Escoba rules
How to play escoba (the 15 game) with the Spanish deck: what each card is worth, how you take cards by adding up to 15, what an escoba is and how points are counted at the end of each round.
Escoba is played with the 40-card Spanish deck, 2 to 4 players, each for themselves. The aim is to take cards from the table by adding up to 15. If you've never played before, start with “Learn to play”.
What each card is worth
How to play
- Deal 3 cards each and place 4 face up on the table. If those 4 add up to 15, they're an escoba for the dealer (two escobas if they can be split into two groups of 15).
- Taking turns, everyone plays one card. If it makes 15 together with one or more cards from the table, the player takes them to their pile. If not, the card stays on the table. Taking is not compulsory.
- If you take everything on the table, that's an escoba: one point.
- When nobody has cards left, 3 more are dealt to each player (none to the table) until the deck runs out.
- At the end, whatever is left on the table goes to the last player who took cards (it doesn't count as an escoba).
Turns go to the right, as in mus and tute. The deal rotates: each round, the next player deals.
Points
At the end of each round, everyone counts what's in their pile:
- Each escoba: 1 point.
- The seven of coins (the «velo»): 1 point.
- Most cards: 1 point.
- Most coins: 1 point.
- Most sevens: 1 point.
If two players tie in cards, coins or sevens, that point goes to nobody. The game is to 15, 21 or 31 points (chosen at the start). When someone reaches it at the end of a round, whoever has the most wins; if there's a tie at the top, another round is played.
On Naipera
- Everyone plays for themselves, also with four. Partnerships will come later.
- There are no points for the «setenta» or for having all the coins or all the sevens.
Sources
Every house plays its own way. We follow the deal, the values and the escoba on the deal from the rules of the Buenos Aires Province Games, with the points counted in Spain (most sevens instead of the «setenta»), as in El Español.
Frequently asked questions
How much are the court cards worth in escoba?
The jack is worth 8, the knight 9 and the king 10. From ace to seven, what they show.
What is an escoba?
Taking all the cards on the table at once, making 15 with yours. Each escoba is worth a point.
What is the velo?
The seven of coins. Whoever has it in their pile at the end of the round scores a point.
Who gets the cards left on the table at the end?
To the last player who took cards. They don't count as an escoba.