Escoba

About Escoba

Escoba is the Spanish variant of the traditional Italian game Scopa.

The name "Escoba" literally means "Broom" in Spanish (just as "Scopa" means "Broom" in Italian), referring to the game's objective - sweep all the cards from the table.

Spanish Playing Cards

Escoba is traditionally played with a deck of Spanish cards. Our game offers a selection of Spanish, Italian, and French decks. If you are not familiar with the Spanish or Italian decks, be sure to turn on the "Show card values" option before starting the game.

A Spanish deck of cards contains 40 cards in 4 suits: Swords, Cups, Coins, and Clubs. The ranks are Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, a Knave (8), a Knight (9) and a King (10).

When playing with French cards, the suits are mapped as follows:
Coins are Diamonds.
Cups are Hearts.
Swords are Spades.
Clubs are Clubs.

How to play Escoba?

Each player gets 3 cards, and 4 more cards are dealt face-up on the table.

Each player plays one card, when no cards are left in the players' hands, 3 more cards are dealt from the stock to each player. The stock starts with 30 cards, so there are a total of 6 turns, including the first one. On each turn, the player chooses one card to play.

The player may:

1. Discard the card, throwing it facing-up to the center of the table.
2. Using the card to capture some or all of the table cards.
   Any set of cards from the table can be captured if their values plus the played card value add up to 15.
   For example, the player plays an 8, and captures a 7 (8 + 7 = 15).
   Or alternatively, the player plays an 8, and captures a 2 and a 5 (8 + 2 + 5 = 15).
   

Unlike Italian Scopa, there is no obligation to capture cards, the player may wish to discard instead of capture.
If the player captures all the table cards, it is called "Escoba" (sweep)
In the very last turn, the player who was the last one to capture cards will take the remaining table card.

Scoring

• 1 point is awarded for each Escoba.
• 1 point is awarded to the player who took the most cards.
• 1 point is awarded to the player who took the most Coins (or diamonds if playing with French cards).
• 1 point is awarded to the player who took the Seven of coins (or 7 of diamonds if playing with French cards).
• If one of the players takes all the 7 cards, he will get 1 point.
• 1 point is awarded to the player who took the most sevens.

Notes

• Capturing the last cards on the very last turn never counts as an Escoba.
• Some game variants have a rule called "Renuncio", meaning, if a player makes a mistake and throws a card that could have completed a set of 15, the other player may declare "Renuncio" and take those cards.
  However, the computer opponent in our game will never make such a mistake, so this rule will never benefit the human player and was not included in our game.