Scarto

Scarto is an Italian game using tarot decks that translates to “waste”.

Number of Players

The game is played with 3 players.

Set Up

• Any 78-card tarot deck will suffice

Choose the dealer at random using any agreed upon method. The dealer deals packs of 5 cards to each player until each player has 25 cards. The last 3 remaining cards are placed in the dealer’s hand who then selects 3 cards from their hand that are not a king or the bouts with the excuse only discarded if no other atouts are available.

Game Play

The first trick is led by the player to the right of the dealer and each subsequent trick goes to the right of the current lead. The lead will lead with any card in their hand and each player, moving to the right, must discard (play) a card of the same suit. If they cannot discard a card of the same suit, called “following suit”, they may discard an atout. If they cannot discard an atout, they may discard any card knowing full well they cannot win the trick in this manner. The winner of the trick is the one who discards the strongest card. The winner takes the discarded cards, groups them together, and places them on their trick pile. The strength starts with atouts and goes down through the lead suit. For example, the 1 atout is stronger than the king but not as strong as the 21 atout. For spades and clubs, or clubs and swords, the King is stronger than Jack, which is stronger than the 10, which is stronger than the 1, or Ace, depending on the deck. For hearts and diamonds, or cups and either pentacles or coins, the King is stronger than Jack, which is stronger than the 1 or Ace, which is stronger than the 10. Game play continues until there are no more cards in the player’s respective hands.

End of the Game

Once all cards in the all player’s hands are discarded, the game ends and the scoring begins. In groups of 3, each player counts the face cards, which the bouts count as face cards for scoring. The scores are as follows:

• Roi (King) is worth 5 points.
• Dame (Queen) is worth 4 points.
• Cavalier (Knight) is worth 3 points.
• Valet (Jack) is worth 2 points.
• The bouts are worth 5 points.

Players then subtract 26 from their points and the player with the highest score is the winner.