Tarot games arecard games played withtarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanenttrump suit alongside the usual fourcard suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French nametarot are calledtarocchi in the original Italian,Tarock in German and similar words in other languages.
Tarot cards were invented in northern Italy around 1420 for the purpose of playing cards.[2][3] With their appearance came the first of the two great innovations intrick-taking games since they arrived in Europe: the concept of trumps. At around the same time or slightly earlier, a similar concept arose in the game ofKarnöffel. In this south German game played with an ordinary pack, some cards of the given suit had full trump powers, others were partial trumps and the 7s had a special role. These features are retained in games of the Karnöffel family to the present, but are never seen in tarot games.[4] Suits with these variable powers are calledchosen or selected suits to distinguish them from trump suits.[5]
The introduction of trumps is one of only two major innovations totrick-taking games since they were invented, the other being the idea ofbidding.[6] Trump cards, initially calledtrionfi, first appeared with the advent oftarot cards, in which there is a separate, permanent trump suit comprising a number of picture cards.[7] The first known example of such cards was ordered by theDuke of Milan around 1420 and included 16 trumps with images of Greek and Roman gods.[8] A basic description first appeared in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona, written before 1425.[9] The games are known in many variations, mostly cultural and regional.
Tarot games originated in Italy, and spread to most parts of Europe, notable exceptions being the British Isles, the Iberian peninsula, and the Balkans.[10] The earliest detailed description of rules for a tarot game in any language were published by theAbbé de Marolles inNevers in 1637.[11][12] The abbot learnt this variant fromPrincess Louise-Marie of Gonzague-Nevers, who introduced some rule variations from the normal game. It was played by three players with a 66-card pack, obtained by removing the 3 lowest cards of each suit from a standard 78-card,Italian-suited tarot pack. Two players received 21 cards each. The dealer received 25, from which four were discarded. There were payments for declaring certain card combinations at the start, for playing the Ace of Coins and for taking the last trick with a King or thePagat. The usual tarot rules or play and card point values applied. The winner was the one with the most points in tricks and was paid an amount by the losers based on the difference in scores.[13]
Tarot card games are played with decks having four ordinary suits,[14] and one additional, longer suit of tarots, which are alwaystrumps. They are characterised by the rule that a player who cannot follow to a trick with a card of the suit ledmust play a trump to the trick if possible.[15] Tarot games have introduced the concept of trumps to card games. More recent tarot games borrowed features from other games like bidding fromOmbre and winning the last trick with the lowest trump fromTrappola. Tarot decks did not precede decks having four suits of the same length,[16] and they were invented not for occult purposes but purely for gaming.[17] In 1781,Court de Gébelin published an essay associating the cards with ancient wisdom, the earliest record of this idea, subsequently debunked byDummett.[18] As a result of the unsupported theories of de Gébelin and other occultists,[19] tarot cards have since been used forcartomancy anddivination as well as gaming, although now fortune-tellers tend to use specially developed tarot decks rather than those used for games. Tarot games are increasingly popular in Europe,[20][21][22] especially inFrance whereFrench tarot is the second most popular card game afterBelote.[23] InAustria, Tarock games, especiallyKönigrufen, have become widespread and there are several major national and international tournaments each year. Italy, the home of tarot, remains a stronghold. Games of the tarot family are also played in Hungary, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, south Germany and south Poland. Tarot games have yet to be common in theBritish Isles or theIberian Peninsula.
Dummett classified tarot games into three distinct types:[citation needed]
Tarocchi (Italian, singularTarocco), and similar names in other languages, is a specific form ofplaying card deck used for differenttrick-taking games. An earlier name of the gameTrionfi is first recorded in the diary of Giusto Giusti in September 1440[24] In other early documents it was called ludus triumphorum or similar.[25] In June 1505, the nameTarochi was first used inFerrara. In December 1505, the nameTaraux appeared inAvignon.[26]
The names tarocco, tarocchi and tarot developed in later times beside different writing forms. The poetFrancesco Berni mocked this word in hisCapitolo del Gioco della Primiera written in 1526.[27] The name Trionfi developed later as a general term for trick-taking games,Triomphe in French, Trumpfen in German and Trump in English, and persisted as the name for the trumps in tarot packs even when they had been renamedTarocchi.[28]
Other different games claimed the name without any use of Tarocchi cards. The first basic rules for the game ofTarocco appear in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona, the next are known from the year 1637.[29]
Excluding Piedmontese tarocchi, which is more closely related toFrench tarot, Italian tarocchi are all of Type I, i.e. they have trumps other than the I and XXI that are worth more than one card point. Winning the final trick (ultimo) awards a set number of points. Sicilian tarocchi is played in only four towns with 63 cards from theTarocco Siciliano deck.Tarocchini is confined toBologna and uses the 62 cardTarocco Bolognese deck. These games have fourface cards in each suit but dropped some of theirpip cards early in their history. Both decks include 21 trumps andThe Fool, a suitless card that excuses the player from following suit.
