Spizzichino / Tressette in Due
- Introduction
- Players and Cards
- Buongiochi
- Tressette in Due a Pizzichino
- Deal - Play - Scoring - Variations
- Tressette in Due a Metà Mazzo
Introduction
This page is about adaptations of the well-known Italian game Tressette adapted for two players, that is Tressette in Due (Tressette for Two). There are two different ways in which this is commonly done, both of which are described in the book Il Libro del Tressette e Giochi Affini by Vitantonio Lozupone (Mursia, Milano, 1981).
- Each player has a hand of 10 cards and two packets of 5 cards on the table of which only the top card is visible. Players may play either from their hand or the top of one of their packets, revealing the next card of the packet. Lozupone calls this 'Tressette in Due a Pizzichino', i.e. Tressette for Two with honours.
- 10 cards are dealt to each player and the remaining 20 are stacked face down as a stock pile from which each player draws a replacement card after each trick. Lozupone calls this 'Tressette in Due a Metà Mazzo', i.e. half deck Tressette for Two.
There is some logic to this nomenclature. In the first version you begin by dealing half the deck. In the second version you can pluck (pizzicare) 3's, 2's and Aces from the top of your packets, and perhaps it is for this reason that these top cards are sometimes called pizzichi. However, these two names are no longer (and maybe never were) used consistently by players of these games. In particular the name 'Tressette a Pizzichino' or 'Tressette a Pizzico' or 'Spizzichino' has come to be used for both versions - maybe in the second version drawing fron the deck after each trick is also though of as plucking (pizzicare), and according to some correspondents the second version is now more widespread than the first.
In the descriptions below I will use Lozupone's names to distinguish the two games. First I will explain the scores for cards and combinations, which are the same as in normal four-player Tressette and are common to both variants.
This page is based mainly on information from Paolo Ronzoni and Jean Maillard and on the book by Lozupone mentioned above.
Players and Cards
These games are for two players, normally using a 40-card Italian pack with Latin suits. The cards of each suit, from highest to lowest, and their values are as follows.
| Card | Value |
|---|---|
| 3 | ⅓ |
| 2 | ⅓ |
| 1 (ace) | 1 |
| Re (king) | ⅓ |
| Cavallo (horse) | ⅓ |
| Fante (jack) | ⅓ |
| 7 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 |
In some regions of Italy a 40-card French suited pack is used, with the Queen (Donna) replacing the horse.
In addition to the points for cards, the last trick is worth 1 card point extra, so that there are 11⅔ card points to play for. Since fractions of a point are rounded down, the points scored by the two players always add up to 11.
Buongiochi
The Threes, Twos and Aces are honours, sometimes known as "pizzichi" or "spizzichi" or "stilli". A player who has in their hand three or four honours of equal rank or all three honours of one suit can declare them at their turn for extra points as follows:
| Four 3's, four 2's or four aces: | 4 points |
| Three 3's, three 2's or three aces: | 3 points |
| Napoletana (3, 2 and ace of a suit): | 3 points |
Tressette in Due a Pizzichino
Deal
The players take turns to deal.
The dealer shuffles the cards and divides it into eight packets of 5 cards each which are placed face down on the table. These packets should be neatly stacked so that when they are picked up only the bottom card can be seen.
The dealer's opponent selects four of the packets, places two of them face up on the table, keeping them neatly stacked so that only the top card can be seen, and picks up the other two to form a 10-card hand. The dealer then does the same with the other four packets. So each player has a hand of 10 cards and two face up packets of 5 cards on the table, stacked so that only the top card of each packet is identifiable.
Play
The hand is played out in 20 tricks, each consisting of one card from each player. The non-dealer leads to the first trick and thereafter the winner of a trick leads to the next.
When playing to a trick, you must either play a card from your hand or the top card of one of your packets. The first player to a trick may play any of these cards; the second player must play a card of the same suit if possible.
If the two cards of a trick are the same suit, the higher card wins. If they are of different suit, the first card wins, no matter how high the second card is.
When a card is played from a packet, the next card of the packet is automatically revealed and becomes available for the owner to play in the next trick.
If the top card of a packet is an honour (a 3 or a 2 or an Ace), the owner may put it in his hand at their turn to play, revealing the card under it, which then becomes available to play.
A player who is dealt one of the 'buongiochi' combinations or acquires one by taking a card into their hand from the top of a packet must declare it immediately to score the points. A player who has scored 3 points for a set of three 3's, 2's or Aces does not score anything extra if they subsequently acquire a fourth 3, 2 or Ace.
Scoring
When all the cards have been played, the players count the value of the cards in the tricks they have won, plus one point for the winner of the last trick, and add these points to their scores. There are 11 points to be won in each deal, plus any points for buongiochi.
The game ends when a player reaches 51 or more points, and the player with the higher score wins.
Variations
Some play that when the eight packets have been dealt and the players have chosen their four packets, each player may look at the bottom card of their own packets before deciding which two to pick up to form their hand and which two to turn fact up on the table. Others require players to choose which packets to turn up and which to use as a hand without looking at any card.
Some players do not allow the buongiochi combinations to be declared or scored. In that case the game is played to 21 or 31 points. With buongiochi it may be played to 41 or 51 points.
Some players only allow buongiochi to be scored if they are present in a player's initial hand of 10 cards, not if they involve cards picked up from packets.
Some allow the cards of a buongioco to be reused. For example a player who has declared and scored 3 Twos for 3 points and later acquires the fourth Two from a packet may declare 4 Twos for 4 points if still holding the other three, or a second set of 3 Twos if one of the original Twos has meanwhile been played but both the others are still held..
Tressette in Due a Metà Mazzo
Deal
The players take turns to deal.
The dealer shuffles the cards and deals 10 cards to each player in packets of 5. The other 20 cards are stacked face down on the stable to form the monte.
Play
The dealer's opponent leads to the first trick, and thereafter the winner of a trick leads to the next. Any card may be led and the other player must play a card of the same suit if possible.
If the two cards of a trick are the same suit, the higher card wins. If they are of different suit, the first card wins, no matter how high the second card is.
After each trick, each player, beginning with the player who won the trick, takes the top card from the monte, shows it to the other player, and puts it in their hand. Then the player who won the trick leads to the next.
Immediately before playing to the first trick, each player may declare and score any buongiochi that can be made from their original 10 cards. If a card drawn from the deck forms a buongioco together with cards in the player's hand, they may immediately declare it and score for it. This declaration can include cards that have already been declared. For example if a player who has previously declared three Aces for 3 points and not yet played any of them draws the fourth Ace, they may then declare 4 Aces for 4 points. If they have played one of the declared Aces and then draw the last Ace they may declare the three Aces they then have for 3 points.
Note that it is not possible to keep a buongioco in hand and declare it later. After a player has played to the first trick, they may only declare buongiochi that include the card they have just drawn from the monte.
When there are no cards left in the monte, play continues without drawing cards until all the cards have been played.
Scoring
When all 20 tricks have been played the players count the value of the cards in the tricks they have won, plus one point for the winner of the last trick, and add these points to their scores. There are 11 points to be won in each deal, plus any points for buongiochi.
The game ends when a player reaches or exceeds the agreed target score, which may be 21, 31, 41 or 51 points.