Calabrasella is an Italian card game that is believed to be a precursor to the German game Skat. Calabrasella is designed to be played by three players using a 40 card Spanish deck. This version as described, is a somewhat simplified version of another game with a very similar title (Calabresella). The version first described
on this page was originally published by Henry Jones Cavendish in 1870 and later repeated in a number of treatises on card games. For rules to the older,
similarly spelled game Calabresella, see the variations section below.
The Spanish deck can be created by removing all cards of rank 8, 9, and 10 from one standard 52 card deck, resulting in a deck consisting of exactly 40 cards. The ranking of the cards in this deck are as follows (from high to low); 3, 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4.
Determination of first dealer can be performed in a variety of ways, with a common method used being draw for low cards, with the player drawing the lowest card set as the first dealer. After each hand the role of dealer rotates in a clockwise rotation around the table.
Once the first dealer has been determined, he thoroughly shuffles the cards and offers the pack to the player at his right to cut. After the cut he begins dealing the cards, two cards at a time in a small face down packet, starting with the player to his immediate left. He continues dealing until each player has a total of 12 cards. After this deal, there should be four cards remaining in the deck, which the dealer places face-down in the center of the table as the widow.
After the deal is complete, the players will determine who is to be the "Player" for the hand. This option starts with the player to the immediate left of the dealer. This player examines his hand and determines if he wants to play. If he prefers to be the "Player" for the hand he states "I play", however if he elects not be the player for the hand he states "I pass" instead. If this player passes, the next player in a clockwise direction has the same options. If he also passes, the dealer has the same options. If all three players pass, the cards are thrown in, reshuffled and a new hand dealt.
Once one of the players states "I play", that player becomes the "Player" for this hand. That player then calls for a card (by suit and rank) he currently does not have in hand. He simply states the rank and suit of the card. This is usually a three, however if he has all the threes in hand, he would ask for the next lowest card (such as a specific two). If any other player has the card he must pass the card to the "Player" who adds it to his own hand and passes back to that player, face-down any card from his hand. If no player has the card called (it being in the widow), no exchange occurs.
After the exchange, the Player then discards from one to four cards from his hand, face down on the table. These cards are set aside, and will be added to the cards captured by the winner of the last trick of the hand. He then turns the widow over to expose it's four cards to all the players. After all players has had the opportunity to view the cards in the widow, the player takes the same number of cards from the widow into his hand to replenish his hand to 12 total cards. Any cards remaining from the widow are also set aside with the player's discards, which will be added to cards captured by the winner of the last trick of this hand.
After this occurs, play of the hand begins in a series of tricks consisting of one card by each player. The player who is to the immediate left of the "Player" leads the first card to the first trick. Each player in a counterclockwise direction then plays a card of his own to the trick. If a player has a card of the same suit as played to the trick he must play that card. Once all three players have played one card to the trick, it is examined to determine the winner of the trick. The player who played the highest card of the suit originally led to the trick wins the trick. The winner of the trick takes the card and places them aside for scoring at the end of the hand. The winner of each trick leads the first card to the next trick.
Play continues until the last trick has been played. The winner of the last trick also takes all discards from the Player and any left over cards from the widow.
The Player then determines if he managed to earn enough points to win the hand. The following chart shows all the possible scoring that can be achi3eved during the hand:
| Scoring Opportunity | Point Scoring Value |
|---|
| Each Ace Captured | 3 Points Each |
| Each 3, 2, King, Queen, or Jack Captured | 1 Point Each |
| Winning Last Trick of the Hand | 3 Points |
If the Player manages to capture more than half the available points during a game (18 or more) he scores a number of Game Points equal to the difference between the points he scored and those of the opposing side. He earns this number of Game Points from each opponent. However, if the opposing side, amongst them, managed to score a majority of the available points, each opponent scores a number of points equal to the difference between the opposing score and the Player's score.
A running total can be kept and, after a set number of hands (best if a multiple of three), the player who has the highest accumulated score over all the hands is declared the winner of the game.
Four Player Rotation: In some cases, if four players want to participate in a game of Calabrasella, they use a rotation method to allow such play. In this variant, the dealer of each hand is set to sit out the hand. Other than dealing of the cards, he takes no other active part in the hand. After each hand the role of the dealer rotates in a clockwise direction around the table from player to player.
Calabresella: Calabresella (as opposed to the very similar spelling Calabr
asella) appears to be the original game on which the rules described above were based upon. This version is also sometimes called Terziglio. It differs from the version described above in the method of bidding, point scoring and several other differences.
Calabresella was originally played using the Italian deck (with different suits and identifiers for the court cards), but can be modified to allow play using a modified standard French pack. This deck consists of all cards, from that standard deck in the following denominations; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The rather unusual ranking of the cards in this deck are as follows (from high to low); 3, 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4.
The first dealer and seating positions can be determined by drawing of cards, with the player drawing the lowest card set as the first dealer. Players can also be seated in order of this draw from lowest to highest. Once the dealer has been determined he should thoroughly shuffle the deck and offer it to the player at his immediate right to cut. After the cut he begins
dealing the cards, in small packets of two cards each until each player has a total of 12 cards. He places the remaining four cards in the deck face-down in the center of the table. This four card hand is called the monte.
After the cards have been dealt, a bidding round begins, starting with the player to the immediate right of the dealer and proceeding in a counter-clockwise direction. Each player has exactly one opportunity to make a bid. The following are the bids a player can make on his turn, and to be considered a legal bid, his bid must be higher than any previous bid:
- Chiamo:
This is the lowest allowable bid. If this bid ends up as the high bid for the hand, after the bidding round, the maker of this bid (called the Player) can call for one card of his choice from the opponents and use the cards in the monte to form his hand. In this bid, the player to the dealer's immediate right leads the first card to the first trick. If the high bidder wins the hand with this bid he earns 1 Game Point from each opponent.