The French adopted tarot games after their occupation ofMilan in the late 15th century.French tarot, known locally asJeu de Tarot, is one which uses the full 78-card Tarot deck. Originally played with theItalian-suitedTarot de Marseille, the game is now played with theFrench-suitedTarot Nouveau. The Tarot Nouveau, ofFrankfurt origin, has trumps which depict scenes of traditional social activities. This differs from theRenaissance allegorical motifs found in Italian-suited tarot decks such as the Tarot de Marseille,Tarocco Piemontese and the Tarocco Bolognese.Jeu de Tarot is now the most popular card game in France afterBelote and many tournaments are held by the Fédération Française de Tarot.
A Tarot Nouveau deck consists of 56 cards of four suits and 22 emblematic cards calledatouts (trumps). Each suit consists of fourteen cards: tenpip cards, and fourface cards: theRoi (King),Dame (Queen),Cavalier (Knight), andValet (Jack). Of theatouts, 21 are numbered from 1 to 21, and a non-numbered card called "Fou" ("Fool", also called "Mat" or "L'Excuse" in play) which "excuses" the player from following suit. Of theatouts, only the Fool and trumps 1 and 21 are considered to be "counting" cards because they are worth more than 1 point. Winning the last trick awards bonuses only if it is won with the lowest trump.
Tarot games fromPiedmont, the Italian region bordering France, are more similar to French tarot than other Italian games. These games use the 78-cardTarocco Piemontese deck which was derived from the Tarot de Marseille. The most common Piedmontese tarot games areScarto, Mitigati, Chiamare il Re, and Partita which can be found in Pinerolo and Turin.[10]
Troccas, a Swiss tarot game, is also related and is played with the 78-cardSwiss 1JJ Tarot, another derivative of the Tarot de Marseille. DanishGrosstarok, which focuses on winning the final trick, historically usedAnimal Tarot decks or decks that replaced the animal motifs with ones featuring Danish architecture, until a dying out of local production and a shift towards exclusively producing stripped 54-card decks among foreign producers of Animal Tarot, resulted in players of this game now also adopting the Tarot Nouveau.[30]
Tarock games, Dummett's Type III, differ from other forms in the function of the Fool which is now simply the highest trump.[31] Games of this category includeCego,Zwanzigerrufen andKönigrufen.[10] These games use the 54 cardFrench suitedCego orIndustrie und Glück decks that strip certain pip cards. The games are widely played in theUpper Rhine valley and its surrounding hills such as theBlack Forest or theVosges, and the countries within the boundaries of the formerAustro-Hungarian Monarchy, for which even the name 'Tarockania' (Tarockanien) has been coined.
TheAustrian variation of the game and the variations thereof is still widely popular among all classes and generations inSlovenia andCroatia.[citation needed] InHungary different rules are applied. The Swiss game ofTroggu is believed to be an intermediary form linking the older tarot games to the Central European ones.
The individual Tarock game variants differ too widely from one another to give a general description of play. However, they can be grouped by sub-type:
The last group is a family of games that emerged as result of the attempt to playGrosstarock with a normal 36-card German-suited pack. Instead of the dedicated trump suit, Hearts is chosen as thetrump suit or at least as apreference suit. This family includesGerman Tarok,Württemberg Tarock orTapp,Bavarian Tarock,Bauerntarock,Frog andDobbm. They areace–ten games that incorporate features of Tapp Tarock, but are not true Tarock games.
The following true Tarock games are known:
A complete Tarot deck such as one forFrench Tarot contains the full 78-card complement. It can be used to play any game in the family, with the exception ofMinchiate, an extinct game that used 97 cards. Austrian-Hungarian Tarock and Italian Tarocco decks are a smaller subset, of 63, 54, 40, or even 36 cards, suitable only for games of a particular region.
Regional tarot decks commonly feature culture-specificsuits. The German suits of Hearts, Bells, Acorns and Leaves are used through most of Germanic Europe, the Latin suits of Cups, Coins, Clubs, and Swords are common in Italy and Spain, and the French suits of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades are seen in France, Quebec, West Germany and most of the English-speaking world. This trend continues even to non-Tarot decks such as for the German game of Skat, played with a deck of similar-value cards as in the Frenchpiquet deck used forBelote. Players in most of western Germany use French suits, while players in Bavaria and eastern Germany use German suits.
The 78-card tarot deck contains:
The 54-card 'Tarock' deck contains:
Due to the antiquity of tarot games, the cards are ordered in an archaic ranking. In the plain suits, Kings are always high. With the exception of modern French tarot and Sicilian tarocchi, the ranking in the Latin round suits (cups and coins) or the French red suits (diamonds and hearts) goes from King (high), Queen, Cavalier, Jack, 1, 2, 3 ... 10 (low).
