10085 Italians relaxing

I was sitting outside our local bar yesterday afternoon, watching a group of my Italian neighbors @ 20 guys ( nearly all over the age of 65), sitting around having a friendly game of cards.
Its that strange game with the deck of only 40 cards with pictures of clubs and jacks and targets.
Having sat there for about 25 mins, I was fascinated by the game play.
It seems that the more you shout and abuse, not only the opposition, but also your partner, the better player you are.
One player in particular, seemed to know what cards were being held by every player, needless to say, that he was making the most noise.
I'm sure that if these guys had been transported to pub back in the yUK, they would have been thrown out for having too much fun, whilst not buying drinks.
I look at these guys and wonder if other cultures have this type of noisy, irreverent fun, without the aid of gallons of booze.
I love this country :yes::laughs::yes::laughs:

Category

General chat about Italy

Yes, I have observed the same game being played in Italy, Spain and France. It looks as if the bars have special tables set aside for this purpose and they know they are not buying drinks. Sometimes a cup of coffee, but it does not seem important. It is a local tradition and it is respected. And it shows that there is no need to get drunk to have fun. On the contrary.

The game is Briscola, and you're right - it IS a game where you score points at (almost) any cost...:yes:

[URL="http://uk.truveo.com/Italian-Cards-Briscola-video/id/1294869332"][B]>THIS<[/B]
[/URL] 'may' help you understand it a little more - but actually playing it against Italians is definately NOT :eeeek: for the faint hearted!!!

[B][I]Briscola[/I][/B] is a very old card game played in many countries in Europe
In France and the UK it is called [B][I]brisque[/I][/B]
In Spain it's [B][I]brisca[/I][/B]

[quote=deborahandricky;93804]
Its that strange game with the deck of only 40 cards with pictures of clubs and jacks and targets.
:[/quote]

This site may be of interest to anyone who is intrigued by strange Italian playing cards: [url=http://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards5.htm]Andy's Playing Cards - Italian Cards - page 1[/url]

Discovered it a while ago, as the same guy also has a really excellent Italian grammar site.

Just had a look at that link..........and got a massive headache........no wonder you can buy it on playstation or WII ..............:laughs::laughs::laughs:

[quote=tennaval;93852]Hi Bosco, Interested to see this too![/quote]

Here it is. Another headache-inducing site - only this time a real pile-driver!
[url=http://www.geocities.com/f_pollett/]Teach Yourself Italian - opening page[/url]

It could also have been a game called "Scopa" - the same cards are used. It would depend how many cards were face up at the beginning of the game. Scopa has 4 cards face up. Play it online if you like - it doesn't take long to learn and only a lifetime to master. It can be very enjoyable - and rowdy.

[url=http://scopacards.com/]ScopaCards.com, Play Scopa online with your friends[/url]

Ricky and others, you can download the game!!! [url=http://www.tucows.com/preview/303901]Downloads - Briscola 1.3.0 Freeware Software[/url]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;93857]Ricky and others, you can download the game!!! [url=http://www.tucows.com/preview/303901]Downloads - Briscola 1.3.0 Freeware Software[/url][/quote]

[SIZE="5"]OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO[/SIZE]:laughs::laughs:

What an interesting thread. As with all villages, I'm sure, our three local caffes each attracts its own crowd. We visit two of them but have never ventured in to the third. With the summer weather, the regulars at the third caffe have moved outside and sure enough, there in the same seats each and every day, ALL DAY, the same little group play cards. And it's probably this very game. I've witnessed quite heated arguments as I've walked by. One night last month, we even spotted a bit of pushing and shoving which, as my husband remarked, is not the type of behaviour we usually see around here!

[quote=juliancoll;93856]It could also have been a game called "Scopa" - the same cards are used. It would depend how many cards were face up at the beginning of the game. Scopa has 4 cards face up. Play it online if you like - it doesn't take long to learn and only a lifetime to master. It can be very enjoyable - and rowdy.

[url=http://scopacards.com/]ScopaCards.com, Play Scopa online with your friends[/url][/quote]

The same game, called "escoba" in Spanish is played in Argentina, particularly at bars in country towns. Certainly, the Italian immigrants brought it with them.

first of all sorry for my english, i hope to be understandable :laughs:
every italian who's playing cards makes lots of noise and has lots of fun, we speak always in a loud voice...
there are lots of games with cards: bestia (with this game, people shout a lot), scopa, merda (it's a game, not only a bad word :yes: ), briscola and more.........

Can these cards be bought in tabaccherie by any chance???

[quote=Sally Donaldson;94314]Can these cards be bought in tabaccherie by any chance???[/quote]

Yes

I have seen not only cards but chess boards and pieces, draughts, backgammon sets, even roulette wheels and many other games for sale.

Beware though - playing cards in Italy are VERY EXPENSIVE. They do carry a government tax.

Admittedly the quality of their cards is excellent, but they are expensive. If I remember correctly the last two deck box of [I]ordinary[/I] cards that I bought in 2004 cost €13. The £ was at about 0.61 to the €uro then so that was nearly £8!

So double I the price of UK ones. Ah no I have just seen a pack of quality UK playing cards for £9 online

Here's an interesting link - [url=http://www.wopc.co.uk/history/earlyrefs.html#Europe]The History of Playing Cards in Europe[/url] It seems the first playing cards rin Italy were from Florence in 1375 -A game called 'naibbe' was forbidden in a decree, with the implication that the game had only recently been introduced there., However further research reveals that playing cards. in Italy, France and Spain were actually referred to as naibi, nahipi, naips, naipes, naibbe, naibbi

Here's another link that makes for interesting reading - [url=http://www.altacarta.com/english/research/italy-short-history.html]Alta Carta Playing Cards: A Short History of Italian Playing Cards - Italy[/url]

Following your link, Sally, I also found this other one which contains very interesting information:
[url=http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/seaan-cardhist.html]The Introduction of Playing-Cards to Europe[/url]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;93857]Ricky and others, you can download the game!!! [url=http://www.tucows.com/preview/303901]Downloads - Briscola 1.3.0 Freeware Software[/url][/quote]
Just installed this and it was blocked by my antivirus software (Kaspersky) because of "Behaviour similar to a key-logger".

I don't know if there really is something nasty concealed under the game's benign surfuace or if Kaspersky is being over-touchy, but I'm not about to take any risks with the security of my computer and data just for the sake of playing a card game.

I have just downloaded the game Allan to check. I scanned the file with Norton Antivirus and the file us okay. Could be as you say your software being too sensitive.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17h21xf1x30]YouTube - Briscola 101 - Basic Rules[/ame]

[quote=AllanMason;94334]Just installed this and it was blocked by my antivirus software (Kaspersky) because of "Behaviour similar to a key-logger".

Al[/quote]

I cant say that I blame you, but Kaspersky can be a bit twitchy :eeeek:

Ricky we posted at the same time and so you may not have read my post. I had no problems with the download.

An interesting thread.
Check this site
[url=http://www.dalnegro.com]|> Dalnegro: Italian playing cards manufacturer[/url]
Its worth a look for anyone interested in playing cards. Clicking to the Italian regional page I notice that there are 24 different types of cards with varying numbers of cards in each pack, 36, 40 or 52. Good luck to you sorting out this lot.

Phil.