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.]
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Kings
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Royalty
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Honours
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...and so on down to the II of trumps.
Honours score 10 points plus 5 for each
consecutive trump.
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Trumps
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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.
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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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