The aim in almost allcard games of the Tarot family is to make as many points as possible from the cards taken intricks, the cards having different point values. Those cards which have little or no point value are called various names –Skartins,Ladons orcartes basses depending on the region – but may be referred to aslow cards.[32]
Cards which have a higher point value may be calledcounting cards or counters. They usually includethe Fool (Excuse orSküs), the I (PagatPetit,Bagatto orLittle Man) and the XXI (Mond) plus all thecourt cards. In such a case, the low cards are the remaining tarots (II to XX) and all thepip cards. Not all games follow this precisely. In some games, other cards are included among the counters. However, the division of counters and low cards described is the most common and is often accompanied by the following 'standard' card values:[32]
The system by which players work out their scores in almost all Tarot games may appear "eccentric and puzzling", but the rationale to it is that, originally, the cards were each valued at one less point than that shown above (e.g. Kings were worth 4 points and low cards had no point value), but every trick taken scored one point. Dummett argues that the tedious work of counting tricks and card points separately led players to fuse the two processes into a single operation. There are several practical methods, but all are designed to achieve the same aim: a quick and relatively simple way of calculating the score.[32]
A very common system used in many 54-card Tarock games is counting in packets of three.[a] Under the original scoring scheme, the pack would have been worth 52 points and there would have been 18 points for the 18 tricks making a total of 70 points in total; thus, in most cases, a declarer needs 36 points to win.[b]Mayr andSedlaczek described 3 common systems:[33]
The first, easiest and oldest method is counting in threes with low cards.[c] A player gathers the cards won in tricks and groups them into triplets each comprising one counting card and two low cards. Each triplet scores the value of the counter only e.g. a Queen and two low cards scores 4. A triplet of three low cards scores exactly 1 point. In some games, players may end up with one or two cards over. Two remaining low cards are rounded up to score 1 point; a single low card is rounded down to zero. This is the simplest method but it doesn't work if a player does not have enough low cards for every counter.[33]
The second method, popular in Vienna, was developed later: counting in threes with a 2-point deduction.[d] Cards are grouped in threes again, but the composition is irrelevant. Within each triplet the card values are added and then 2 points are deducted from the total. So, for example, a Queen, Cavalier and Ten are worth 4 + 3 + 1 – 2 = 6 points. Players try to ensure that any odd cards left over are low cards. Again, two low cards are worth 1 point and a single low card is worthless.[33]
The third method is a new development and the most precise, but also the most complicated and least used: counting in fractions.[e] Cards are given fractional values as follows: Trull cards and Kings –4+1⁄3, Queens –3+1⁄3, Cavaliers –2+1⁄3, Jacks –1+1⁄3 and low cards –1⁄3 each. In this way individual cards can be counted. So a Queen, Cavalier and Ten are worth3+1⁄3 +2+1⁄3 +1⁄3 = 6 points, producing the same result as the second method.[33]
A variant of this method is used forTarot Nouveau or French tarot, where low cards are each worth half a point, and are combined with a counting card. The fractional values of each of the cards are as follows:Oudlers and Kings -4+1⁄2, Queens -3+1⁄2, Cavaliers -2+1⁄2, Jacks -1+1⁄2 and low cards -1⁄2 each. The same method is used as above but counting only two cards. For example, a Queen (worth 3 1/2 points) and a low card (1/2 point) would be counted together to make 4.
For the purpose of the rules, the numbering of the trumps is all that matters. The symbolic tarot images have no effect in the game itself other than influencing the naming of a few of the cards (Fool, Mond, Pagat, Little Man). The design traditions of these decks evolved independently, and they often bear only numbers and whimsical scenes arbitrarily chosen by the engraver.[citation needed] There are still traditional sequences of images in which the common lineage is visible. E.g. the moon that is commonly visible at the bottom left corner of the trump card 21 stems from confusion of the German wordMond, meaning "moon", with Italianmondo and Frenchmonde, meaning "world", the usual symbol associated with the trump card 21 on Italian suited tarots.
In the denouement of the first volume ofDorothy Dunnett'sLymond Chronicles,The Game of Kings, the protagonist's life depends on his friend winning a prolonged game of tarocco.
In "Stardust Crusaders", the third part ofHirohiko Araki'sJoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, every character's "stand" is based on a different tarot card.
Singer/songwriterMike Batt's 1979 concept album,Tarot Suite, is inspired by the 22 Major Arcana trump cards of the tarot deck.[34] The album'sliner notes include a description of the various cards and how they individually relate to each track on the album.[34][35]
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
| Type I / II (Fool as an excuse) |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Type III (Fool as highest trump) | ||
| Related games |
| |
| Packs (French suits) | ||
| Packs (Latin suits) | ||
| Related articles | ||