- Solo:
This is the middle ranked bid which can be made in this game. If this bid becomes the high bid, the player making this bid can use the 4 cards from the monte but may not request a card from his opponents. In this bid, the player to the immediate right of the dealer leads the first card to the first trick. If the high bidder manages to win the hand with this high bid, he earns 2 Game Points per opponent.
- Solissimo:
This is the highest bid in the game. If this becomes the high bid, the Player can not call for a card from his opponents and may not exchange any cards from the monte. In the case of any player making this bid, the bidder leads the first card to the first trick. If the high bidder manages to win the hand with this as the high bid, he earns 4 game points from each opponent.
A player on his turn to bid must make a bid higher than any previous bid or may pass. If all three players pass, the cards are all thrown in, reshuffled and re-dealt by the next dealer in turn.
The highest bidder becomes the Player for the hand. If his high bid was Chiamo, he may request a high card not in his hand from his opponents. This is usually a 3, but if the player has all four 3's in hand, he may call for a 4 or a lower card. Whichever opponent has this card must pass it to the Player who adds it to his own hand. If neither player has the requested card (with it probably being in the monte), no exchange occurs. After the player adds the cards from the monte into his hand (see below) he would then pass one card, face-down, back to the player who passed the Player the requested card.
If the high bid was Solo (or Chiamo, and after the player requests a card), the monte is then exposed on the table for all players to view. After all players have the opportunity to view the cards in the monte, these cards are then added to the Player's hand. After adding the cards to his hand, he would then discard any four cards of his choice face-down to for a new monte. The monte is set aside and will be captured by winner of the last trick of the hand.
If the high bid for the hand is Solissimo, the monte is left on the table and not exposed. These cards are awarded to the winner of the last trick of the hand. However, in the case of a Solissimo bid, the Player may double the potential point values scored for the hand, by using several modifiers to his original bid:
- Solissimo Dividette
: This call, made by the Player before play of the hand, allows each of the Player's opponents to randomly draw two cards from the monte and add them to their own hand. After both players have drawn, each player then discards any two cards from his hand, face-down to form a new monte. All discards are awarded to whichever player wins the last trick of the hand. If the high bidder wins the hand using this as the high bid he earns 8 Game Points per opponent.
- Solissimo Scegliete
: This call, also made by the Player before play of the hand, allows the monte to be exposed for all to see. After the monte is turned over, each opponent can take any cards from the monte as wanted. The opponents must, amongst themselves, decide how they want to divide these cards. In doing so, these player's may opt to have one player take all four, or any other combination. After any cards have been taken from the monte, each opponent discards the appropriate number of cards from his hand face-down to reduce his hand back to 12 cards. The four cards discarded will form a new monte, in which the cards of this monte will be awarded to the player winning the last trick of the hand. If this becomes the high bid, the high bidder earns 16 Game Points per opponent.
Once the bid (and, in the case of a Solissimo bid) any modifiers are added to the bid, play of the hand begins. The player to lead the first card to the first trick is dependent on the high bid. In the case of a Chiamo or Solo bid, the player to the immediate right of the dealer leads the first card, while with a Solissimo bid, the high bidder makes the first lead.
The leader to a trick may lead any card of his choice from his hand to start the trick. In a counter-clockwise direction each other player then plays a card of his own to the same trick. If a player has a card of the same suit as originally led to this trick he must play it. If he does not have such a card, he may play any card from his hand to the trick. Once each player has played one card to the trick in order, it is determined who has won the trick. The player who has played the highest card of the suit originally led to the trick wins the trick. The leader of each trick leads the first card to the next trick. The winner of the last trick of the hand also adds the current cards contained in the monte to his cards captured in tricks during the hand.
Once all tricks have been played and won, the cards captured by the Player are examined to determine if he has captured enough card points to win the hand. Certain cards in the deck are worth points when captured in tricks, as follows:
| Card | Card Point Value |
|---|
| Each Ace Captured | 1 Point Each |
| Each 3, 2, King, Queen, or Jack Captured | 1/3 of a Point Each |
In addition, winning the last trick of the hand earns the Player 1 point.
If the bidder manages to win 6 points or more during the hand, he is considered to have won the hand and made his bid and is entitled to add a number of points to his current score based on his bid. He earns this number of point per each opponent. However, if the Player captures less then 6 full
points, his opponents have won the game, and each opponent earns a number of Game points as per the chart (based on the high bid declared for the hand). The following chart shows these Game Points that would be scored by the Player or the opponents, as based on the high bid:
| High Bid | Game Point Value |
|---|
| Chiamo | 1 |
| Solo | 2 |
| Solissimo - No Modifiers | 4 |
| Solissimo - Dividete | 8 |
| Solissimo - Sceliete | 16 |
In addition, there are a few other events during the hand that can further effect the final scores:
- If the Player wins every trick his Game Point score for the hand is doubled. This is called Cappotto.
- If the opponents win every trick during the hand (also called Cappotto), the Game Points won by the opponents for the hand are doubles.
- If the opponents wins at least one trick, but, amongst them, do not manage to capture any card points during the hand, the score earned by the Player during the hand is tripled (called Stramazzo).
- If the bidder wins at least one trick during the hand but earns no card points during the hand, the game points scored by each opponent is tripled (Stramazzo).
After a set number of hands (which should normally be a multiple of three to give each player an equal number of times as dealer), the player with the highest total in Game Points is declared the winner of the game.
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