Original by Hermés the French Tarot card game, consisting of 78 cards. The cards have a gold edge, they are very noble and stable in normal card size. Please note, the game manual is in French. Below is the German translation. French Tarot Launch Games with Tarot cards are played in various European countries, but nowhere as popular as in France. There are clubs, tournaments (including double events) as well as an official organization, the Fédération Française de Tarot. French Tarot is also played in the French-speaking parts of Canada. The following description is based in part on contributions from Craig Kaplan, Michel Braunwarth and Eric Betito. The players Tarot is a trick-taking game, in which the partnerships vary after each game. It is usually played by four players. We will describe this version here first. It is also often played with five players. Three players are also possible. The necessary changes are described at the end. The cards The deck of cards consists of 78 cards: The four colours are the standard colours of diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs. Each colour has fourteen cards, ranking from high to low as follows: ROI (King), Dame (Lady), Cavalier (Knight or Horseman), Valet (Knave), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. In addition to the four standard colours, there is a colour with twenty-one Atouts (trumps), numbered from 21 (high) to 1 (low). Finally, there is a special card, the excuse or fool, it is marked by a star in the corner. Three cards, the trump card 1 (Petit), the trump 21 and the excuse are particularly important to the game and are known as bouts or sometimes in the literature as Oudlers. The bouts are not only worth points, when they are in your hands, but they also reduce the total number of the points that you need to win. In North America it is possible to get French Tarot cards from TaroBear's Lair. Value of the cards: In each round one player (le preneur) plays against the other three players who play in a partnership. The goal of the lone player is to collect enough points through tricks to win the game. For each card you win in tricks, you receive the following points (eyes): Bouts (21, 1, excuse): 4.5 points each Kings: 4.5 points each Ladies: 3.5 points each Valets: each 2.5 points Jacks: 1.5 points each Other cards: 0.5 points each It's easiest to count them in pairs, grouping each court card or bout with a 0.5 point card. So for example a queen and a pip card together are worth 4 points. The game has a total of 91 points. The number of points that the taker needs to win, depends on the number of bouts, which he has in his tricks: With 3 bouts, the taker needs at least 36 points, to win; With 2 bouts, the taker needs at least 41 points, to win; With 1 bout, the taker needs at least 51 points, to win; With 0 bouts, the taker needs at least 56 points, to win; Dealing the cards The first dealer is picked at random. Then the turn to deal passes to the right after each hand (the entire game is played counter-clockwise). The player opposite the dealer shuffles and the player to the left of the dealer cuts. In a hand, 18 cards are dealt to each player, in groups of 3. During the deal, six cards are dealt face down to the centre of the table to form the talon or chien ("le chien" literally means "the dog") The chien cards are dealt seperately at any time during the deal, according to the choice of the dealer, apart from the first three and the last three cards of the deck, which cannot be dealt to the chien. A player who is only dealt trump 1 and no others (counting the excuse as a trump) must say this straight away. The hand is then stopped. The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals. The Bids Starting with the player on the dealer’s right and going counter-clockwise, each player has has just one chance to bid on the hand, or pass. If a player bids, next player can bid higher or pass. If all four players pass, the hand is thrown, and the next player in the series deals (this happens quite often). With the bidding, there are the following possibilities (from lowest to highest value): