Jose San Miguel
Spain
Valencia
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RULES
In Spain the game's called "Escoba" which means "broom" (the same that "Scopa" in Italian) and can be played from 2 to 4 players. The game is played with a 40-card Spanish deck with cards worthing 1 to 10 in each of the four suits.
The game is played through several rounds in which the dealer deals 3 cards to each player. After dealing the first time, the dealer puts 4 cards on the table.
The players take turns playing a card from their hand and trying to sum exactly 15 adding the card played to any combination of cards in the table, if the player is able to do so he "wins" the cards adding up 15. If there are several combinations available, the player chooses which cards "wins". If the player takes all the cards in the table he scores a "Escoba" which is worth 1 point at the end of the game. If the player can't add up to 15 he leaves his card over the table and then the next player play a card.
After all cards are played, the dealer deals another 3 cards to each player and another round is played. Rounds are played until there are no cards left in the deck. At that time, the player "won" cards last, "win" the remaining cards on the table and scores are calculated.
Each "Escoba" worths 1 point. Bonus points are awarded: 1 for the player who "won" most cards, 1 for the player with most "Oros" (the golden coin suit), 1 for the player with most sevens and 1 for the player with with the seven of "Oros". In case of tie nobody scores the bonus point.
Special event: if when the dealer places the initial 4 cards on the table, they add up 15, the dealer "wins" all of them and scores a "Escoba".
The player with most points win. The game can be played through several hands adding the points from each hand to a determined total.
OPINION
"Escoba" is a light and fast card game. The strategy focus on maximize you score each hand and you have to optimize your card playing and count the cards played for that, which isn't very difficult. I think it's superior to versions of the game where to win cards you have to pair them, i.e. play a card from your hard that matches the value of a card on the table because it offers deeper strategy. Not a bad game to play with children and improve their arithmetic skills or at social parties.
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Keith Jones
Scotland
Kilmacolm
Inverclyde
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Thanks for explaining the rules to this game, one of many variants on summing games around.
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Jose San Miguel
Spain
Valencia
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scopa wrote: Thanks for explaining the rules to this game, one of many variants on summing games around.
Hey, does your nick have something to do with the game?
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Keith Jones
Scotland
Kilmacolm
Inverclyde
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It does indeed. The explanation is here http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/41837/item/922894#item...
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Tonight a friend taught me an Iranian game in the same style, Pasur. It's not in the BGG database, but has an entry at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasur_(card_game)
One striking difference is that in Pasur, each player is dealt 4 cards each hand. This means the player to start each new hand never changes until deck exhaustion and dealer change. With Scopa/Escopa hands being only 3 cards, new hand starter alternates, correct?
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Jose San Miguel
Spain
Valencia
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garygarison wrote:
One striking difference is that in Pasur, each player is dealt 4 cards each hand. This means the player to start each new hand never changes until deck exhaustion and dealer change. With Scopa/Escopa hands being only 3 cards, new hand starter alternates, correct?
In Escoba, during each hand (a complete game) the dealer is the same player, and each round is played counterclockwise (as in all Spanish card game) starting from the player on the dealer's right, i.e. the dealer is the last player playing a card each round. Playing several hands compensates this asymmetry.
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Can you describe play order a bit more for me? We seem to be using the words "game" and "hand" differently. In the Pasur game we played, it went like this (dealer marked with "*"):
First round using full deck
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Hand 1: player 1, player 2*, player 1, player 2*...
Hand 2: player 1, player 2*, player 1, player 2*...
...
Hand 5: player 1, player 2*, player 1, player 2*...
Second round after reshuffle
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Hand 1: player 2, player 1*, player 2, player 1*...
Hand 2: player 2, player 1*, player 2, player 1*...
...
Hand 5: player 2, player 1*, player 2, player 1*...
Third round after reshuffle
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(Same as first round)
As you can see, with every hand of four fresh cards, the same player gets first opportunity to make a play. This seemed a bit unbalanced to us.
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Jose San Miguel
Spain
Valencia
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It's exactly the same as what you described for Pasur. I just was using "hand" and "round" as the opposite of what you did
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With only three cards for Escoba, does it then go like this:
hand 1: player 1, player 2*, player 1
hand 2: player 2*, player 1, player 2*
...
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Jose San Miguel
Spain
Valencia
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garygarison wrote: With only three cards for Escoba, does it then go like this:
hand 1: player 1, player 2*, player 1
hand 2: player 2, player 1*, player 2
...
Sorry, now I get you. Each player plays 3 cards each hand. So, following your notation, with 2 players there are exactly 6 hands (40 cards - 4 initial cards = 36 cards; 36/(2 players x 3 cards) = 6 hands ).
First round using full deck: player 1 deals all hands
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Hand 1: player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1
Hand 2: player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1
Hand 3: player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1
Hand 4: player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1
Hand 5: player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1
Hand 6: player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1
-> 36 cards played each round
Second round after reshuffle: player 2 deals all hands
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Hand 1: player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2
Hand 2: player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2
Hand 3: player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2
Hand 4: player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2
Hand 5: player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2
Hand 6: player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2, player 1, player 2
Third round after reshuffle
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(Same as first round)
With 3 players there are exactly 4 hands (36/(3 players x 3 cards) = 4 hands). And the play sequence would be:
First round using full deck: player 1 deals all hands
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Hand 1: p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1
Hand 2: p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1
Hand 3: p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1
Hand 4: p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1
-> 36 cards played each round
Second round after reshuffle: player 2 deals all hands
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Hand 1: p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2
Hand 2: p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2
Hand 3: p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2
Hand 4: p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2
Third round after reshuffle: player 3 deals all hands
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Hand 1: p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3
Hand 2: p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3
Hand 3: p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3
Hand 4: p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3, p1, p2, p3
Fourth round after reshuffle
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(Same as first round)
I hope it's clear now
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Very clear! Sorry for my confusion. Thank you kindly for taking the trouble to spell it out for me.
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