Definition

Spade (swords) is one of the four suits in the Neapolitan deck. The suit symbol is a straight, crossed sword. In Briscola, if the initial trump card belongs to the spade suit then all sword cards become trump for that hand, outranking every card of other suits regardless of their numeric value. In Scopa the spade suit carries no special suit-level scoring, but the 7 of spade contributes heavily to primiera calculations. The visual depiction of crossed swords varies significantly between regional deck editions — Neapolitan spade are long straight blades, while Sicilian or Lombard editions show curved or stylized swords.