Description

The Bisca is a Portuguese variant of Briscola. Like that other game, each player is dealt 3 cards and another one is turned up as the trump suit.

The first to play can play any card he wants to, but the second needs to play a higher card from the same suit previously played or a card of the trump suit to win a trick. The winner of each trick replenishes his hand first and a player owning a 7 from the trump suit can "rescue the bisca", taking to his hand the card turned up in the beginning of the match.

The total points in each game is 120 and whoever has the higher scoring wins. Playing with 3-6 players just takes a few minor adjustments to the rules or cards and the versions for 4-6 are played with partnerships.

The point system goes as follow:
Aces - 11 points
Fives - 10 points
Kings - 4 points
Queens - 3 points
Jacks - 2 points

Playing with a traditional spanish deck of cards is recommended but not mandatory, and the point system follows the same structure, with the "cavaleiro" (knight) card replacing the queen.

The game is usually played with a hand of three cards (Bisca de três - literally three's Bisca), but there are two variants:

Bisca dos Nove (Nine's Bisca) for a hand size of nine cards;
Bisca dos Sete (Seven's Bisca) for a hand size of seven cards.