Ligurian:
# Biscambiggia: zeugo ligure pe 2-6 zugoei

A verscion originäia da biscambiggia a l’é pe doî zugoei, ma gh’é d variante pe trei, quattro e sëi zugoei. E variante ciù strategiche _mariagio_ (pe doî zugoei) e biscambiggia co-a ciammata (pe çinque zugoei) an e seu pagine.

# Contegnui

Noçioin de base

Masso

Moen

Distribuçion

Execuçion

Preise

Fâ preisa

Pescâ da-o muggio

Ponti

Variante

Biscambiggia inta trei

Biscambiggia inta quattro

Biscambiggia inta sëi

# Noçioin de base

## Masso

Pe zugâ s’addeuvia un masso zeneise da 40 carte, fæto de 1 (ò asso), 2, …, 7, sbiro (S), dònna (D), òmmo (Ò) inte quattro merse de coppe ♥, dinæ ♦, scioî ♣ e spoæ ♠.

E varsciue de carte, da-a ciù erta a-a ciù bassa, en:[^1]

## Moen

Unna partia à biscambiggia a l’é fæta de un numero de moen , che en e fase de zeugo tra unna distribuçion e l’atra. O fin o l’é de guägnâ doe moen pe-o primmo.[^2]

## Distribuçion

Pe-a primma man, o massê o l’é çernuo à caxo. Dapeu, pe-e moen apreuvo, i zugoei s’alternan into ròllo. O massê o remescia e carte e o ê pòrze à l’avversäio ch’o ê coppa. Dapeu o massê o dà træ carte pe zugou, uña pe vòtta. Terminou sta distribuçion, o massê o mette unna carta descoverta in sciâ töa, e o ne creuve meitæ con mettighe o resto do masso (dito muggio) de d’ato, coverto.

A mersa da carta descoverta a l’é dita mersa de trionfo. E carte de sta mersa, dite trionfi, guägnan in sce tutte e atre carte pe tutta a man.

## Execuçion

Pe guägnâ unna man un zugou o l’à da fâ a-o manco 61 ponti. I ponti de ciaschedun zugou en a somma de varsciue de carte ch’o l’à cattuou, segondo a töa de d’ato.

## Preise

E moen do zeugo en fæte de unna serie de preise. Unna preisa a l’é a fase de zeugo inta quæ ciaschedun zugou o calla unna carta. Inte ògni preisa, o zugou ch’o zeuga pe-o primmo, dito zugou in attacco, o calla unna carta (con mettila descoverta into mezo da töa) e l’avversäio o replica con callâne unn’atra. O zugou in attacco o l’é libero de callâ chesesegge carta, e l’avversäio ascì.

A-o comenso da man, pe-a primma preisa, o l’é in attacco l’avversäio do massê. Dapeu, o zugou ch’o l’à guägno a preisa o calla pe-o primmo inta preisa apreuvo, e o zeugo o va avanti à sta mainea fin à quande l’é finio tutte e carte.

## Fâ preisa

O fa preisa, ò sæ o cattua e doe carte in sciâ töa, o zugou ch’o l’à callou a carta da mersa de trionfo a ciù erta. Se no l’é stæto callou di trionfi, o fa preisa o zugou ch’o l’à callou a carta a ciù erta da mersa d’attacco. O zugou ch’o fa preisa o cattua e doe carte in sciâ töa e o ê poñe coverte into seu muggetto de preise da arente à lê.

## Pescâ da-o muggio

Dapeu, se l’arresta ancon de carte into muggio, ciaschedun zugou, à partî da quello ch’o l’à guägno a preisa, o piggia unna carta da-o muggio e o l’azzonze a-a seu man. A carta giâ sotta a-o muggio a l’é consciderâ comme parte do muggio, e a saià l’urtima carta à ëse pescâ.

O zeugo o va avanti à sta mainea (attaccâ-replicâ-cattuâ-pescâ) fin à quande o muggio o finisce, compreisa a carta giâ. À sto ponto, i zugoei zeugan ancon pe træ preise co-e carte che gh’arresta inte moen. Stæte terminæ ste chì ascì, a man a finisce e se conta i ponti.

# Ponti

I ponti de un zugou en dæti da-a somma de carte into seu muggetto de preise, segondo e varsciue dæte inta töa de d’ato. O masso intrego o l’à 120 ponti, donca pe guägnâ a man basta aveine 61. Se i zugoei fan ciaschedun 60 ponti, a man a l’é veua.

