Glossary

 

 

Ace: This is the pip card numbered 1 in a regular suit and usually abbreviated to A.

 

Angel: Also called the Judgement and traditionally numbered 20, however, in Italian games this card outranks the Mond (XXI of trumps) as the highest trump and Honour.

 

Bagatto: see the Pagat

 

Bidding: The bidding round is sometimes called an auction. Players evaluate their hands and decide if they want to bid to be Declarer, playing against all the other players. While the risks are greater for a Declarer, the rewards for winning are much greater also. Games with a bidding round can be played in different ways of varying difficulty for Declarer to win. The harder the type of play bid for, the higher the stakes in game points. The player that bids to play the hardest type is Declarer.

 

Birds: Some countries, where the French suited cards are used, have the tradition of naming the four lowest trumps as birds. The Pagat was sometimes called the Sparrow, the II is called the Owl or Eagle Owl, the III is called the Cockatoo, Pelikan or Canary, and the IV is called the Marabou (an African Stork), or Bearded Vulture. In Hungary, the II is known as the Eagle, this may be the original name (the Austrian designs feature an eagle on that card). In Hungary, the penultimate trick is called the Owl, as there is a bonus for winning this with the II, it may have given its name to the card.

 

Bouts: see the Honours

 

Black Suits: These are the Spades and Clubs. Their equivalents in other patterns are Swords and Batons, Leaves and Acorns, Shields and Acorns. Swords and Batons are sometimes called Long Suits but this term usually has a different meaning, so I’ll stick to calling them Black Suits.

 

Card Points: Points won from the cards in your trick pile, it is these that count towards winning.

 

Cockatoo: A name given to the III of trumps.

 

Contras: Not all games have this feature and those that do, implement it a little differently. After the bidding round, each player will have the chance to double the stakes by calling contra, they can also re-contra to double again. Re-contra will usually have a limit, often ending with a call of sub-contra. This can increase the points won or lost considerably, so if you are playing for money, you might want to limit this or disallow altogether.

 

Counting Cards: Any cards that carry a value of 2 or more points.

 

Counting the Card Points: Tarot’s counting is notoriously odd. There are a number of different methods used by the different games and contrary to appearances they will, for the most part, give the same results. I have listed the methods to be used with each game but have tried to create some consistency between them and used the simplest methods available.

 

Court Cards: There are four court cards in each of the four plain suits, they are named and ranked King, Queen, Cavalier ( a rider / horseman), and Valet. Of course, different nations have different names for some of them and their cards will have indices for those names – for example, French Kings will have an ‘R’ for Roi.

 

Cutting the Cards: With the pack on the table, lift two or three piles from it and then stack them together in a different order. Sometimes cutting the cards is not done as a part of shuffling but to randomly reveal a card - in this case, part of the pack is lifted and the card revealed in the lifted part is selected. This may be done to select first Dealer, partners, or, in non tarot games, this is sometimes to select a trump suit.

 

Dealer and the Deal: The first Dealer is chosen at random, sometimes by cutting the cards, after that, the deal moves to the right. Dealer shuffles and Dealer’s left cuts the cards, then Dealer hands out the cards – deals them – to the players starting with his/her right.

 

Declarer: Many Tarot games involve one player, Declarer, playing against all the other players. Declarer is usually decided by a round of bidding.

 

Defenders: These are the players working as a team to prevent Declarer winning the game.

 

Deuce: This is the pip card numbered 2 in a regular suit.

 

Doubleton: If you have just two cards of a suit, they are called a doubleton.

 

Eagle: In Hungary, this is the name given to the II of trump and may have been its original name.

 

Eldest: This is the player to Dealer’s right. Sometimes known as forehand.

 

Empty Card: This is any card that only carries 1 point, or sometimes no points.

 

Fool: Also unique to tarot but not originally a trump. This card is often called the Excuse – or some derivative thereof – and can be played at any time to avoid playing a card that the rules would otherwise require be played. However, there are many games, mostly central European, in which this card is used not as an excuse, but as the highest trump. If, as an excuse, it is led to a trick, then the suit for other players to follow is set by the second player, who may play any card. Usually, the only time that the Fool, when used as an excuse, can be won is when a slam is being played, that is when a player wins all the tricks in a game.

 

Game: A game usually consists of as many hands as there are players. For example, if playing a tarot for three players, then a complete game will consist of three hands being dealt and played, with each player taking one turn to deal.

 

Game Points: Points that you win from other players, these may be affected by the number of card points that you win and, for gamblers, translate to money.

 

Hand: The cards dealt to a player are known as his/her hand. A round of play, as part of a game is also called a hand.

 

Hanged Man: A card misnamed by French card makers. It traditionally shows a man suspended by one foot and has struck many as mysterious. However, in Italy, it was known as the Traitor – because that’s how they executed traitors, they were suspended by one foot and left to die slowly and publicly.

 

Hermit: A card misnamed by French card makers. The naming error followed from the copying error showing the figure of an old man holding a lantern. However, this was originally an hour glass and the figure was Old Father Time.

 

Honours: These cards are also called the Bouts or Oudlers in the French game, the Trull in some others. They are the Fool, the Pagat, and the Mond. They are always among the highest scoring cards in the game. In some Italian games, the Angel often replaces the Mond as both the highest trump and honour.

