Tarot

Tarot cards are descendants from the vistani Tarokka, but rather than being used for divination, they are used to play a trick-taking card game called, as one might imagine, Tarot. Originally from Dementlieu, Tarot spread through the core, trailing behind only the Falkovinan Jucker (often called Euchre elsewhere), and Borcan Cribbage as card games, though games of dice remain the more predominant.

Tarot is played with a deck of 21 numbered trump cards, called atouts, and one unnamed trump card, the fou - or fool, sometimes called the Joker. There are then 4 suits of 14 cards each: numbered pip cards from 1 to 10 that have no true value except as part of a hand, and four face cards: the valet (jack), cavalier (knight), dame (queen), and roi (king), which are worth 2, 3, 4, and 5 points each, at the end of the match.

There are three cards of particular importance: the 1 of trumps (called le petit), the 21 of trumps (le monde), and the fool (fou). These cards, when captured by the high bidder, lower the point threshold needed to fulfil the contract. In Dementlieu, these cards are often referred to as the bouts (or ends), where outside of Dementlieu, they are often called the honours.

There are four suits, taken from Jucker: hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades.

Tarot presents a game for 3 or 4 players. The game begins with each player drawing a card to determine whom deals first. All trumps rank higher than any suited card. Anyone who draws the fool muyst redraw. If more than two players have a trump, they redraw separately, until a victor is assigned. If they are all suited players and there is a tie, the suit determines whom draws first in the actual game, with spades over hearts over diamonds over clubs.

The game then proceeds with the player at the left of the dealer cutting the cards, and then the dealer dealing out the entire deck to the players and a "chien" or dog in the middle of the table (often called a "talon" or "nest" when played in Falkovnia. Each player is dealed a packet of three consecutive cards at any time, with a card being dealt to the chien in between at the dealer's discretion. A card may be dealt to the dog at any time between packets, but the dealer may not deal the chien two consecutive cards, do so during a packet being dealt, or deal it the first or last card out of the deck. A maldonne occurs when there is a mistake in the dealing; if that happens, the person to the right of them redeal, and so on, until a valid deal occurs. If, after the deal, one player has a "petit sec" - a hand consisting of only one trump in hand, and it is the petit, and they do not have the fou - they must announce this, and the hand is redealt. Play then begins to the bidding phase.

the player must state with confidence they must be able to meet a certain contract with one card in their hand, and the cards of the chien, and place a bid of either coins or tokens. The bids in ascending order are:

Prise ("take"): if this is the winning bid, the bidder adds the cards of the chien to their hand, and then discards a number of their cards to restore the hand to normal size. These cards form the beginning of the tricks pile - the bidders scoring pile.

Garde ("guard"): same as a prise, with with double the stake at risk.

Garde sans ("guard without"): meaning without cards from the chien; the bid is stating that they can make a trick with just their own cards in hand, the guard goes directly into the tricks winning pile, without any cards from the chien. The score is conted as four times the value to the trick winner.

Carde contre ("garde against"): meaning that the bid is given directly into the score and the chien is discarded. This is considered six times the value for scoring.

First hand leads the trick, and play proceeds with the player to the left. Once a suited card is played, all cards must follow suit. Trump cards may be played at any time; if more than one trump is played then the highest number wins, or a face card in scoring order if they are played. The leader of a trick may play any card they win. When the trick is concluded with all players having played, the winner is they whom played the highest value card, and they place the trick into their scoring pile. The subsequent trick is lead by the winner of the last trick. Play proceeds until they are out of cards that are not in the chien. If the leader of the trick plays a trump, then players must play a higher-number or value trump card if they can, and a loser value trump if they cannot. Lower value trumps cannot win the trick. The only exception is that the fool may be played at any time. The fool will never win any trick except the very last trick, and the person playing it was the leader of the trick.

When all tricks are completed, the player with the most value of cards in their scoring pile wins all bids placed. The cards are valued as follows:

• One King and an ordinary card: 5 points
• One Queen and an ordinary card: 4 points
• One Knight and an ordinary card: 3 points
• One Jack and an ordinary card: 2 points
• 2 ordinary cards: 1 point.

Cards which cannot be paired are 1/2 point each, except trumps, which are worth 1 point each.