# Variante

## Biscambiggia inta trei

A biscambiggia inta trei a l’é squæxi do tutto pægia a-o zeugo inta doî.

**Scarto.** Avanti de dâ e carte s’à da scartâ un di doî (pe-o sòlito o doî de spoæ), de mòddo che o masso o segge divixibile inta trei.

**Senso de zeugo.** O primmo massê o l’é çernuo à caxo, e dapeu o ròllo o passa a-i atri into senso conträio a-e ragge do releuio. Inta primma man, o zugou in sciâ drita do massê o l’é in attacco. Dapeu, o zugou ch’o guägna unna preisa o l’é in attacco pe quella apreuvo. Inte ciascheduña man, i zugoei callan e seu carte into senso conträio a-e ragge do releuio, à partî da-o zugou in attacco. E regole pe determinâ chi guägna a preisa en pæge a-a biscambiggia inta doî. Dapeu, zugoei pescan e carte da-o muggio à partî da quello ch’o l’à fæto preisa, e dapeu into senso conträio a-e ragge do releuio.

**Fin.** A fin a l’é de guägnâ pe-o primmo træ moen.[^2] Un zugou o guägna unna man se o fa ciù tanti ponti di avversäi. Inti caxi donde o no gh’é un solo zugou ch’o l’agge fæto i ciù tanti ponti (ò sæ, se i trei zugoei fan tutti 40 ponti, ò se i primmi doî zugoei an o mæximo numero de ponti), a man a l’é consciderâ veua.

## Biscambiggia inta quattro

A biscambiggia inta quattro a l’é pægia a-a biscambiggia inta trei, ma se ghe zeuga in cobbia. S’addeuvia tutto o masso da 40 carte, dæto ch’o l’é divixibile inta quattro. I zugoei assettæ de fronte en inta mæxima squaddra. Gh’é un solo muggetto de preise pe squaddra, ch’o l’é tegnuo da un di doî zugoei. Pe-o sòlito se zeuga un numero pâ de moen pe partia. No l’é permisso de communicâ a-o seu compagno e carte che s’an, ò che carta callâ.

## Biscambiggia inta sëi

A biscambiggia inta sëi a l’é pægia à quella inta quattro. Gh’é doe squaddre de trei zugoei, assettæ alternæ de mòddo che no ghe seggian di compagni assettæ da arente. Pe fâ vegnî o masso divixibile inta sëi, avanti de dâ e carte s’à da scartâ tutti i doî.

# Nòtte

[^1]: Tanto a biscambiggia comme a briscola vëgnan da unna famiggia de zeughi franseixi estinti ch’a l’aiva tra i seu membri a _brisque_, a _brusquembille_ e o _briscan_. Inte sti zeughi, a segonda carta ciù fòrte dòppo l’asso o l’ea o dexe, o ciù erto di numeri into masso franseise. Quande sti zeughi en arrivæ inta penisoa italiaña, donde s’addeuviava di massi de 40 carte sensa o dexe, inte de zöne comme a Liguria e o Basso Piemonte e gente an adattou o zeugo con deuviâ o sette (a carta numerica a ciù erta di massi de 40 carte) incangio do dexe. Inte de atre zöne – squæxi tutto o resto da penisoa italiaña – fòscia pe infruensa do treisette l’é stæto incangio addeuviou o trei. A-a giornâ d’ancheu, in Liguria l’andio de addeuviâ o sette comme comme segonda carta ciù forte o l’é apreuvo à scentâ, e squæxi tutti addeuvian o trei.

[^2]: Segondo pe quante tempo se veu zugâ, se peu ascì stabilî un limite ciù erto.

English translation:
# Biscambiggia: a Ligurian card game for 2-6 players

The original version of biscambiggia is for two players, but there are variants for three, four and six players. The more strategic variants _mariagio_ (for two players) and auction biscambiggia (for five players) are described on their own pages.

# Contents

Basics

Deck

Hands

Deal

Gameplay

Tricks

Winning a trick

Drawing from the talon

Score

Variants

Three-handed Biscambiggia

Four-handed Biscambiggia

Six-handed Biscambiggia

# Basics

## Deck

A 40-card Genoese deck is used to play, consisting of 1 (or ace), 2, …, 7, jack (J), queen (Q), king (K) in the four suits of hearts ♥, diamonds ♦, clubs ♣ and spades ♠.

