How To Play Briscola - With a Play-Through, Tips and Strategy 

Thanks so much for watching. Thanks also for being a fan of Nana. She's always been my role model, so I really appreciated the comparison!

Glad to offer a refresher! Briscola is a classic that should be passed on through the generations!

Excellent glad to help. It’s a great game and nice to see that it will pass through the generations. Thanks for watching!

Thank you!

Same! Clara's grandson is a gentleman and a scholar. His preservation actions should be recognized and shared with the Smithsonian.

Thank you!

Happy to help. You’ll be beating your friends in no time! Thanks for watching.

I second this. We have also been trying to find a place to learn the teams version, or the Married Couple version that is mentioned.

Thanks! Keep playing these amazing games, help keep them alive!

Thanks 🙏

Yes let’s keep Briscola alive! You are Volcanic royalty by the way, not many people can trace family back to Stromboli. I’ve been dreaming about going there. I made it to the Aeolian islands (Volcano) but the seas were to rough to get to Stromboli. Someday I’ll get there and I’ll make sure to get a round of Briscola in. Thanks for watching!

Thank you! My grandmother was from Lipari! We went to the county records building when visiting 5 years ago and saw their names handwritten in the books of birth records. So special for me! Ironically, two people from the Aeolian islands met in Brooklyn, NY and got married almost 100 years ago. What are the odds?! Thank you again for teaching these games👏🏼👏🏼

Great memories!

Thanks so much for the comment and I'm happy to hear that you're playing with the real cards! The 2 of the Briscola suit mis-deal rule is completely optional. I personally don't tend to use it with new people because it's just one more thing to remember, but I thought it was worth mentioning because many players use it. I'm not sure the reasoning behind the rule either. It's typical to remove a random 2 when playing a game with 3 players so there isn't an extra dealt card at the end. Perhaps that's the reason? Let me know if you find out why. Thanks again for watching and keep playing!

Thank you I’m glad to hear you got your family playing the game again. I hope to show team play at some point. 3 players is just the same but remove one of the 2 cards like the 2 of swords (spades). 4 players is also the same but play in 2 teams of 2, sitting opposite your teammate.

Grazie!

That’s really interesting! Are there any sites with instructions? Thanks for watching!

Lucky vacation local! If you have a deck of Italian style cards, please check out my Scopa and Tressette videos, i cover their values and how to identify the suits and face cards. Although the values change from game to game, the cards are interchangeable. Hope it’s helpful!

Hahaha this is exactly what happened to me too but in Croatia! Glad I found this video though Briscola is fun!

Hi. Great question. On the very first deal, the player with the 2 of Briscola can call for a mis-deal or not. If they call for it, all the cards must be reshuffled and re-dealt. It's possible that they might like their hand and keep the cards. This is a totally optional rule, just make sure everyone knows about it before you play. Thanks for watching!

Thanks! I’m a big fan of Euchre and hope to feature it soon. It does have some great similarities to the Italian games. Tressette for example has the “follow suit” rule too. I’m not aware of a variant of Briscola that plays with the strict following of played suits, but hey, it’s Italian and there’s never just one way of doing anything there! Thanks for watching!

Thanks for the suggestion perhaps I’ll pick up a Dutch deck. Are their any other popular Dutch games you think I should learn?

@@Play-In-Games The only other one that people play a lot is “Pesten” (meaning: “Bullying”) which is internationally better known from it’s german version: mau-mau. The popular game uno was based on those two. Other popular games are “klaverjassen” and “hartenjagen” but I have not played those myself. Internationally popular games like Bridge, Blackjack and Texas’ Holdem are also popular.

Thank you! It’s a great game that is truly timeless.

Thank you!

Nice, I'm glad to hear that it's still being played and enjoyed here. Do you have any unique rules or variations in your play? Thanks for watching!

Great question. The suit which leads a hand determines that hands dominant suit. So if you are the first player to go and you put down the queen/horse of clubs, the only cards which could win would be higher cards than the queen/horse in that hands lead suit (clubs) or any card in the briscola suit (coins). If a queen/horse was played in the remaining suits, it would lose since it was neither the lead suit of clubs or in the briscola suit, coins. If the queen/horse which lead the hand was in the briscola suit (coins) the only cards that could win would be the king, 3 or ace of coins. So you see each hands lead suit determines the suits which can win, other than that rounds briscola suit which overpowers all other suits. Hope that helps and thanks for watching!

Yes, absolutely. We usually take out one card when playing with an uneven number. I would recommend a “2” card as it is low enough not to effect the gameplay significantly. Hope that works for you and thanks for watching!

@@Play-In-Games ok thanks

@@Play-In-Games would you take out all of the "2"s (in all suits) or just one?

@@rebeccas3633 if you are playing with an odd number of players, just remove one 2 in a non-briscola suit.