 

Irrational Ranking: This is something unfamiliar to most people in English speaking countries but quite common in continental Europe. The black suits rank normally but the red suits rank K, Q, C, V, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. It seems like an odd quirk but is common to most tarot games and easy enough to get used to. As the pip cards are of low value, it tends to make little practical difference.

 

Judgement: see Angel

 

Kakadu: see Cockatoo

 

Long Suit: If you have a large number of cards in a given suit, it is called a long suit.

 

Long Suits: A name used for the Latin suits of Batons and Swords.

 

Maria’s Rule: You probably won’t find this in any rule book, it was a rule given to me by an old friend from Spain. Her rule is that the cards should not be shuffled between hands - only cut. The reasoning was that we got more interesting hands that way. And so we did! However, be warned that this is not such a good method for those games where the deal involves packets of more than three or four.

 

Marabou: A name given to the IV of trumps – it is a black African stork.

 

Matto: see the Fool

 

Minchiate: A Florentine pack featuring some extra trumps to total 97 cards. Once very popular, spreading beyond Italy as far afield as New Orleans.

 

Mond: This is the 21 of trumps – it is the ‘world’ card. It is worth noting that in some Italian games, the Angel (usually numbered 20) ranks as highest trump instead.

 

Name of the Game: Although the family of games is often referred to as ‘tarot’, only the French call it that. In Italy, where the cards were invented, it is called tarocchi. There are other names throughout the world though, such as: tarock, tarokk, taroky, troccas, ottocento, and cego.

 

Order of Play: Tarot, like a number of European games, is played counter-clockwise.

 

Oudlers: see the Honours

 

Owl: Commonly the game given to the II of trumps but also to the penultimate trick.

 

Packets: In most tarot games, cards are not dealt singly but 2 or more cards at a time - these are called packets.

 

Pagat: This is the 1 of trumps, the hardest to keep from losing and because of this it carries a high point value. There is often a special bonus for winning the last trick with the Pagat called the Pagat Ultimo.

 

Pip Cards: These are the cards numbered 1-10 in the regular suits. Some of these cards may be omitted in some games, usually to make a 54 card pack. They are sometimes called ‘spot’ cards.

 

Rationalized Ranking: All the regular suits rank K, Q, C, V, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

 

Red Suits: These are the Hearts and Diamonds. Their equivalents in other patterns are Cups and Coins, Hearts and Bells, Roses and Bells. They are sometimes called the Round Suits but for continuity, I’ll stick to Red Suits.

 

Round Suits: A name used for the Latin suits of Cups and Coins.

 

Scart: A discard pile. Many games involve a player taking the cards in the stock into his/her hand and then discarding an equal number of cards into a scart. These cards will often be counted towards a player’s or a team’s tricks but are not added to their trick pile until the hand has been played.

 

Singleton: If you have just one card of a suit, it is called singleton.

 

Short Suit: If you have only a small number of cards in a given suit, it is called a short suit.

 

Sparrow: An old name for the Pagat (I of trumps).

 

Stock: In many games a number of cards are dealt to the table as a stock. These cards are sometimes called the Talon, or the Chien. These cards will often be counted towards a player’s or a team’s tricks but are not added to their trick pile until the hand has been played.

 

Suits: A suit is a sub-set of a pack of cards sharing a theme. In traditional playing cards there are four suits. The earliest suits in Europe are the Italian ones of Swords, Batons, Cups, and Coins. The popular French suits are Spades, Clubs, Hearts, and Diamonds. Other nations have also experimented with suit designs. In Germany, though mostly just in the South these days, there are Leaves, Acorns, Hearts, and Bells. The Swiss have the Jass pack of Shields, Acorns, Bells, and Roses.

 

Tarocchi: The later and modern name of the games in Italy. The singular is Tarocco. It may have come from the old Italian vernacular Tarocus, meaning to play the fool.

 

Tarocchino: The name sometimes given to the Tarocco Bolognese, due to its reduced size.

 

Tarocco: The singular of Tarocchi.

 

Tarocco Bolognese: The tarot pack unique to Bologna, sometimes called the Tarocchino. It has an unusual arrangement of trumps that includes the Four Moors, equally ranking trumps that replaced the II-IV.

 

Traitor: see Hanged Man

 

Trick, playing to: Declarer (or, if the game does not have a Declarer, then eldest) begins by playing a card face up in the middle of the table. This is called leading to the trick. The suit of the first card played is the suit that has been led. Each player in turn, moving to the right, must play another card of the same suit, this is called following suit. If they cannot follow suit, then they must play a trump. If they can neither follow suit nor play a trump, then they may play any card – though it cannot win. The highest card played of the suit led, wins the trick unless a trump has been played, in which case the highest trump wins it. The player, who won the trick, takes the cards, places them face down beside him/her to form a trick pile and leads to the next trick. (if playing in a team, those players keep a joint trick pile)

 

Trionfi: The oldest name for the cards and the game they were used for. It means triumphs in reference to the trumps’ theme, a Christian triumph procession. It is also the origin of our word ‘trump’.

 

Trumps: These are the fifth suit of cards unique to tarot, when played they beat any card of the other suits.

 

Ultimo: The ultimo is the last trick of a hand and there is often a bonus for winning this with the Pagat - called the Pagat Ultimo - which is harder than you might realise.

 

Uhu: see Owl

 

Void Suit: If you have no cards of a given suit, it is called a void suit.