Welcome to Calabresella

Hey there! I’m here to tell you all about Calabresella, a super fun game that you can play with 2 of your buddies. Now, don’t worry if you don’t have an Italian deck of cards lying around – you can totally play with a regular deck of 52 cards instead. The best part? Calabresella doesn’t even have a trump suit! How cool is that?

In Calabresella, the goal is to score the most points in a round. If you manage to do that, you’ll be the big winner and collect all the bids made by the other players. So how do you score points? Well, you earn them by winning cards in tricks and by being the clever player who snags the very last trick. Nice!

Now, here’s the twist – Calabresella is also a bidding game. Yep, you heard me right. You’ll have the chance to exchange some chips or money to make things even more exciting. Who doesn’t love a little friendly wager?

Getting Set Up

Before you can have all the fun, let’s get things set up. First, grab your trusty 52-card deck. But here’s the deal – we’re gonna need to make some modifications. Take out all those pesky 8s, 9s, and 10s. Good riddance, I say! What’s left are the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 7s, 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, and 2s. That’s all you need to get started on your Calabresella adventure!

Once we’ve gathered our group of players, the first thing we need to decide is how high the stakes will be. We’ll also have to determine what count corresponds to a single point in the Scoring section, which we’ll look at later.

We can pick a dealer randomly, and after each round, the role will pass counterclockwise. The dealer will take the deck of cards and shuffle them thoroughly before dealing each player 12 cards, distributing them in batches of 4 cards. The remaining cards will be set aside for later use. Once everyone has their cards, it’s time to start the bidding phase.

Card Rankings and Values

In Calabresella, each card has a ranking and a value associated with it. Unlike other games, there are no trump cards here. Any cards of the same rank are considered equal, regardless of suit.

The ranking in Calabresella goes as follows: 3 (highest), 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 7, 6, 5, and 4 (lowest).

Let me break down the values attached to different cards in a simpler way. The aces are worth one point each. As for the 3s, 2s, Kings, Queens, and Jacks, each of them is worth 1/3 of a point. Additionally, the player who wins the last trick gets one point as well.

Time to Bid

Once the cards are dealt, it’s time to start the bidding. Here’s how it works: we’ll all bid to determine who gets to play alone against the other two players in a team. Whoever makes the highest bid will be the solo player. The bidding goes counterclockwise, starting with the player on the right of the dealer.

Now, let’s talk about the different bid options you have. You can choose from three options and decide whether to bid or pass your turn. The bids are ranked from lowest to highest in the following order: Chiamo, Solo, and Solissimo.

Let me tell you about Chiamo, a card game where you have some interesting choices. In Chiamo, you can both call a card that your opponents have and exchange cards from the remaining deck, called the monte. Or, you can choose to go solo, only exchanging cards from the monte, without calling a card. And if you want a real challenge, you can play solissimo, where you won’t call a card or exchange from the monte!

Now, let’s talk about the bidding process in Chiamo. Each player can bid higher than the previous bid or pass if they don’t want to bid. If all three players pass, the cards are collected and redealt to start a new round. But if someone bids solissimo, the bidding is over. Otherwise, once two players have passed, the bidding ends.

The player who wins the bid gets a special privilege. They can now exchange cards and call a card if their bid allows it.

Calling

First off, I get to make a really cool move – I can call a card that I don’t even have! I’ll tell the other players the rank and suit, and if someone on the other team has that card, they have to hand it over to me. It’s like a secret mission!

Trading Cards

If I’m allowed to, I can then swap some cards with the “monte” – that’s the pile of cards on the table. First, I flip the four remaining cards faceup. These cards join my hand, and if I got a card from the other team during the first move, I have to give one back to them. After that, I choose four cards from my hand to be the new monte. We’ll use those cards to score points later. So now I have a total of twelve cards in my hand again.

The Ultimate Goal – Solissimo!

In Solissimo, I don’t call or exchange cards like in other bidding games. Instead, I have the option to increase the stakes. There are two calls I can make: Dividete and Scegliete. If I call Dividete, my opponents get to draw two cards each from the monte (the pile of undealt cards) and discard any two cards from their hands back into the monte. If I call Scegliete, the monte is flipped and my opponents can choose which player receives which cards. They can then discard four cards back into the monte facedown.

GAMEPLAY

The game is led by the right of the dealer, unless Solissimo is called. If I’m the bidder and I called Solissimo, then I lead the game. The game is played counterclockwise, and I can choose to lead any card I want. I’m not required to follow suit, meaning I can play any card from my hand. The player who plays the highest card of the suit led wins the trick and gets to lead the next one. This continues until all tricks have been won.

SCORING

Once all the tricks have been won, we can start scoring. The player who won the last trick gets the monte and scores it. Then, each player calculates their points, and the opponents tally up their scores as well.

If the bidder manages to win the majority of the points, which is 6 or more, they have won the round. In that case, they receive a certain amount of points determined by their bid. However, if the bidder fails to score the majority of the points, they have to pay each opponent an amount determined by the bid.

The payout amounts for the bids are as follows: A Chiamo bid is worth 1 point. A solo bid is worth 2 points. A Solissimo bid is worth 4 points, and if it’s increased to Dividete, it’s worth 8 points. Finally, if the bid is Scegliete, it’s worth 16 points.

Did you know that winning all the tricks or winning or losing all the points can have an impact on your scores? It’s true! And there are even special terms for these situations – Cappotto and Stramazzo. Cappotto means that the amount paid is doubled, while Stramazzo means that the amount paid out is tripled.

Time to Call it!

When you and your fellow players decide that you don’t want to bid anymore, that’s when the game comes to an end. It’s as simple as that!