The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (123 page)

of the Angel and at least two of the next three trumps (World, Sun,

Moon). It may be extended by any further sequence running

downwards from the 16 until a gap is reached. Mat o and Bègato

can be used wild, but neither of them may replace the Angel, nor

may they be put together to represent consecutive numbered

trumps. (But a sequence of, say, World-Sun-Mat o-Bègato is valid

because Mat o stands for Moon, which is unnumbered.)

Suit sequence The minimum suit sequence consists of the King and

at least two of the next three cards (Queen, Knight, Jack). It may

then be extended by the Ace, if held. It may contain one wild card,

which may not replace the King; and at least one of the other courts

must be natural.

Moors sequence (mori). At least three Moors, of which at least two

must be natural.

Ace sequence At least three Aces, of which at least two must be

natural.

Three or more dif erent sequences scored simultaneously in one

hand are doubled in value.

Moors and Aces are not sequences in the strict sense of the word,

but they are so regarded here. The fact that they count as sequences

and not cricche is important when it comes to doubling.

Combination

score

Angel, World, Moon,16

15

Four-card grande

Angel, Matto (= World or Sun), Moon, 16, 15, Bègato (=14), 13, 12

Eight-card grande. (It is not necessary to replace both the World and the Sun 35

with wild cards)

Angel, World, Sun, Moon, Matto, Bègato,14

Six-card grande. (Not seven: the 16 and 15 are both missing, making the 14 25

irrelevant.)

King, Queen, Bègato (for KnightorJack), Ace

15

Four-card suit sequence

King, Queen, Knight, Jack, Ace, Matto

25

Six-card suit sequence

four Aces, Bègato, Matto

25

Six-card Ace sequence

Play Eldest leads first. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

must play a trump if possible, and only otherwise may renounce

(unless holding the Mat o: see below). The trick is taken by the

highest card of the suit led, or by the highest trump if any are

played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

Mat o You can play the Mat o to any trick at any time, even if able

to fol ow suit, and it is automatical y added to the tricks won by

your own side. If the other side wins the trick you play it to, you

take it back and give them a worthless one in exchange. This can be

any card you have already taken, or you can wait until you win a

trick containing a card you are wil ing to abandon, in which case

the Mat o can be left face up as a reminder. You wil lose the Mat o

only if your side loses every single trick.

Score There are several parts to the scoring, with points made for

both individual cards and card-combinations captured in tricks, and

to some extent for tricks themselves, and these al in addition to

those scored original y for declaring combinations in the hand. It is

important to note which side won the last trick, as they wil score 6

for it.

The rest is best calculated by taking al the cards captured by the

side that won fewer tricks and spreading them out on the table in

an ordered layout, with trumps and plain suits clearly distinguished

and in proper sequence. This makes it easy to see what

combinations they can score, and to deduce, from the cards missing,

what combinations can be counted by the other side.

Score first for al the cricche that can be made from the visible

cards, remembering to double the total if there are three or more of

them. The other side then scores similarly for the cricche that can

be made from their own cards.

Score next for al the sequences that can be made from the visible

cards, remembering to double the total if there are three or more of

them. The other side then scores similarly for the sequences that can

be made from their own cards.

Final y, count the individual card-points in the fol owing specific

way. We wil cal point-scoring cards ‘counters’ (these are the

tarocchi and court cards), and non-counting cards ‘blanks’ (the

remaining trumps and the plain-suit numerals). Count al cards in

pairs consisting either of two blanks or of one blank and a counter.

Score 1 point for each pair of blanks, and for each pair consisting of

a blank and a counter score the value of the counter. In the rare

event of necessarily pairing two counters, score them as 1 less than

their sum. Add 6 points if this side won the last trick. Record this

total towards game.

The other side’s score can be found by the same method, or by

simply deducting the first side’s score from 93, which wil always

be the combined total no mat er how the cards are paired of and

counted. (Check: Twenty pairs consisting of a counter and a blank

counted. (Check: Twenty pairs consisting of a counter and a blank

wil total 76. This leaves 22 blanks scoring 1 per pair, total 87; and

6 for last makes 93 in al .)

Game The winning side is the one with the larger score when at

least one side has reached 800.

Signals Upon leading to a trick, you may make any one of three

conventional signals to your partner:

1. Volo (toss the card in the air): ‘This is my last card in this

suit’.

2. Busso (strike the table with the fist): ‘Play high and return this

suit if you win (and can)’.

3. Striscio (scrape the card along the table): ‘Please lead trumps’.

Two signals may be made at the same trick. Hence a volo made

without a busso can be taken as a request not to return the suit.

Partner is not obliged to comply with any signal ed request.

No other signals are normal y permit ed today.