The card values, from highest to lowest, are:[^1]

## Hands

A game of biscambiggia consists of a number of hands , which are the stages of play between one deal and the next. The goal is to be the first to win two hands.[^2]

## Deal

For the first hand, the dealer is chosen at random. For subsequent hands, the players alternate as the dealer. The dealer shuffles the cards and hands them to the opponent to cut them. Then the dealer deals three cards per player, one at a time. Once the deal is over, the dealer places a card face up on the table, and covers half of it by placing the rest of the deck (called the talon) on top of it, face down.

The suit of the half-exposed card is called the trump suit. The cards of this suit, called trumps, beat the other cards for the entire hand.

## Gameplay

To win a hand a player must score at least 61 points. Each player’s points are the sum of the values of the cards they have captured, according to the table above.

## Tricks

The hands of the game are made up of a number of tricks, which involve one player (the one playing first, called the leading player) playing a card face up to the middle of the table and the opponent responding with another card. Players are free to lead any card they wish, and opponents are similarly free to respond with whichever card.

At the start of a hand, the dealer’s opponent leads to the first trick. The winner of this trick then leads to the next trick, and the game continues in this way until all the cards are used up.

## Winning a trick

The trick, that is, the two cards on the table, is won by the player who played the highest trump. If no trumps were played, the winner is the player who played the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of the trick captures the two cards on the table and places them face down in their capture pile.

## Drawing from the talon

Then, if there are still cards left in the talon, each player, starting with the one who won the trick, takes a card from the well and adds it to their hand. The half-exposed trump is considered to be part of the talon, and will be the last card to be drawn.

The game proceeds in this manner (attack-reply-capture-draw) until the talon is exhausted, including the half-exposed card. At this point, the players play for three more tricks with the cards remaining in their hands. When these too are finished, the hand ends and the score is tallied.

# Score

A player’s score is given by the sum of the cards in their capture pile, according to the values in the table above. The whole deck has 120 points, so 61 are sufficient to win the hand. If the players each get 60 points, the hand is considered void.

# Variants

## Three-handed Biscambiggia

Three-handed biscambiggia is almost identical to the two-handed version.

**Discard.** Before the deal, one of the twos (usually the two of spades) must be discarded so that the deck is divisible by three.

**Direction of play.** The first dealer is chosen at random. For subsequent hands, the deal passes to the other players in a counter-clockwise direction. For the first trick, the player to the dealer’s right leads. Subsequently, the player who wins a trick leads to the next. During each trick, players play their own cards in a counter-clockwise direction, starting with the player who leads. The rules to determine who wins a trick as the same as for two-handed Biscambiggia. Then, players draw cards from the talon starting from the player who won the trick, and then in a counter-clockwise direction.

**Aim.** The aim is to be the first to win three hands.[^2] A player wins a hand if they score more points than the opponents. In cases where there is no single player who has scored the most points (i.e. if the three players all score 40 points, or if the first two players have the same number of points), the hand is considered void.

## Four-handed Biscambiggia

Four-handed biscambiggia is similar to the three-handed version, but it is played in pairs. The entire 40-card deck is used, as it is divisible by four. The players sitting opposite are part of the same team. There is only one capture pile per team, held by one of the two players. Usually an even number of hands are played per game. It is forbidden to tell one’s partner what cards one has, or which card to play.

## Six-handed Biscambiggia

The six-handed game is the same as the four-handed game. There are two teams of three players, sitting alternately so that there are no teammates sitting next to each other. To make the deck divisible by six, all twos must be discarded before the cards are dealt.

# Footnotes

[^1]: Both biscambiggia and briscola descend from an extinct French game family that counted among its members _brisque_, _brusquembille_ and _briscan_. In these games, the second highest card after the ace was the ten, the highest of the pip cards in the French deck. When these games reached the Italian peninsula, where 40-card decks without the ten were in use, in some areas such as Liguria and Lower Piedmont the games were adapted by using the seven (the highest number card in 40-card decks) instead of the ten. In other areas – almost all the rest of the Italian peninsula – perhaps due to the influence of tressette the three was used instead. Nowadays, in Liguria the custom of using sevens as the second highest card is disappearing, and almost everyone uses threes.

[^2]: Depending on how long one wants to play, one can also set a higher limit.