The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (122 page)

played card, then adds it to his own pile of winnings, where it stays

for the rest of the deal. It is legal, if pointless, to lead it to a trick. In

this case, any card may be played second, and the third player must

fol ow suit to that.

Score At end of play, everyone sorts through their won cards and

reckons their values in batches of three at a time. The counting

cards and their values are:

The Angel (20) 5 Each King

5

The Bagatto (1) 5 Each Queen 4

The Fool

4 Each Cavalier 3

Each Jack

2

A batch of three counters scores 2 less than the total value of its

individual counters. Two counters and a blank score 1 less than the

two counters together. One counter and two blanks score just the

value of the counter, and three blanks score exactly 1 point.

Whoever played the Fool counts 4 for it without including it in a

batch. Whoever won the trick to which the Fool was played wil

have two odd cards left over. He counts these exactly as though they

were three, the third being a non-counter.

No mat er how the cards are batched in threes, the total of points

distributed between the three players wil always be 78. Since the

average score is 26, each player counts towards game the dif erence

between 26 and the points he took. Thus, if the counters divide 30,

27, 21, the respective scores are +4, +1, and –5.

27, 21, the respective scores are +4, +1, and –5.

The player with the lowest score after three deals pays a smal

stake to each of the others.

The scoring is typical of Tarot games. There are two ways of simplifying it.

One is to try to make all batches of three contain at least two blanks, as these give the simplest scores, namely, 1 point or the value of the single counter. The other is to assume a notional value of 1 point per blank, in which case any three cards count 2 less than their total face value. For example: Angel, Cavalier, Ten counts (5 + 3 + 0) – (1) = 7 by the first method, and (5 + 3 + 1) – (2) = 7

by the second.

Notes on play Al Tarot games are deep and subtle, and an ounce of

play is worth a pound of book. Suf ice here to say that the dealer

wil use the discard to bury a vulnerable counter, or to create a void

suit: and, since he has this advantage, the other two may find it

mutual y profitable to play to some extent as if they were partners

against a soloist. Much of the interest centres on saving or capturing

the Bagat o, as it counts 5 points and is vulnerable because it is the

lowest trump. If the dealer has it, he cannot (by law) save it by

put ing it in his discards, unless it is the only trump he holds. One

of his aims in voiding a suit as soon as possible wil be to enable

him to win the trick with the Bagat o when that suit is led.

Conversely, this is one good reason for his opponents not to lead a

King until they have discovered, by playing lower cards, in which

suit the dealer may have voided himself. A player holding the

Bagat o may, if he holds significantly more than the average of

seven trumps, try to save it by drawing his opponents’ trumps

whenever possible – either by leading them, or by leading suits in

which they are void, as they are then obliged to trump.

Ottocento (Tarocco Bolognese, Tarocchino)

4 players (2 × 2), 62 cards

In 1725, however, it came to the notice of the Papal authorities

In 1725, however, it came to the notice of the Papal authorities

that the citizens of Bologna were playing with a pack of cards

containing the figures of the Pope, Emperor, Empress and Popess:

duly scandalised, they ordered theseto be replaced by others. They

were henceforward replaced by four Moors, royal figures of a

vaguely Eastern appearance

Michael Dummet , Twelve Tarot Games (London, 1980)

This remarkable Tarot game has remained popular in and around

Bologna for some five centuries. It lacks bidding, but boasts, besides

an unusual range of scorable card combinations, the rare feature of

scoring for card combinations contained in individual tricks, and a

distinctively shortened pack, causing it once to be known by the

diminutive title ‘Tarocchino’. The 62-card pack is easily obtainable

in Bologna, or from specialist card suppliers. If necessary, you can

use a stripped-down Tarot de Marseil e or Tarocco Piemontese,

making the appropriate substitutions in trumps. But this is

recommended only as a last resort, as the individuality of the

Bolognese cards is one of its chief at ractions. If the game seems

complicated, take heart from Professor Dummet ’s assurance that it

has been considerably simplified since the eighteenth century.

Players Four play in fixed partnerships. Play goes to the right.

Object To score points for (a) card combinations declared from

individual hands as dealt, (b) card combinations that can be made

from cards captured in tricks by each partnership, (c) individual

counting-cards captured in tricks by each partnership, and (d)

winning the last trick. The target score is 800 points, whence the

name of the game.

Cards The Tarocco Bolognese contains 62 cards: 21 trumps; a card

cal ed the Mat o, which belongs to no suit; and ten each of swords,

batons, cups and coins. The trumps, of which only twelve are

numbered (and somewhat anomalously) rank downwards as

numbered (and somewhat anomalously) rank downwards as

fol ows:

Angelo

Angel

Mondo

World

Sole

Sun

Luna

Moon

16 Stella

Star

15 Saetta

Thunderbolt

14 Diavolo

Devil

13 Morte

Death

12 Traditore

Traitor

11 Vecchio

Old Man

10 Ruota or Roda

Wheel

9 Forza

Strength

8 Giustitia

Justice

7 Temperanza or Tempra Temperance

6 Carro

Chariot

5 Amore

Love

Mori (×4)

Moors (four, all equal in rank)

Bègato or Bagattino

the lowest trump

The Angel, World, Bègato and Mat o are cal ed tarocchi. The

Mat o is not a trump and has no ranking order. Plain suits rank

downwards as fol ows:

in swords ( ) and batons ( ):

King, Queen, Knight, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, Ace

in cups ( ) and coins ( ):

King, Queen, Knight, Jack, Ace, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Tarocchi and court cards when captured in tricks count as

Tarocchi and court cards when captured in tricks count as

fol ows:

Tarocchi 5each

Kings

5each

Queens 4each

Knights 3each

Jacks

2each

Deal The dealer shuf les and his left-hand opponent cuts. Deal

fifteen cards each in batches of five. The last two cards go to the

dealer, who then reduces his hand to 15 by making any two

discards – other than 5-point cards – face down. At end of play

these wil count to his side as if won in tricks.

Declarations During the first trick, players may declare and score for

certain card combinations. Declarations are not compulsory, nor

need they be made in ful – for example, you may declare a

sequence of four when actual y holding five – but, of course, you

score only for what you declare. Each in turn makes any such

declarations by placing al the relevant cards face up on the table

immediately before playing his card to the first trick, and then

returning them to hand. The dealer may not use any discards in

combinations.

If either side reaches 800 from points scored for declarations, the

game ends with no further play.

The combinations and their scores are:

1. Cricche. A cricca is three or four cards of the same kind,

namely:

cards

three four

Tarocchi 18 36

Kings

17 34

Queens 14 28

Knights 13 26

Jacks

12 24

If three or more dif erent cricche are scored simultaneously by the

same player, their total score is doubled.

2. Sequences. Combinations of three or more cards score a basic

10 points, plus 5 points for each card in excess of three. A single

gap in a sequence may (with some restriction) be plugged by the

use of the Mat o or Bègato as a wild card (contatore). Each wild

card held can be used in every sequence – that is, its use in one

sequence does not preclude its use in another. If either or both is

held but not used wild, they may be added to the sequence to

increase its length and hence its score.

Trump sequence (grande). The minimum trump sequence consists