Tarot

Tarot is a type of trick taking card game using a fixed trump suit. The use of Tarot cards in connection with the occult is based on 18th century myths concerning the decks supposed Egyptian origin.

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 divination 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.

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 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.