This is from the Danish game, the last surviving member of the Grosstarock family. Grand Tarot, as that means, seemed a little pompous, however good it is, so hence its new English name. That said, it really is rather grand!

A game for three players with a different focus from other Tarot games in that the goal players aim for is to win the last trick with either The Magician (ie. The Sparrow) or a King.



Equipment: In addition to a pack of cards, you will need a good selection of poker chips to score with and two pots, one will be for The Sparrow and the other for The King.

Pack: A standard tarot of 78 cards is used consisting of four regular suits of 14 cards, a suit of 21 trumps, and The Fool.

Ranking: Standard ranking is used...

Pips rank in suit from high to low:
King, Queen, Cavalier, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace

Empty Cards: These are cards that have values of 1 point or less.

Honours: The Magician, The World, and The Fool are called The Honours. They are always among the highest scoring cards.

Card Points are:
Honours
5 points
Kings
5 points
Queens
4 points
Cavaliers
3 points
Jacks
2 points
All others
1 point




A game should be any multiple of three hands.

Foundation: At the start of the game, players pay 40 points in chips into each of the two pots as a foundation payment. Thereafter, should one of the pots be emptied, each player must again pay 40 points into it.

Deal: First Dealer is chosen at random or by consent with the role moving to the player on the left after each hand.

Each player is dealt twenty-five cards in packets of five, with Dealer taking the last three. Dealer must then discard three cards to will count toward his/her tricks at the end. The discard may not include either Honours, Kings, or Trumps – unless there is no other option or doing so will leave Dealer void in trumps.

Dealer must then pay 5 points into each pot for the privilege of the discard.

Declarations: If players have any of the scoring combinations in their hand, they are obliged to declare them – though they don’t have to show the relevant cards. Each of the other players must pay the declaring player in payment for the information.

[The Tables are not displaying properly I'm afraid - they are correct but a bit untidy. I think that I shall have to recreate them as image files later but for now, they do convey the information.]

Kings
Full Kings
All four Kings
10 points
Abundant Kings
All four Kings + The Fool
15 points
Half Kings
Three Kings + The Fool
5 points



Royalty
The Court of ______
All four courts of the named suit
10 points
Abundance of ______
All four courts of the named suit + The Fool
15 points
Half Court of ______
Three courts of the named suit + The Fool
5 points



Honours
Full Honours
The Fool, The Magician, and The World
Four Honours
The Honours + the XX of trumps
Five Honours
The Honours + the XX & XIX
Six Honours
The Honours + the XX, XIX, & XVIII



...and so on down to the II of trumps.



Honours score 10 points plus 5 for each consecutive trump.
Trumps
Players must declare for ten or more trumps in their hand, as with the other bonuses, The Fool counts toward this number but is not declared. However, if The Magician is among them, then He must be named. For example, a player might call “Thirteen trumps with The Magician!”



Ten trumps score 10 points with a further 5 points for each additional trump.



Play: Eldest (Dealer’s left) leads to the first trick by placing a card face up on the table. Each player in turn, moving to the left, must play a card from their hand of the suit led – this is called following suit. If they do not have any cards of the suit led, it is called being void in that suit and they must play a trump card instead. However, if they have no trumps, they may then play any other card, though it will not win. Whoever plays the highest trump to the trick wins it, or if trumps are not played, then whoever played the highest card of the suit led wins it. The winner takes the cards and places them face down in their trick pile to be counted at the end.

The player that wins the trick then leads to the next one and play continues until the hand has been played out.

If The Fool is held, then it may be played at any time instead of a card that the rules might otherwise require and although it will not win, it is seldom lost. When played, The Fool is returned to to its player who then places it face up beside them until the end of the hand when they must pay the player who won the trick with a card from their trick pile (obviously, they will choose an empty card if they can). However, if they have taken no tricks, then they must surrender The Fool instead.

There are two payments that apply during play up to but excluding the last trick:
  • If The Magician is played to a trick but does not win it, then the player pays each of the other players and The Sparrow’s Pot 5 points.
  • If a King is played to a trick but does not win it, then the player pays each of the other players and The King’s Pot 5 points.

Finishing The Hand: Players now count their card points in groups of three cards, subtracting 2 points for each group. Each point under 26, rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 is paid to Eldest (Dealer’s right). Each point over 26, rounded to the nearest 25 is paid to them by Eldest.
  • Slam: If a player wins all the tricks, then each of the others must pay 85 points.
  • Beggar: If a player wins no tricks, then each of the others must pay 25 points.
  • The Sparrow: If a player wins the last trick with The Magician, then The Sparrow’s Pot is won and each of the other players must pay 45 points.
  • The Emperor: If a player wins the last trick with a King, then The Kings Pot is won and each of the other players must pay 40 points.
  • Dropped Balls: If a player plays The Magician to the last trick but fails to win it, then they must pay each of the other players and The Sparrow’s Pot 45 points.
  • Usurped King: If a player plays a King to the last trick but fails to win it, then they must pay each of the other players and The King’s Pot 40 points.


Finishing the Game: After the last agreed hand, if there is anything left in the pots, then they are divided equally between the three players.

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