Pilotta is played with a pack of  32 cards, 7 to A, hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. Four players play in two teams; players opposite each other are a pair.

The order of the cards (and their values) depends on which suit is the trump suit declared at the beginning of the game by the team that bids the highest amount.
 
 

Trump Suit:	Other Suits:
Jack 20 points	Ace 11 points
Nine 14 points	Ten 10 points
Ace 11 points	King 4 points
Ten 10 points	Queen 3 points
King 4 points	Jack 2 points
Queen 3 points	Nine 0 points
Eight 0 points	Eight 0 points
Seven 0 points	Seven 0 points

Whichever team wins the last trick receives another 10 points called PISO. In total a game consists of 162 points.

To begin a game a trump suit must be decided. Each player in turn must declare a suit that wants to be trump and promise to collect a number of points. Each successive player must promise a higher number of points than the current bid in order to win the bid. Points can only be declared in increments of 10, i.e. 80, 90, 150 etc., with a minimum of 80. If a player does not wish to make a bid a PASS can be declared. Note that since all bids must be in increments of 10, numbers such as 8, 9, 15 can be used to mean 80, 90 and 150 respectively.

If the team that makes the final bid does not collect the number of points it promised then that team gets 0 and the other team receives the total points of both teams. After all players have spoken and three successive PASSes have been declared the biding stops. If all four players declare a PASS the game is abandoned and a new one starts.

When the bidding stops the player who bid first also plays first.

The first player in any trick can play any card. All other players must the follow the suit of that card. If a player does not have a card of that suit, a card of trump suit must then be played. If the player does not have a card of trump suit either, then any card can be played. The trick is won by the player of the highest value trump suit card, or if no trump suit cards had been played in that trick, of the highest value card of the suit of the first card played in the trick. If cards of the trump suit have already been played then a player that must play a card of trump suit must also play a card that has a higher value (if possible) than the other cards of the trump suit already on the table.

If a team manages to win all 8 tricks then the game is said to be KAPO and the team receives 250 points (instead of 162).

If a player has both the king and Queen of the trump suit, the combination known as PILOTTA, then the team receives 20 extra points.

Certain combinations of cards called Declarations, can win extra points.
If a player has 3 or more consecutive cards of a suit ( in the order 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A) the points are:
3 cards 20 points
4 cards 50 points
5 or more 100 points
Also four cards of  the same number or face (e.g. the four Aces)  can win 100 points if they are Aces, Tens, Kings or Queens. If they are Jacks they win 200 points and four Nines win 150 points. No points for Sevens or Eights.

To win these points a player must state the value of his highest declaration just before he plays a card during the FIRST trick and show the declarations just before he plays a card during the SECOND trick. If  the declarations are not stated or shown at the exact time they are ignored. Only the team with the single highest value declaration can win any points from declarations. This team will receive the points for all declarations of both players and all declarations of the other team will be ignored.

Scoring: At the end of each round each team receives the points won during the game but out of 16 rather than 162. The rounding off is done by removing the last digit of the points. If the points obtained by the two teams are 15 rather than 16 then the extra point goes to the team with the higher last digit. If these are the same (e.g. 106, 56) then the point goes to the team with the higher score. In the examples the scores would be 10+1=11 and 5 respectively. To the points of the winning team the stake (highest bid) of the game is added. A game completes when one