Briscola Chiamata

Briscola for five. Win the bidding, call a card, and whoever holds it is your secret partner. 5 players.

Also known as Called Briscola and Briscola in Cinque.

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How to play Briscola Chiamata

  1. 1Briscola for five, played with 40 cards (no eights, nines or tens). Everyone gets eight cards and plays for themself, but each deal one player gets a secret partner.
  2. 2In each suit the ace is highest, then the three, then king, queen, jack, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2. The cards you win score: ace 11, three 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2. That's 120 points in all.
  3. 3Bidding starts left of the dealer and goes round until all but one have passed. A bid names the rank of the card you'll call. Ace is the lowest bid, then three, king, queen, jack and down to two; each bid must go further than the last. After the two, you bid the two with more points needed (65, 70 and so on). Once you pass, you're out. If the first four all pass, the last player must bid.
  4. 4The winner chooses a suit. The card of their bid's rank in that suit is called, and its suit is trump. Whoever holds that card is the caller's partner, but keeps it secret: the sides only come out when the called card is played. Calling a card in your own hand means you play alone.
  5. 5The player left of the dealer leads. You may play any card; there's no need to follow suit. The highest trump wins the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads next.
  6. 6The caller and partner need 61 points together (or the points they bid). If they make it, the caller scores 2, the partner 1, and each of the other three loses 1. If they fail, it's the other way round. Alone, the caller scores 4 and the others 1 each. Taking every point, or none, doubles the scores.
  7. 7The game lasts 5 or 10 deals (the host chooses), and the highest score at the end wins.

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