Tarot card games
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Tarot card games
The original use of tarot cards is for playing games, with the first basic rules appearing in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona before 1425.[1] The game of Tarot is known in many variations (mostly cultural), first basic rules for the game of Tarocco appear in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona (before 1425; translated text), the next are known from the year 1637. In Italy the game has become less popular, one version named Tarocco Bolognese: Ottocento has still survived and there are still others played in Piedmont, but the number of games outside of Italy is much higher, there connected to the words Tarot (French) and Tarock (Germanic/Slavic Europe).
It is played with a tarot deck of playing cards. The esoteric/occult decks used for divination are usually badly suited for playing, for example because the corner symbols are missing. A typical type of Tarot playing card deck is that of the standard French design, the so-called "Tarot Nouveau", which is French-suited and has face and number layouts similar to the common 52-card deck. The "Tarot Nouveau" deck has trumps which depict scenes of traditional French social activities, in increasing levels of wealth; this differs from the character and ideological cards of the standard Italian-suited Tarot decks such as the Tarocco Piedmontese or Tarocco Bolognese, or the Rider-Waite or Tarot de Marseille decks well-known in cartomancy.
Other tarot/tarock decks popular in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria use either the Latin suits of cups, coins, batons and swords, or the German suits of Hearts, Bells, Acorns and Leaves. The character representations of the trump cards in non-gaming divinatory tarot is based on representations similar to those found in the Italian tarot decks; Germanic Tarot playing card decks are less likely to feature these characterizations.[2]
The 78-card tarot deck contains:
- 14 cards each in four suits (Anglo-French, German or Latin depending on the region): "pip" cards numbered one (sometimes Ace) through ten, plus four court cards—a Jack, a Knight (or Cavalier), a Queen, and a King;
- the twenty-one tarots, known in non-gaming divinatory tarot as the Major Arcana, which function in the game as a permanent suit of trumps;
- the Fool, also known as the Excuse, an un-numbered card that in some variations excuses the player from following suit or playing a trump, and in others acts as the strongest trump.
As certain regions have adopted Tarot games that use only a subset of the 78-card deck, the decks themselves have become specialized. A "full" Tarot deck such as one for jeu de Tarot contains all 78 cards and can be used to play any game in the family; many Austrian/Hungarian Tarock and Italian Tarocco decks, however, are a smaller subset suitable only for games of a particular region.
Typical rules of play
Play is typically counter-clockwise; the player to the right of the dealer plays to the first trick. If possible players must follow suit. If following suit is not possible a trump card must be played—this rule characterises all Tarot games, even Bavarian Tarock, which does not use a pack with a separate suit of tarocks. In the French tarot game, this trump must beat any trump already played to the trick if possible. The winner of each trick leads the next.
Common value of cards
- Oudlers/Trull (Trumps 1, 21 and the Fool) : 5 points
- Kings : 5 points
- Queens : 4 points
- Cavaliers/Knights : 3 points
- Jacks : 2 points
- all other cards : fraction of a point
The cards are usually counted in groups of two or three depending on the game. After the hand has been played, a score is taken based on the point values of the cards in the tricks each player has managed to capture. (counting cards)
For the purpose of the rules, the numbering of the trumps are the only thing that matters. The symbolic tarot images customary in non-gaming divinatory tarot have no effect in the game itself: though, rather ironically, the tarot deck was originally designed to play this game (see playing card history), the design traditions subsequently evolved independently and the tarots often bear only numbers and whimsical scenes arbitrarily chosen by the engraver. However there are still traditional sequences of images in which the common lineage is visible: for example, a moon is visible at the bottom left corner of the XXI in the picture at the top of the page. This stems from confusion of German Mond with Italian mondo and French monde, meaning "world"—the usual symbol associated with the 21 on Italian suited tarots and in non-gaming divinatory tarot.
In tarot decks made for playing the game (as opposed to those made for divination or other esoteric/occult uses, thus badly suited for playing), the four Latin suits are replaced in many regions with the French suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Some variations of the game are played with a 54-card deck (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of hearts and diamonds and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of spades and clubs are discarded).
Variations of the game are still played in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and especially in the countries on the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, for which even the name Tarockanien has been coined: the Austrian variation of the game is thus still widely popular among all classes and generations in Slovenia, Croatia and in the Czech Republic, while in Hungary different rules are applied.
Tarot cards
Tarot (French name), Tarock (German-Austrian name), also known as Tarocchi (Italian, plural form of Tarocco) and similar names in other languages, is a specific form of playing card deck, which in its history was used for different trick-taking games and later for cartomantic interests and divination (concrete forms appear at least since the article of Court de Gebelin in the year 1781), also as a field for artists to display specific iconographical forms often connected to an ideological system in the background. It is recorded as one of the oldest types of playing card decks known.
