Re: Period Card Decks Info needed(very long!)

[Josh <dungeon@norfolk.infi.net>]

Poster: Josh <dungeon@norfolk.infi.net>



>> I am
>> planning on playing an early french trick game with it.
>
>Which one?
>
>
I am releasing this over the merry rose since a few gentles have shown a
interest in learning a Tarot game who are on the Rose. If any one has a more
documentable Tarot game I would love to get a copy of it. To those who do
not have an interest I appologize for the wasted bandwidth. Any questions on
the material should be directed privately to me. This is hand typed and
therefore abridged in a few areas were the material in the originial was not
fundamental to playing the game or its backround. The abridged areas are
labelled accordingly. Anyone who would like a copy of the originial email me
privately with address info(Us Mail only please).
In service,
Tristan ap Elwin
Marinusian Gamester not to be confused with
the Gamemaster of Marinus Lord Celric who is 
an honorary marinusian.

Game Report: Early French Tarot 
Class: Cards
Type: Trick tacking
Number of Players: four to six( four being the best) 
Date radacted: May 13, 1997
Redactor: Justin du Coeur

Sources: Micheal Dummetts The Game of Tarot, London: Duckworth, 1980. This
game is mostly Dummett's "Seventeenth-Century French Tarot(second version)"
, combined with a few elements from the first version to fill out the game
(pg. 215). Dummett's reconstruction is based mostly on La Maaison academique
des jeux, 1659.

Reconstuction:

The Tarot deck reaches back well into period; while its exact origions are a
bit unclear, it appears to have come into bveing not too many decades after
the more "conventional" decks did in the latter half of the 14th century.

All the available evidence indicates that tarot was used more less
exclusively for card games during the Renassance; the Tarot's occult
associations appear to have arisen later, in the 18 century. For a detailed
examination of what is known about the occult history of the Tarot, the
inestersted reader is referred to The Game of Tarot, which spends a couple
of chapters on the subject. This dicussion will concern itself solely with a
period game played with the deck.

This particular Tarot variant is a fairley simple one, with most of the
principal elements common to Tarot games and little else. The sources that
this desciption comes from are slightly out of perod; I suspect that this
iwas probably known in period( we know that Tarot Games were commen enough
in period, and this is a fairly elemental version), but the pirist should
get Dummetts book and judge for themselves.

Equipment
Abridged from originial since I am typing this from a hard copy and most of
the information is redudent to those who are familar with Tarot. 78 card
deck (wands swords coins and cups ace through ten, king queen knight page
for each suit fourteen for each suit = 56 plus 22 major arcana. 

Play ( Abrigded because of space)
1. 12 cards are dealt to each person. 
2. The person to the left of dealer lays the first card and everyone lays a
card going in counter clockwise order. After everyone lays a card the player
with the highest card of the same suit as the first card or highest trump
wins. (A person can not lay a trump if he has a card of the same suit and
may not use a different suit if he has the suit being played. The fool is
however removed from this stricture) Card value is in the following order
Ace 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Page knight Queen King Trump(Major Arcana)  value is
decided by the number of the card. Therefore the the Hermit (10) would beat
the emperor (5) and the Lovers (7) would be defeated by the Devil (16).  The
fool never wins any hands but has a special ability. The fool can be played
at any time even when the player can follow suit. The person who plays the
fool automatically loses the trick but keeps the fool as if it was a won
trick. The rest of the Trick is handed over to the winning player. The
player who played the fool has to latter decide at the end of the hand (or
before) on a card to give to the person who won the hand he played the fool
in. If the player of the fool did not win a trick the player who won the
hand he played the fool in gets the fool. So the only way to lose the fool
is to not win a single trick. Since the fool is worth the most points one
would be a fool indeed to give it otherwise.
3. the game plays in a similar fashion to hearts and spades. So anyone who
is confused with the above explanation of a Trick should refer to hearts or
Spades. Anyone who still has questions can email me.
4. After the 12 tricks are played then count the cards as follows: 
a. Count the number of cards you have won all together. If you exceed 12
cards in this count you get one point per card of excess. For every card
your missing to reach the total of 12 take away one point. After you get
that total of loss points or gain point look for the following cards and
score them accordingly:

The Fool: 5 points
The World(Trump 21): 4 points
Magician(Trump 1): 4 points
each King: 4 points
each Queen: 3 points
each Knight: 2 points
each Page: 1 points
The other cards do not garner points for individual cards but can be used
for the card total point award above.

The game is played to 50 points. Though it is possible to exceed 50 points
simotaneously with other people. The way to handle this should be decided
upon before game play commences.

Summary: 
The order of play is:
* Deal 12 cards to each player
* Play 12 tricks in a hand: you must follow suit if possible, and if not
possible, you must play trump if possible. Therefore if you cannot follow
suit you must play a trump, and if that is not possible you can play another
suit. (Of course if you play another suit you cannot win the trick)
*The Fool serves as the Excuse; it cannot win a trick, but the player who
playued the Fool immediately takes it back and replaces it with another card
from his winnings. He only need to surrender the Fool if he never win any
other card to replace it with in that hand. Lose one point for each card
under 12 you end up with; gain one point for each card over 12. Add the
value of the scoring cards. 
The game is played to 50 points.

Opinional Rules for Gambling Purposes(written by Tristan Ap Elwin and
dedicated to Rabah's  Caravan hope you find use for it Rabah:) All of these
rules, some, or non can be used without majorley changing the playability of
the game. These rules are no way researched as a period form of gambling and
may entirely be unperiod in nature. Though commen sense would dictate some
form of gambling is possible with this game, and these rules are reasonable
in that fashion. These rules add a whole new dimension to the game.

Opitional Rule 1: A pot is exstablished at the beggining of the game. The
amount each player must bid should be discussed or may even be handled like
in poker. The player who gets to 50 wins the pot.

Optional Rule 2a:Each trick every player bids x amount of coins. The person
who wins the trick doubles his bid from the house. Everyone elses bid goes
to the house.

Optional Rule 2b: A player may place a bid at the beginning of any trick
before any cards are played. Any bid of a losing player on the table after
the trick is lost goes to the house. Any winning bid can ride to the next
trick. Any winning bid can be cashed in between any two tricks. Use the
chart below for cash in values:
1 winning trick       double the bid
2 winning tricks      triple the bid
3 winning tricks      x4 times the bid
and so on......

I hope everyone who read this will least play a few hands. Its lots of fun.
I appologize to the people who recieved this and do not want it. (Sorry for
the lengh!)
In service
Tristan ap Elwin

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