Briscola

About Briscola

Briscola is a very popular trick-taking card game that originated in Italy, it can be played with 2 to 6 players and is very easy to learn.

In Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro there is a variation called Briškula, in Portugal a variation of this game is called Bisca and also Sueca, which is a variation with 4 players.

Our version of the game is the 2-player traditional Italian Briscola variation.

Italian Playing Cards

Traditionally, Briscola is played with a deck of Italian cards. The deck consists of 40 cards divided into Coins (Diamonds), Swords (Spades), Clubs, and Cups (Hearts).

Our game offers a selection of French, Italian, or Spanish decks.

How to play - Two player variation

Both players start with 3 cards. A Briscola (Trump) card is randomly chosen from the stock and placed facing up, this card will also be the last card to be dealt from the stock.

The game begins with one of the players playing a card and the other answers with a card. Any card can be played, both players do not have to follow suit or rank. The winner will receive the total points of both cards and will play first in the next turn.

Both players must take a card from the stock at the end of the round to always have 3 cards until the stock is empty.

Here are all the playing cards ordered from high rank to low rank with their respective points:

Who wins each round:

• If both cards are of the same suit - the higher rank card wins.
• If the cards are of different suits - the player who played the first card wins.
• If one of the cards is a Briscola (Trump) suit card - the player who placed the Briscola card wins.
• If both cards are Briscola (Trump) suit cards - the higher rank card wins.

For example:
The Briscola is 3 of Hearts.
Player 1 plays the King of Spades, Player 2 plays the Jack of Hearts.
Player 2 will win the trick because a card from the Briscola suit always beats a non-Briscola card.
Player 2 will also receive 6 points, because the King is worth 4 points and the Jack is worth 2 points.

When all the cards have been played out, the player who collected 61 or more points wins. The game ends in a draw if both players have 60 points.

Difficulty

Note: In this game, and in all other games on our website, the computer will never peek at the player's card, even in the higher difficulty levels.

• Easy - The game follows a simple logic and plays without planning anything ahead.
• Medium - A smarter version that will try to hold high-value cards and use them at the right moment.
• Hard - Built on top of the medium difficulty, the computer will remember which cards were played and will try to find the best endgame moves.

Tips

• Remembering cards

  Remember which cards were played and use that to your advantage. For example, if some Aces weren't played - assume that the opponent may possess them.

• Holding cards

  You can hold high-value cards and wait for the right time to play them, even at the cost of losing some points.

• Preparing for the endgame

  The Briscola card at the bottom of the stock will be dealt to the player who lost the second to last turn.
  Sometimes you can choose whether to lose a turn near the end of the game, so you can get the last Briscola card. Make sure you come prepared for the last 4 turns.