Origins
The playing material (a deck with usually 4×14 normal Italian suits and court cards, which include in contrast to other forms a cavallo or knight, with additional 21 trumps; the suits may differ from other national patterns) is older than the name of the game, which, according to the current state of research, became known in the year 1505 parallel in France (Taraux) and Ferrara (Italy, as Tarocchi) (Tarot press note) (Details). An earlier form of the game had the name Trionfi or triumphs, this name developed later as general term for trick-taking (trumpfen in German, to trump in English) and disappeared in its original function as deck name. This earlier name of the game is first documented in February 1442, Ferrara {document).
Although the objects seem to be of Italian origin (28 notes of the term Trionfi from 1442 – 1463 are counted)[1], it seems, that the final name Tarocchi developed from French influence (Italian speakers of today claim that French words with an ending "-ot" had been commonly transformed in endings with "-occo" and "-occhi".) The poet Berni in 1526 still has some mockery for this (still new) word: "Let him look to it, who is pleased with the game of Tarocco, that the only signification of this word Tarocco, is stupid, foolish, simple, fit only to be used by bakers, cobblers, and the vulgar".
Various contradicting suggestions have been made in the past to explain the original meaning of the word "Tarot". They range from "old Egyptian origin" to the more prosaic "a cardmaker from the French village Taraux produced Tarot cards".
Tarot as a game (mostly as Tarock or Tarocchi)
The game is nowadays known in many variations, first basic rules appear in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona (before 1425; translated text), the next are known from the year 1637. In Italy the game has become less popular, one version named Tarocco Bolognese: Ottocento has still survived and there are still others played in Piedmont, but the number of games outside of Italy is much higher, there connected to the words Tarot and Tarock.
It is played with a tarot deck of playing cards. The esoteric/occult decks used for divination are usually badly suited for playing, for example the corner symbols are missing; thus there are regular playing decks in the countries where tarocchi is popular.
The 78-card deck contains:
- four suits: depending on the region, either the Anglo-French hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs or the original Latin suits of swords, batons, cups, and coins; numbered one through ten, plus four court cards — a jack, a knight, a queen, and a king;
- the twenty-one tarots, known in non-gaming divinatory tarot as the Major Arcana, which function in the game as a permanent suit of trumps;
- the Fool, also known as the Excuse, an un-numbered card that in some variations excuses the player from following suit or playing a trump, and in others acts as the strongest trump.
-
Example of 18th century "Tiertarock" or animal tarot -
Central European 54 card Tarock deck, often called "Industrie und Glück" Tarocks after the slogan appearing on Tarock II
Typical rules of play
Play is typically counter-clockwise; the player to the right of the dealer plays to the first trick. If possible players must follow suit. If following suit is not possible a trump card must be played. The winner of each trick leads the next.
After the hand has been played, a score is taken based on the point values of the cards in the tricks each player has managed to capture. (counting cards)
For the purpose of the rules, the numbering of the trumps are the only thing that matters. The symbolic tarot images customary in non-gaming divinatory tarot have no effect in the game itself: though, rather ironically, the tarot deck was originally designed to play this game (see playing card history), the design traditions subsequently evolved independently and the tarots often bear only numbers and whimsical scenes arbitrarily chosen by the engraver. However there are still traditional sequences of images in which the common lineage is visible: for example, a moon is visible at the bottom left corner of the XXI in the picture at the top of the page. This stems from confusion of German Mond with Italian mondo and French monde, meaning "world" — the usual symbol associated with the 21 on Italian suited tarots and in non-gaming divinatory tarot.
In tarot decks made for playing the game (as opposed to those made for divination or other esoteric/occult uses, thus badly suited for playing), the four Latin suits are replaced in many regions with the French suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Some variations of the game are played with a 54-card deck (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of hearts and diamonds and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of spades and clubs are discarded).
Variations of the game are still played in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and especially in the countries on the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, for which even the name Tarockanien has been coined: the Austrian variation of the game is thus still widely popular among all classes and generations in Slovenia, Croatia and in the Czech Republic, while in Hungary different rules are applied.
References
External links
- Tarocchi History
- General information for playing Tarot, Tarock or Tarocchi
- Tarocco Bolognese: Ottocento
- Austrian Tarock (4–5 players)
- Tarock rules from the Stubaital (3–4 players)
- Danish Tarock (3–4 players)
- Romanian Tarock (3–4 players)
- Slovene Tarock (3–4 players)
- Hungarian Tarokk (4–5 players)
- Czech/Slovak Tarock (4–5 players)
- Online Museum with Tarock, Tarot and other playing cards
- Map and Forum for Tarot games
- What is Tarot? It's not what you think!
- Andy's Playing Cards
- YouTube Introducing the Card Games for Tarot
See also
- French Tarot for the French version of the game.
- Königrufen for popular Austrian version
- Tarocchini for a Bolognese version
- Troccas for a Swiss version
- Cego for a version played in southern Germany
- Minchiate for Minchiate
- Mantegna Tarocchi
| Type I / II (Fool as an excuse) |
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| Type III (Fool as highest trump) | ||
| Related games |
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| Suits | ||
| Packs (French suits) | ||
| Packs (Latin suits) | ||
| Related articles | ||
