Most of the modern tarot packs to be found are, with the exception of the French suited cards, going to be aimed at occultists and card readers. As such, most of these packs are not going to be very suitable for game play - but there are notable exceptions...

Tarot Favole

This is a beautiful pack published by Fournier (consistently good quality) and showcasing the work of fantasy artist Victoria Frances. The pictures were not created for the pack but drawn from her existing catalogue of work, sometimes with a little photoshop to make them fit the needs of a tarot. If you like modern gothic vampires, then this is going to be your thing - and if you don’t, well these cards might still win you over. What makes them particularly suitable for card play is that they use pips, though in this case they are crosses, butterflies, masks, and roses.

Sadly, they are still not that widely available but Alida Store stocks them for about 12 euros, which doesn’t seem a bad price.

Tarot de Marseilles

Not a reproduction? Well, not strictly. Fournier have taken their Marseilles pattern and given it a modern re-colouring. Personally, I think that the result is wonderful, essentially attaining the best of two worlds.

As for quality, well, Fournier are good at that, the card stock and the printing are excellent and fairly durable.

These cards are also excellent for getting used to Italian suits. One problem that can plague starters is the confusion between swords and batons - on these cards each of the four suits has a different background colour, eliminating the problem.

These are stocked by Alida Store for about 12 euros

Il Tarocco Bizzarro

These cards were created by Italian cartoonist Franco Bruna - do check his web-site, I love his Picasso! The designs are based on the traditional Piedmontese pack and with very few exceptions, are free of any recent occult heritage (a notable exception is the 1 of trumps who has an infinity symbol about his head). I find the designs colourful and fun - very good for game play.

Published by Dal Negro, these are of good quality and at a reasonable price. (about £15)

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Tarocchi di Giulietta e Romeo

Luigi Scapini has been involved in tarot designs for a long while now. He re-created the missing cards for the Cary-Yale pack and gave us the Medieval Scapini. I’m not quite sure how seriously he takes the occult tarot - or how seriously occult tarotists take him. At any rate, he does seem to have a sense of humour. For this pack, he takes not just Romeo and Juliette but Shakespeare’s works in general as his theme.

His style is probably a matter of taste, drawing on the past but with a dash of cartoon/comic. I have to say that I rather enjoyed this pack and think that it makes a great game pack. The pip cards are more decorated than illustrated and any traditional occult symbols are hard to find - he really does go his own way with this one.

Published by Dal Negro, the cards themselves are of good quality making this another all round fun option at a reasonable price (about £15)

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