The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (121 page)

7- K- 7- K won by 7 (in winning position because led, and no

bet er card played)

3- 7- K- A won by 7 (in winning position after 3, and no

bet er card played)

3- 7- K- 7 won by 7 (higher suit than Seven previously

played in winning position)

7- K- 7- K won by K (it beats a Seven led)

3- 7- K- 7 won by K (the 7 counting as ‘led’)

3- 7- K- K won by K (black Kings cannot capture in advance,

only in retrospect)

7- 3- K- K won by 3 (beats anything when not led)

3- K- 7- 7 won by K ( 3 and Sevens are powerless, so K,

though lowest, is the only ‘real’ card)

K- 7- K- 7 won by K (Sevens are powerless; K is the higher

of two ‘real’ cards)

Don’t forget…

Play to the left (clockwise) unless otherwise stated.

Eldest or Forehand means the player to the left of the dealer

in left-handed games, to the right in right-handed games.

T = Ten, p = players, pp = in fixed partnerships, c = cards,

† = trump,

= Joker.

13 Tarots and tarocks

People are often surprised to learn that Tarot cards were original y

invented for playing games, that such games are stil widespread

and popular in continental Europe, and that the employment of

tarots for divination and fortune-tel ing is a relatively recent

perversion of their proper use, dating only from the eighteenth

century.

Tarots were invented in Italy in about 1430-40 by adding to the

existing four-suited pack a fifth suit of 21 special y il ustrated cards

cal ed trionfi, and an odd card cal ed the Fool –which, despite

appearances, is not he origin of the modern Joker. (For its true

origin, see Euchre.) The pack to which it was added was the then

current one of 56 cards, bearing the standard Italian suitmarks of

swords, staves, cups and coins, and headed by not three but four

courts: King, Queen, Knight (best abbreviated to C for Cavalier), and

Valet or Equerry (conveniently abbreviated J for Jack). The original

ful pack therefore consisted of 78 cards.

Austrian Tarocks. The Fool

(Skus), Trump XXI (‘Moon’), Queen of hearts, and Cavalier of

spades.

From trionfi, meaning ‘triumphs’ in the pageantry sense of the

word, comes the English word ‘trumps’, their original function

word, comes the English word ‘trumps’, their original function

being to act as cards that would beat any ordinary card played to

the same trick. It was not until nearly 1500, when players found

they could duplicate this ef ect more cheaply by simply entrumping

the suit of a card turned at random from the pack, thereby giving

rise to the game of Triomphe, that a new word was required for the

former special cards. Why they were then cal ed tarocchi, and what

it means, was a mystery even to their contemporaries. From it,

however, derive the German tarock and the French and English

tarot.

Tarot games subsequently spread throughout Europe, with the

exception of Britain, the Iberian peninsula, and the Balkans. They

stil thrive in Italy, France, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,

Slovenia and parts of Switzerland and southern Germany. Most

fol ow the same underlying pat ern, being trick-taking games for

three to five players in which win or loss is determined both by the

number of tricks taken and also by the value of the counting-cards

they contain. The counters are normal y the lowest and the highest

trumps, the Fool, and the four court cards of each suit.

The only complete and authoritative survey and

classificationofTarot games is that of Sir Michael Dummet , The

Game of Tarot, and its briefer accompaniment Twelve Tarot Games

(both London, 1980). Additional descriptions, based on the

authority of first-hand experience, appear on John McLeod’s card

game website (www.pagat.com). From al these I have selected for

description several dif erent games, of which the first is chosen for

its relative simplicity, and the remainder for the variety they display

in exploring the possibilities of just a few basic ideas.

Scarto

3 players, 78 cards (Italian tarocchi)

The Piedmontese game of Scarto (‘Discard’), though now in decline,

makes a good starting-point for the exploration of Tarot games,

being less complicated than most, and probably dif ering lit le from

being less complicated than most, and probably dif ering lit le from

their common fifteenth-century ancestor.

Preliminaries Scarto is normal y played by three with the 78-card

Tarocco Piedmontese pack, in which the Angel trump, †20, is

actual y the highest, beating †21. But any 78-card Italian-suited

pack wil do, and the 21 can then resume its normal high position.

The pack consists of:

the Fool (Mat o)

twenty-one trumps, headed by the Angel (20), fol owed by 21,

19, 18, and so numerical y down to No. 1, cal ed Bagat o

fifty-six plain cards, fourteen in each of the four suits, swords,

batons, cups and coins (

). The highest cards are King

(Re), Queen (Dama), Cavalier (Caval o), Jack (Fante). These

are fol owed by the ten numerals. In swords and batons they

rank downwards from Ten high to Ace low. In cups and coins

they rank in reverse order from Ace high to Ten low.

A game is three deals, each dealing in turn. Points are scored for

capturing certain cards (‘counters’) in tricks. They are the Angel, the

Bagat o, the Fool, and al sixteen courts. Each plays for himself, and

whoever has the lowest cumulative score after three deals is the

loser.

Deal Choose first dealer by any agreed means. The turn to deal and

play then passes to the right. Deal al the cards around in fives,

Dealer himself taking the remaining three.

Discard Dealer examines his hand and discards three cards face

down which wil count for him at end of play as if he had won

them in tricks. He may not discard the Angel, the Fool, or any King,

and may not discard the Bagat o unless he holds no other trump or

the Fool. Every player now has twenty-five cards.

Play Eldest leads to the first trick. Subsequent players must fol ow

Play Eldest leads to the first trick. Subsequent players must fol ow

suit if possible, otherwise must trump if possible, otherwise may

play any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led,

or by the highest trump if any are played, and the winner of each

trick leads to the next. Tricks need not be kept separated: everyone

just makes their own pile of the cards they win.

Playing the fool Whoever holds the Fool may play it at any time, in

contravention of any of the above rules. It cannot win the trick, but

neither can it be lost. Instead, its player simply shows it as his