Typical rules of play

Modern tarot deck used for French tarot card game
Tarocco Piemontese:the Fool. Italian suited Tarots are still used in Italy and Switzerland for card games, for instance Tarocchini in Italy.Play is typically counter-clockwise; the player to the right of the dealer plays to the first trick. If possible players must follow suit. If following suit is not possible a trump card must be played – this rule characterises all Tarot games, even Bavarian Tarock, which does not use a pack with a separate suit of tarocks. In the French tarot game, this trump must beat any trump already played to the trick if possible. The winner of each trick leads the next.


Common value of cards
Oudlers/Trull (Trumps 1, 21 and the Fool) : 5 points
Kings : 5 points
Queens : 4 points
Cavaliers : 3 points
Jacks : 2 points
all other cards : fraction of a point
The cards are usually counted in groups of two or three depending on the game. After the hand has been played, a score is taken based on the point values of the cards in the tricks each player has managed to capture. (counting cards)

For the purpose of the rules, the numbering of the trumps are the only thing that matters. The symbolic tarot images customary in divinatory tarot have no effect in the game itself: though, rather ironically, the tarot deck was originally designed to play this game (see playing card history), the design traditions subsequently evolved independently and the tarots often bear only numbers and whimsical scenes arbitrarily chosen by the engraver. However there are still traditional sequences of images in which the common lineage is visible: for example, a moon is visible at the bottom left corner of the XXI in the picture at the top of the page. This stems from confusion of German Mond with Italian mondo and French monde, meaning "world" - the usual symbol associated with the 21 on Italian suited tarots and in divinatory tarot.

In tarot decks made for playing the game (as opposed to those made for divination or other esoteric uses), the four Latin suits are replaced in many regions with the French suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Some variations of the game are played with a 54-card deck (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of hearts and diamonds and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of spades and clubs are discarded).

Variations of the game are still played in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and especially in the countries on the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, for which even the name Tarockanien has been coined: the Austrian variation of the game is thus still widely popular among all classes and generations in Slovenia, Croatia and in the Czech Republic, while in Hungary different rules are applied.