It only applies to the very first deal. If you get it you show it immediately and win that game.

Well said!

@@Play-In-Games I thought about it for a long time :).

You are correct the Black Hand is mainly used for set scoring games rather than or nothing games with 61 points or more taking the game. That said it can be used in all or noting games as a bonus score. Agree on a bonus point amount with your fellow players before playing.

Oh no. The shortest way to explain it is that instead of 3 cards for each player, 5 are dealt out. There is no face up Briscola card in the middle either. So only the highest card in the lead suit can win each hand. After each player has played their card, everyone replenishes their hand back to 5 cards, starting with the player who won that hand. Now should a player have a King and Queen of the same suit, they have a "Married Couple." At any time (even if it's not their turn, or in between play) they can reveal those cards to the players. Which ever suit the "Married Couple" were, now becomes the Briscola suit. That player also earns a bonus 40 points for that round. So, say it was the King and Queen of Clubs, Clubs will beat out any other suit, whether it's the lead or not. If another player or even that same player gets a second "Married Couple" they can reveal it and change the suit to that new "Married Couple's" suit (kind of like the Wild card in UNO). Only the first shown "Married Couple" receives 40 bonus points, each subsequent still gets a bonus, but of 20 points per "Married Couple." Other than those rules, everything else should still be the same as basic Briscola. Hope that helps! Perhaps I should do a quick video on it...

Thank you very much, perfectly explained. Only snags I can see is 1) you are showing your opponent two cards and 2) the game could quickly end with these extra 100 points on offer.

I’m not aware of any specific rule for this. It’s a non issue if you are playing high score takes the round and a Black Hand would straight up win right away. If you’re playing for final points, you and your fellow players should agree on the value of a Black Hand. Could be as many as 120 or could be a misdeal, you decide and agree. Thanks for the great questions. Good luck!

That's really interesting. I recently played Brisca with my Puerto Rican friend and she had a Spanish deck, which is a beautiful deck in its own right! We played Italian style, but she did mention the 7 rule, I wonder if it's a Spanish or PR rule? As far as I know that's not in the Italian play, but there are many variations and possibly it is accepted in some Italian play. I'll look into it more! Thanks for watching!

Great question. The Black Hand generally only applies to "winner takes all" style of play. However you can make a house rule for it with points games. A house rule we occasionally use is that it's worth 60 points (half of all the points), it ends the round and the other players get nothing that round. I'm not aware of any official rules on this, so just make sure everyone is in agreement with whatever you decide. Thanks for watching!

Yes that’s very true. The rule of thumb that I learned is; in team play you can never make a vocal signal, but you can make facial expressions. You’re not supposed to make them in the first round, but after that round the flood gates are opened and the crazy faces begin. It’s a bit intimidating the first time you do it, because expectations are high your you to both send and receive the signals. Consider yourself fortunate to have witnessed it!

This one is a fun passion project, most of my other work is outside of RU-vid - cannucciari.com - thanks for watching!

That's a great game. It's tough to film games that need 5 players though. Let me think about it.

The Briscola suit is determined by the dealer flipping over the next card after the initial deal. The suit shown on that card is this rounds Briscola suit. It does not change until the whole deck is depleted, scores are calculated and the new dealer repeats the process for the next round, thus revealing a new briscola suit.

Great question. I've only seen the "Black Hand" rule in effect for all-or-nothing games, as in non-point scoring games. For example, when playing best 2 out of 3 games. If anyone has played with a the "Black Hand" rule in a points game, please share! Thanks for watching!

@@Play-In-Games Thank you. Yours is the best card instructionional YT channel!

@@mrpeel3239 Thank you!

Trappola is a different game. Perhaps I’ll make a video in it at some point. Thanks for watching!

Hi!

Italy

@@Play-In-Games After some research, it looks like it might have something to do with the dueces being able to close the deck before the game starts, so the next available card would be 3. Seems plausible.

Ah ha, good work! I owe some more research to the games around the time of Primero. I imagine they had special orders which evolved into the Italian games. Or it could just be Italy being Italy 😂

Thanks for the profound compliment. She was one of a kind and we all miss her greatly.

Agree 100%. I would like to do a version with the Sicilian deck soon.

I like the regular cards better,but I like playing conquian with Spanish card

not rlly

I love all of this! These games do bring back so many memories and help create new ones too. We played equal amounts of best 2 out of 3 games and for final score. When visiting our family in Rome, my Zio Massimo preferred to play for final points and I have played this way elsewhere in Italy, however every region and family has their preferred style and variations. Team play is very fun and we love to play like you played. Thanks for watching!

@@Play-In-Games Ciao a tutti.😀

Life does go too fast, enjoy every moment!

100% agree, the only way this game should be played is with Italian or Spanish cards. However for beginners, it's quicker to learn with a poker deck and then take the next step after they learn the rules. Thanks for watching!