Escoba del 15 Rules

The fifteen is not a score to play to. It is how you take cards. The card you play takes any set of cards on the table that adds up to exactly fifteen together with it. A seven takes an eight. A seven takes a five and a three. A seven does not take another seven, because that is fourteen. The Sota is worth eight, the Caballo nine and the Rey ten.

Worked through: the table shows a 3, a 5 and a Sota (knave, 8). Play a 7 and you choose: the Sota, or the 3 and the 5. Play a 4 and you take the 3 and the Sota. Play a 2 and you take the 5 and the Sota. Play a Rey (king, 10) and you take the 5. Play a 6 and you take nothing, so the 6 is laid down beside the rest.

When a card can take more than one way, which set to take is your choice. At this site's table you tap the table cards you are taking, then drag your card at the table.

Forty cards in four suits, Oros (coins), Copas (cups), Espadas (swords) and Bastos (clubs), each running from the As (ace) to 7 and then three court cards. For taking cards a card is worth:

Card	Worth
As (ace) through 7	1 to 7, face value
Sota (knave)	8
Caballo (horse)	9
Rey (king)	10

The table here draws the forty cards with the same Neapolitan pictures as its Scopa table, which carry the same forty cards in Italian artwork. The seven of coins, the one card worth a point on its own, and the three court cards:

Card images: a Neapolitan deck, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons (uploader Trocche100, released into the public domain; retrieved 2026-09-21).

Two to four players. Four play in fixed partnerships, sitting across from your partner. Three play as individuals. Play runs to the dealer's right.

The dealer gives three cards to each player and lays four face up on the table. When every hand is empty the dealer deals three more each, and none to the table, until the deck is gone.

Clearing the table is an escoba, a sweep, and it is worth a point on its own. The card that did it is laid face up on your pile so the escobas can be counted at the end.

The four cards dealt face up can make an escoba too, before anybody has played: see the first two settings below.

At the end of a hand the cards still on the table go to whoever made the last capture. There is always at least one, because the forty cards are worth two hundred and twenty between them and that is not a multiple of fifteen.

Each hand is worth four points and then some: one for the most cards, one for the most Oros (coins), one for the siete de velo, the seven of coins, and one for the best setenta, which is your best card in every one of the four suits added up, counting a seven as 21, a six as 18, an As (ace) as 16, then 15, 14, 13, 12 down the numbers, and every court card as 10. If you have taken no card at all of some suit you cannot win the setenta. A tie for cards, coins or the setenta gives the point to nobody. On top of that, a point for every escoba.

Point	Goes to
Cartas (cards)	The most cards taken
Oros (coins)	The most cards of the coins suit
Siete de velo	Whoever took the seven of coins
Setenta	The best card of each suit, added up
Escobas (sweeps)	One point each

Playing to 15 is usual in Spain, and the host may choose 10, 21 or 30 instead. Do not confuse this 15 with the fifteen you capture with: one is how many points win the match, the other is how you take cards.

The Italian hybrid. Pagat describes an Italian version of this game, Scopa di Quindici, that mixes Escoba's capture with Scopa's, and the host can switch it on. Then the card you play may also take a table card of its own value, or cards that add up to its own value, as in Scopa: a seven takes another seven, or a four and a three, as well as an eight. When a card can take in more than one way, you choose which. You must still take if you can. Clearing the table with the very last card of a hand does not count as an escoba.

Where the published sources disagree, the host chooses before the deal. The box offers exactly these, in these words:

Setting	What it does	Unless changed
Playing to	First to this total wins the match, and must be strictly ahead. 10 makes a short game. 15 is the usual Spanish number, given by the Spanish Wikipedia article and Ludoteka. 21 is what Pagat gives for Escoba, and 30 is what the Juegos Bonaerenses tournament rulebook gives.	15 points
An opening table adding to 15 goes to the dealer	On: if the four cards turned face up at the deal add to fifteen, the dealer takes all four and scores an escoba before anybody plays. Off: they stay on the table and play begins as usual.	On
An opening table adding to 30	Only read when the rule above is on, and only when the four cards really do split into two fifteens. Pagat and Ludoteka score it two; the Juegos Bonaerenses rulebook scores it nothing.	Two escobas for the dealer
All ten Oros (coins) scores an extra point	Off: taking every coin wins the ordinary Oros point and nothing more. On: it wins an extra point as well. Pagat calls this a regional variation; the English Wikipedia article lists it as a standard point.	Off
All four sevens scores an extra point	Off: taking every seven wins the setenta and the siete de velo (the seven of coins) and nothing more. On: it wins an extra point as well, which is the same total Pagat describes as 'three points instead of two'.	Off
Which cards a card may take	Spanish: a card takes only table cards that add up to fifteen with it, so a 7 takes an 8, or a 5 and a 3, but never another 7. Italian hybrid: a card may also take a table card of its own value, or cards adding up to its own value, so a 7 takes a 7, or a 4 and a 3, as well. When a card can take more than one way, the player chooses which, and a card that can take must take.	Spanish: only cards that make fifteen with yours