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For card games described in English, click here.

To purchase a wooden version of the Game of the Goose, and other high quality, hand-made games, click on the image above to go to the Games and Puzzles site's Historical Games page.  To read about the game's fascinating history, click here. 

Click on Marco Chiesi's Goose Game to go to his download page for the online version. 

Alida is an on-line store based in The Republic of San Marino.  They ship Italian playing cards (Tarot, Regional, Historical) all over the world.  The cards are reasonably priced, and shipping is fast (airmail) and very reasonably priced!  I think the cards are too beautiful to play with and should all be framed.

Some Games

Visit my Books / CDs / Paper Dolls for Children page

Introduction

The Cards

Briscola and The Cow Game

Scopa

Tressette

Game of the Goose - Board Game

Introduction

A lasting memory from my time in Italy is the silence that greeted my two timid suggestions we play cards.  My Italian friends, with great patience, explained that you only play cards in Italy when you're absolutely bored or you're an old man sitting in a cafe in the middle of the day.  Young, hip, active people did not spend their time playing cards!  

Much of my time with my young, hip and active friends was spent talking about what we should be doing, rather than actually being hip and active.  You see, almost no plans are actually made in advance in Italy.  You get together and then you decide what you're going to do.  And because of the natural Italian talent for rhetoric and spontaneous humor, even when you can't decide on what to do, the process of deciding what to do is a lot of fun, too. 

The Cards

For many card games, Italy uses Carte Italiane:  a deck of 40 cards with no numbers or letters indicating the values, only symbols.  Carte Napolitane use the suits swords (spade), clubs (bastoni), cups (coppe) and coins (denari). 

The images on this page are of the "face cards" from a deck of Carte Toscane, a variation of Carte Italiane. 

The 52-card deck is known as Carte Francese.  You can use the 52-card deck for the card games described here, but you must first remove all the 8s, 9s, and 10s before play, and the coin suit corresponds to the diamond suit.

Here's a deck of Italian playing cards, and an instruction book for Italian card games, both available via Amazon.com.

Three of the more famous card games played in Italy with the Carte Italiane are:  Scopa, Briscola, and Tressette.  

Briscola

Briscola is a trump card game where players collect tricks (the played cards- prese) by having either the highest card played of a certain suit, or a trump card.  Unlike many trump card games, Briscola does not require the players to follow the suit lead by the first player.  Players can use strategy to decide when to follow suit and when not to:  winning the trick with a high card of the lead suit, or discarding useless cards of the non-trump suits and losing the trick, or using a trump card to win the trick.  

Click here or on the cowboy and his horse, to the right, a pastime preferred to playing cards, to go to my Briscola page that gives more details about how to play the game, one variation, and links to a site with more information, and an electronic version free to download.

I've a page with The Cow Game, a simple trick-taking game for children, to help them learn how to play trick-taking games.

Scopa

Scopa is a card game in which the players take cards by matching in total value a card in their hand with cards exposed for play.  It requires the players make quick mental calculations, and recall the cards that have been played previously in the hand, and to make calculated assessments as to whether to actually take the cards or to add a card to the play, instead. 

Click here or on the swordsman, to the right, a pastime preferred to playing cards, to go to my Scopa page that gives more details about how to play the game, one variation, and links to a site with more information, and an electronic version free to download.

Tressette

Tressette is a trick (the played cards- prese) collecting game without a trump card.  You win the trick by having the highest card played of a certain suit.  Tressette requires the players to follow the suit lead by the first player, and only when they have no cards of that suit, can they discard useless cards of another suit.

Click here or on the ice skater, to the right, a pastime preferred to playing cards, to go to my Tressette page that gives more details about how to play the game, one variation, and links to a site with more information, and an electronic version free to download.

Game of the Goose

A board game that probably originated in the Near East and began it's widespread popularity in Europe from Italy, is the Game of the Goose (Il Gioco dell'oca).  While today it is mainly played by children and families, especially during the holidays, during the Renaissance it was a game for kings, queens and princes throughout Europe.  To read about the game's fascinating history, click here.  

I've created a board for the Game of the Goose that you can print out for children to color in and to play.  Click here or on the princess and the frog, to the right, to go to the board and the game's rules.  It is ideal for children.

Italian software programmer Marco Chiesi, offers a free on-line version of the Goose Game, along with other games you can download to play on your PC.  You can click on the image of the Marco's children's version of the Goose Game, or on the highlighted words in this paragraph to visit his site.

Bocce

Bocce is a ball game that is also know in Europe as Jou de boule.  The game is played throughout France and Italy and in parts of various other European countries.  It's also a popular game with hyphenated Italians around the world.  You need a special playing field and bocce balls to play it. 

Here are some on offer via Amazon.com.  The game is fun, when it doesn't become overly competitive.  When it does, clear out, unless you're one of those competitive types.