COTECCIO – A Trick-Taking Card Game

Hey there! Let me introduce you to Coteccio, a super fun card game that can be enjoyed by 2 to 7 players. In this game, each player starts with 4 lives, and you know what? You lose a life whenever you score the most points in a round. The player who manages to hold onto their life till the very end will be crowned the ultimate winner! Exciting, right? But wait, there’s more! Coteccio can also be played as a bidding game where all players place their bids at the beginning. The player with the winning bid gets to take home the pot. Let the games begin!

SETUP – Getting Ready to Play

So, here’s how we get things rolling. The first dealer is chosen randomly, and then the dealer position moves in an anticlockwise direction. Now, to set up the game, we need a 52-card deck, but wait! We have a little twist here. Before we start, we need to remove all the 10s, 9s, and 8s from the deck. After removing those cards, we’ll be left with a total of 40 cards. Now we’re all set to start having a blast!

Alright, let’s get started! I’ll shuffle the deck and give each of you a 5-card hand, one card at a time, going counterclockwise. If we’re playing with bidding, remember to place your bids before you see your hand for the first deal. Once everyone has their hands, we can begin the game.

Now, let’s talk about the rankings and values of the cards.

The deck is ranked from highest to lowest: 1 or Ace, Re or King, Caval or Queen, Fante or Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2.

Each card also has a value for scoring. In the order I just mentioned, they are worth 6 points, 5 points, 4 points, and 3 points. The rest of the cards have no point values. Oh, and the last trick is worth 6 points as well.

Now, Let’s Play!

When we start the game, it’s the person to my right who goes first. The game is pretty much like other trick-taking games, except that the goal is to avoid winning tricks. However, there’s one catch: if you manage to win all the tricks in a round, the other players will actually get penalized.

Here’s how it works: the player who goes first can play any card from their hand, and everyone else has to follow suit if they can. If they can’t follow suit, they can play any card they want. Unlike some other games, there’s no trump suit in this one. The player who plays the highest-ranked card of the leading suit wins the trick and puts it face up in front of themselves for scoring later. And the winner of each trick gets to lead the next one.

Scoring

When we finish playing all the tricks, we need to add up our scores. The person who has the most points will lose a life. If there’s a tie, everyone who’s tied loses a life. But there’s one exception: if someone manages to win all the tricks in a round, everyone else loses a life.

Now, let’s say a player has already won the first 4 tricks. They have a choice to make. They can either cancel the hand and let the same dealer deal again, or they can try to win the last trick and go for a clean sweep. If they manage to win all the tricks in the round, they get the points we talked about earlier, plus an extra life. But if they fail, even if they had fewer points than someone else, they’re the only one who loses a life. And the person who won the last trick gets a life.

If you run out of lives and want to keep playing, you can ask the doctor for help. But first, there need to be at least 2 other players still in the game. If that’s the case, you’ll have to put half of the original bid that all players made into the pot. In return, you’ll get the same number of lives as the player who has the fewest. Before the game starts, make sure to agree on how many times a player can call the doctor.

If there’s no bidding, if you don’t want to call the doctor, or if you’ve already reached the limit of buybacks, then you’re out of the game.

END OF GAME

The game ends when all players but one have lost all their lives. The last remaining player is the winner and, if there’s a pot, they get it.

However, in some cases, all players can lose. If, in a round, all the remaining players lose their last life at the same time, there won’t be a winner. In that case, everyone starts with 4 lives again and competes for the pot once more.