hand of the game.
• However, you may not tell your partner exactly what cards you have.
  • e.g. 'I have a trump card', not 'I have the trump Ace'.
• If you prefer no communication for the entire game (in games among experienced players), please agree this with the other players before starting the game. In tournaments communication is usually forbidden.
• In Briscola Chiamata (implemented as 5 players Briscola on BGA) players are NOT allowed to communicate. (see below)

Game play for Briscola

• Deal 3 cards/player.
• Undealt cards form a drawing deck, face down. The first card of this deck is turned face up and its suit is the Briscola (trump) suit.
• Player on the dealer's right starts.
• Players take turns to play a card in counterclockwise order.
• Do not have to follow the lead card suit.
• Highest briscola (trump) card wins the trick, else highest card of the lead suit.

• After each trick, taker draws the first card from the deck, replenishing their hand to three cards. Other players draw one card each, too, in counterclockwise order.
• Taker leads the next trick. Games continues until the deck is empty. The face up card is the last one to be drawn.
• After the deck is empty, the last three tricks are played as normal with the final 3 cards in hands, without drawing, until all players have no cards left.

Scoring for Briscola

Points are awarded for each card taken at the end of a round: values are as follows (e.g. A♣+3♣ = 21 points):

• Winning 61 or more points wins the round
• 1st player/team to win 3 rounds wins the game.

Game play for Briscola Chiamata

• Deal all cards to the players (8 cards/player). There is no drawing deck.
• Players bid for the right to choose the trump suit (briscola) and to call a partner, who will be the player who holds the trump card called by the bidder. These two players form one team and undertake to win the game against the other three opponents, which form a second team (the opponents).
• The winning bid is the lower ranking card or, in case of a tie on "two" (the lowest ranked card), the highest card points the bidder undertakes to win in the tricks.
• If a player passes, they cannot bid anymore.
• Once all players but one have passed, the highest bidder "declares" (or "calls") the trump suit and the owner of the trump card called will be their partner. Note that the "declarer" can play alone against the other four, bidding a card in their own hand.
• In any case, only who holds the trump card declared by the highest bidder knows the teams composition, and they must not reveal their identity until they eventually play that card.
• The player on the dealer's right starts the cards playing phase. Other players take turns playing a card in counterclockwise order.
• One do not necessarily have to follow the lead card suit.
• The owner of the called trump card may play it when they want.
• Highest briscola (trump) card played wins the trick, else highest of the leading suit.
• Taker leads the next trick. Play continues until all players have played all of their cards (8 tricks).

Bidding for Points Only

If you select this option, players will bid only the amount of points that they undertake to win in the tricks. The lowest bid is 61. In this case, the highest bidder declares both the trump suit and any card of that trump suit - usually this will be the highest trump that the bidder does not hold, but not necessarily (again, they can declare a card in their hand).

See complete rules at: https://www.pagat.com/aceten/briscola_chiamata.html

Scoring for Briscola Chiamata

Ranking and values are the same as for Briscola:

At the end of the round, the declarer and their partner sum up the points of the cards taken. If they won at least the same points of the bid (61 or more), they won the round. If not, they lost (and the team of the opponents won).

Players gain or lose round points according to the amount of the bid. The declarer gains (or loses) double the points than the other players (including their partner). See the following table:

• If the declarer played alone (see above), their scoring is doubled (but not the other players').
• If one team wins all the points (120) in a round (rarely), the scoring is doubled (for everyone).

After 5 rounds (or 10, if you select this option), the player with the highest scoring is the winner.

Options