Scarto
Image source: The Etteilla Foundation
Summary
Scarto is a simple trick-taking Tarot card game without bidding. Cards are assigned point values depending on their rank. The 78-card deck is shuffled and 25 cards are dealt to each player. Play proceeds in rounds, where players must follow the suit of the lead card, and if they cannot but have trum, they must play a trump card. The Fool card has special following and point mechanics. Points are assigned to individual cards, and to the number of tricks won. The winner of each trick leads the next trick. The player that captures cards with the most points wins.
Rules of Play
These rules are summarized from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarto.
Variants Used
We do not include the rules for the dealer exchanging cards with the remaining three cards at the beginning of the game.
Related Games
Scarto is a Tarot point trick-taking game. Other games in this genre include French Tarot and Hungarian Tarot.
Information Flow
The diagram above visualizes information flow in Scarto using a single random rollout in CardStock. Visibility is attached to card locations, so all cards in a location share the same visibility; information is revealed or concealed as cards move between locations and ownership changes.
Public locations are shown in green, hidden locations in yellow, private locations in blue, and memory locations in light gray. Locations containing cards with distinct backs are indicated with bold borders. Rectangles denote ownership (players or table), and directed edges show card movement between locations and resulting visibility changes. Taken information is shown with red dotted edges (public to private/hidden), and shared information with blue dashed edges (private cards transferred to another player).
RECYCLE Code
The rules for Scarto are coded in RECYCLE, a card game description language, to encourage standardized implementations across different systems.
You can also Download the code.
;; Scarto
;; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarto
(game
(setup
;; Set up the players, 3 players
(create players 3)
;; Create the deck source
(create deck (game iloc STOCK)
(deck (RANK (ACE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN,
EIGHT, NINE, TEN, KNAVE, CAVALIER, QUEEN, KING))
(COLOR (ROUND (SUIT (COINS, CUPS)))
(LONG (SUIT (SWORDS, BATONS))))))
(create deck (game iloc STOCK)
(deck (RANK (FOOL)) (SUIT (NONE))))
(create deck (game iloc STOCK)
(deck (RANK (PAGAT, POPESS, EMPERESS, EMPEROR, POPE, LOVERS,
CHARIOT, JUSTICE, HERMIT, WHEEL, STRENGTH,
HANGED, DEATH, TEMPERANCE, DEVIL, TOWER, STAR,
MOON, SUN, ANGEL, WORLD))
(SUIT (TRUMP)))))
;; Stages of the game
(do (
(set (game points SCORE)
(((RANK : KING) 4) ((RANK : PAGAT) 4) ((RANK : ANGEL) 4)
((RANK : QUEEN) 3) ((RANK : FOOL) 3) ((RANK : CAVALIER) 2)
((RANK : KNAVE) 1)))
(shuffle (game iloc STOCK))
(all player 'P
(repeat 25
(move (top (game iloc STOCK))
(top ('P iloc HAND)))))
(repeat 3
(move (top (game iloc STOCK))
(top ((previous player) iloc TRICKSWON))))
(set (game str LEAD) NONE)))
;; players play a round 25 times
(stage player
(end (all player 'P (== (size ('P iloc HAND)) 0)))
;; players play a hand once
(stage player
(end (all player 'P (== (size ('P vloc TRICK)) 1)))
(choice (
;; if following player and cannot follow SUIT or TRUMP
;; play any card not the FOOL
((and (!= (game str LEAD) NONE)
(== (size (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'L
(== (cardatt SUIT 'L)
(game str LEAD)))) 0)
(== (size (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'L
(== (cardatt SUIT 'L) TRUMP))) 0))
(any (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'FC (!= (cardatt RANK 'FC) FOOL)) 'C
(move 'C (top ((current player) vloc TRICK)))))
;; if following player and cannot follow SUIT
;; but the player has TRUMP
;; play any card that follows TRUMP
((and (!= (game str LEAD) NONE)
(== (size (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'L
(== (cardatt SUIT 'L) (game str LEAD)))) 0))
(any (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'L
(== (cardatt SUIT 'L) TRUMP)) 'C
(move 'C (top ((current player) vloc TRICK)))))
;; if following player and can follow SUIT
;; play any card that follows SUIT
((!= (game str LEAD) NONE)
(any (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'L
(== (cardatt SUIT 'L) (game str LEAD))) 'C
(move 'C (top ((current player) vloc TRICK)))))
;; if first player or following the FOOL being led,
;; play any card, remember it in the lead spot
((== (game str LEAD) NONE)
(any (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'FC
(!= (cardatt RANK 'FC) FOOL)) 'C
(do (
(move 'C (top ((current player) vloc TRICK)))
(set (game str LEAD)
(cardatt SUIT (top ((current player) vloc TRICK))))))))
;; FOOL can be played anytime
(any (filter ((current player) iloc HAND) 'FC
(== (cardatt RANK 'FC) FOOL)) 'C
(move 'C (top ((current player) vloc TRICK)))))))
;; after players play hand, computer wraps up trick
(do (
;; solidfy card recedence
(set (game points PRECEDENCE)
(((SUIT : TRUMP) 200) ((SUIT : (game str LEAD)) 100)
((RANK : KING) (COLOR : LONG) 14) ((RANK : QUEEN) (COLOR : LONG) 13)
((RANK : CAVALIER) (COLOR : LONG) 13) ((RANK : KNAVE) (COLOR : LONG) 11)
((RANK : TEN) (COLOR : LONG) 10) ((RANK : NINE) (COLOR : LONG) 9)
((RANK : EIGHT) (COLOR : LONG) 8) ((RANK : SEVEN) (COLOR : LONG) 7)
((RANK : SIX) (COLOR : LONG) 6) ((RANK : FIVE) (COLOR : LONG) 5)
((RANK : FOUR) (COLOR : LONG) 4) ((RANK : THREE) (COLOR : LONG) 3)
((RANK : TWO) (COLOR : LONG) 2) ((RANK : ACE) (COLOR : LONG) 1)
((RANK : KING) (COLOR : ROUND) 14) ((RANK : QUEEN) (COLOR : ROUND) 13)
((RANK : CAVALIER) (COLOR : ROUND) 13) ((RANK : KNAVE) (COLOR : ROUND) 11)
((RANK : TEN) (COLOR : ROUND) 1) ((RANK : NINE) (COLOR : ROUND) 2)
((RANK : EIGHT) (COLOR : ROUND) 3) ((RANK : SEVEN) (COLOR : ROUND) 4)
((RANK : SIX) (COLOR : ROUND) 5) ((RANK : FIVE) (COLOR : ROUND) 6)
((RANK : FOUR) (COLOR : ROUND) 7) ((RANK : THREE) (COLOR : ROUND) 8)
((RANK : TWO) (COLOR : ROUND) 9) ((RANK : ACE) (COLOR : ROUND) 10)
((RANK : PAGAT) 1) ((RANK : POPESS) 2) ((RANK : EMPERESS) 3)
((RANK : EMPEROR) 4) ((RANK : POPE) 5) ((RANK : LOVERS) 6)
((RANK : CHARIOT) 7) ((RANK : JUSTICE) 8) ((RANK : HERMIT) 9)
((RANK : WHEEL) 10) ((RANK : STRENGTH) 11) ((RANK : HANGED) 12)
((RANK : DEATH) 13) ((RANK : TEMPERANCE) 14) ((RANK : EVIL) 15)
((RANK : TOWER) 16) ((RANK : STAR) 17) ((RANK : MOON) 18)
((RANK : SUN) 19) ((RANK : ANGEL) 21) ((RANK : WORLD) 20)))
;; THE FOOL IS TREATED DIFFERENTLY HERE!!
(all player 'P
((== (cardatt RANK (top ('P vloc TRICK))) FOOL)
(move (top ('P vloc TRICK))
(top ('P vloc TRICKSWON)))))
;; determine who won the hand, set them first next time, and give them a point
(set (game str LEAD) NONE)
(cycle next (owner (max (union (all player 'P ('P vloc TRICK)))
using (game points PRECEDENCE))))
;; discard all the played cards, someone might have 0 because of the fool
(all player 'P
((> (size ('P vloc TRICK)) 0)
(move (top ('P vloc TRICK))
(top ((next player) vloc TRICKSWON))))))))
(do (
(all player 'P
(repeat all
(move (top ('P iloc TRICKSWON))
(top ('P vloc TRICKSWON)))))))
;; determine score
(stage player
(end (all player 'P (== (size ('P vloc TRICKSWON)) 0)))
(do (
(inc ((current player) sto SCORE)
(sum ((current player) vloc TRICKSWON) using (game points SCORE)))
;; Adding 1 to size accounts for the fool
(inc ((current player) sto SCORE)
(// (+ 1 (size ((current player) vloc TRICKSWON))) 3))
;; subtracting 26 from each score is more authentic, but not important for one round.
(repeat all
(move (top ((current player) vloc TRICKSWON))
(top (game vloc DISCARD)))))))
(scoring max ((current player) sto SCORE)))