Camicia

This description was contributed by Stefano Cirolini.

Camicia is a game of pure luck for two players. It is the Italian version of Beggar My Neighbour, and like that game, it is a children's game.

The cards

An italian deck of 40 cards is used (you can use also a 52 cards deck - though I never did). Suits are ignored. There are two types of cards: aces, two and threes are attack cards, the other are normal (cannon-fodder) cards.

The play

All the cards are dealt to the two players, face down, so that they end up with a packet of 20 cards each.

The players then alternate to turn the top card of their packet face up and put it in a pile on the table. If the card is 'normal', no action is taken and the play passes to the other player.

When an 'attack' card is played by one of the players, the other player has to play a number of cards corresponding to the face value of the attack card, that is one card for an ace, two cards for a two, and three cards for a three.

If all the cards played in response to an attack are normal, the attacking player takes the pile of played cards and puts then face down to the bottom of their packet.

If one of the cards played in response to an attack is an attack card itself, the former attack is null, and the new attack is processed.

When a player runs out of cards, that player loses the game.

Note

This game becomes a war of attrition, since as you win cards, your attack cards become more diluted in your packet, and you become more vulnerable to attacks. Moreover, the attack cards that give you the highest gain (the threes) are also the most vulnerable to counterattacks, while the aces, which can capture only a card a time, are more secure.