Rules of Tressette and Traversone (Ciapanò)

Tressette is one of the oldest, most celebrated traditional Italian trick-taking card games. It is played with a standard 40-card Italian deck (Neapolitan, Brescian, or French decks) across 4 suits (Coins/Diamonds, Cups/Hearts, Swords/Spades, Batons/Clubs).

It is played in the classic 4-player partnership mode (2 vs 2), where teammates sit opposite each other.

The famous variant Traversone (also known as Ciapanò, Rovescino, or "Reverse Tressette") reverses the objective: the goal is to avoid taking points!

1. Card Ranking (Hierarchy)

The distinctive feature of Tressette is the unique card ranking. Unlike most card games:

• Threes (3) are the highest and most powerful cards in the game!
• Twos (2) are the second highest!
• Aces (1) are third in trick-taking power, but worth the most points!

Card	Trick-taking Power	Point Value
Three (3)	1st (Highest)	1/3 point
Two (2)	2nd	1/3 point
Ace (1)	3rd	1 full point
King (10)	4th	1/3 point
Knight/Horse (9)	5th	1/3 point
Jack/Fante (8)	6th	1/3 point
7, 6, 5, 4	7th to 10th (Lowest)	0 points ("scartine")

2. Trick-Taking: Must Follow Suit

In Tressette, there is no trump suit. The player who leads plays any card from their hand: the suit of that card establishes the lead suit of the trick.

• Must Follow Suit: All other players must play a card of the lead suit if they hold at least one!
• Discarding: Only if a player has no cards of the lead suit may they discard any card of another suit.
• Trick Winner: The highest card of the lead suit takes the trick. Cards of other suits can never win the trick.

The winner of the trick collects the cards and leads the next trick.

3. Scoring in Classic Tressette

Each round provides exactly 11 points:

• The 4 Aces are worth 1 point each (4 points total).
• The 20 face/count cards (four 3s, 2s, Kings, Knights, Jacks) are worth 1/3 point each. Every 3 of these cards equals 1 full point (6 points total).
• The last trick of the round awards 1 extra point.
• Any leftover third-points are discarded at the end of the round according to official rules.

The match is won by the team that reaches the target score first (typically 21 or 31 points).

Declarations (Bongioco & Napoli)

When enabled, players may declare special combinations in hand at the start of the round for bonus points:

• Bongioco: 3 matching cards among Aces, Twos, or Threes = 3 points (4 matching = 4 points).
• Napoli: Ace, Two, and Three of the same suit = 3 points (+1 point for consecutive cards, e.g. with the 4 it's 4 points).

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4. Traversone (Ciapanò) Variant

Traversone (also popularly known as Ciapanò, meaning "Don't take" in Lombard dialect) is one of the most exciting and strategic Italian card games, played as 4 players Cutthroat (Free-for-all):

• Objective: Avoid taking tricks with points! Each point you take is a penalty point.
• Strategy: Play low cards to stay below your opponents. When you cannot follow suit, discard heavy cards (Aces and count cards) onto the opponent winning the trick!
• Winning: The game ends when any player reaches or exceeds the penalty limit (e.g. 21 or 31 points). The player with the fewest penalty points wins!

The Cappotto in Traversone

If a daring player manages to take all 11 points in a single round, they achieve a Cappotto! Instead of losing, that player receives 0 penalty points, and all other players receive the maximum 11 penalty points!

Ace of Clubs Penalty Rule (Optional)

You can toggle the special rule where the Ace of Clubs/Batons is a penalty bomb: taking the trick with this Ace awards 11 extra penalty points!

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