four handed tarocchi

now, if you so happen to have 4 players & a deck of tarot cards, you can play this game, which is played in partnerships. - a bit like whist played with tarot cards

CARD POINTS

kings, 1, 21, fool ( honours)--5
queens-----------------------4
cavaliers---------------------3
jacks-------------------------2

deal 19 to each player, giving the remaining 3 to the dealer.
now. dealer puts 3 good cards fron his hand ( excluding the honours, otherwise it is too easy) & puts them aside. theese will count to the dealer's tricks.

play as in scarto.  the points are scored by dividing the number of cards by three, double that figure, & subtract the total value of the aforesaid cards from that figure.

(if you are interested in formulas, here is it

(2n/3)-x

where n is the number of cards, & x is the number of points they score).
2 odd 1-point cards score 1, any less, nothing

by this method, there are 78 points in the pack, so you need 39> to win


game ends once everyone has dealt

tarot cards- 1- an introduction

as I have said in my previous post, tarot cards are essentially normal card decks with attitude- with the addition of 22 cards, 21 numbered and a fool/excuse/matto
but before that, you must know of the two types of suits- french & latin

the top row shows the familar "french suits" whilst the bottom row shows the latin suits
they are ,correspondingly: (l-r in the pic)
clubs = batons
spades = swords
diamonds = coins
hearts = cups

(note- there are various systems as to how the suits equate, but at least for this blog, we'll stick to this)

now, then there the trump cards



they are listed here in decresing order in (most)  tarot games: there is the 21, or mond, mund,
. the following 2 are corruptions by the germans  of the italian/ french mond/mondo, meaning world- the title of this card.
also note that the cards of the french deck ( top row) go untitled.
then , below that, is the 1, or pagat, the latter (again) a corruption of the italian bagatto - the trivial performer.
note, if you look at the cards in the last row, the trivial performer.... has the tools of a shoemaker

oh, the third card is the fool/excuse/matto- the origin of the name "excuse " is complicated, and will be explained at a later date