French Tarot

3-4 players (4 best), 78 cards

French Tarot became remarkably popular in the late twentieth

century, helped largely by the fact that there is basical y only one

main French game and that it is promoted by a national body

cal ed the Federation Francaise de Tarot. The fol owing account is

based on Dummet (see introduction), with reference to Patrick

Arnet , Le Tarot (Paris, 1977) and Claude-Marcel Laurent, Lejeu de

Tarots (Paris, 1975). Itis customary to use the 78-card Tarot

Nouveau, but details of play vary from circle to circle and the

fol owing account is typical rather then definitive. Terminology

Three significant cards in the game are cal ed bouts, meaning ‘ends’

Three significant cards in the game are cal ed bouts, meaning ‘ends’

or ‘extremities’. I have reluctantly decided not to translate these as

but s, which comes from the same root and has the same meaning,

as the word sounds vaguely ridiculous in this context. The six

undealt cards, which constitute what in classical games would be

cal ed a talon, are in fact col ectively cal ed le chien. This term,

though jocular, real y does mean ‘dog’, and gives rise to al sorts of

punning remarks when a player picks it up. Hence there is no

reason not to cal a dog a dog, and that’s what it wil be. The term

poignee, for a bonus-earning number of trumps, literal y means

‘fist’. I wil cal it a ‘bunch’ (as in ‘a bunch of fives’).

Preliminaries Four players play to the right. The 78-card pack

consists of

21trumps(atouts)numbered1-21,withscenesofeighteenth-

century everyday bourgeois life;

the Excuse (excuse), unnumbered, and depicting a Fool or

Jester;

14 cards in each of four suits, spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds,

ranking from high to low: King (R for roi), Queen (D for

dame), Cavalier (C for chevalier), Jack (V for valet), 10 9 8 7

6 5 4 3 2 1.

Three of these are special cards cal ed ‘bouts’. They are the

lowest and the highest trumps (1 and 21), and the Excuse. Certain

cards, cal ed counters, carry point-values as fol ows:

Each bout

5(†21, †1, and the Excuse)

Each King

5

Each Queen 4

Each Cavalier 3

Each Jack

2

Object An auction determines who wil play alone against the other

three. The soloist’s aim is to win a minimum number of points

three. The soloist’s aim is to win a minimum number of points

which varies with the number of bouts contained in his won tricks,

viz.

3 bouts 36points

2 bouts 41points

1 bout 51points

0 bouts 56points

The missing value, 46, is one point more than half the total

available (91).

Deal Whoever draws the lowest card dealsfirst. For this purpose

trumps count higher than plain suits. The turn to deal and play then

passes to the right. After cut ing to the left, deal eighteen cards each

in batches of three, and six face down to the table. The six down-

cards – col ectively referred to as the ‘dog’ (chien) – are also dealt

in batches of three, but they may not be the first three or the last

three from the pack, nor may both threes be dealt consecutively.

Void deal A player who happens to have been dealt †1, but no

other trump at al , must declare the deal void, and the next in turn

to deal does so. (There are other options, but the event is rare and

the relevant rules excessively complicated.)

Auction Each in turn, starting with eldest, has one opportunity to

bid or pass, and each bid must be higher than the last. The bids

from lowest to highest are:

1. Petite. The soloist wil turn the dog face up, add it to his

hand, and make any six discards, face down, before play.

These discards wil count for him at end of play as if he had

won them in tricks. He may not discard a bout or a King, and

may discard trumps only if he hasn’t enough plain cards. In

this case, he must say how many he has discarded, but need

not identify them.

2. Garde. Same as petite, but for a higher score.

2. Garde. Same as petite, but for a higher score.

3. Garde sans lechien (without the dog). The soloist wil play

without touching the dog, but its six cards wil stil count for

him at end of play as if he had won them in tricks.

4. Garde contre le chien (against the dog). As above, but the six

dog cards wil count to the opponents as if they themselves

had won them in tricks.

Declarations Each player, just before playing to the first trick, may

make one or more of the fol owing applicable declarations:

1. Anyone holding ten or more trumps may declare a bunch

(poignee). The possible declarations are ‘Ten’, ‘Thirteen’, or

‘Fifteen’ trumps. Such a declaration must be supported by

showing the stated number of trumps. The Excuse does not

count as a trump unless the hand is one short of a declarable

number, in which case it may be used to make it up. A player

holding a bunch is not obliged to declare it; nor, if he holds

cards in excess of a bunch, need he state whether or how

many extra he holds; but it is not legal to declare a smal er

relevant number than actual y held. (Example: You may

declare ‘Ten’ if you hold ten, eleven, or twelve trumps; but if

you hold thirteen, or twelve and the Excuse, you must declare,

if anything, ‘Thirteen’.) A bunch declared by the soloist wil

score for him alone if he wins, or by each opponent if he fails.

One made by any partner wil be credited to each of them if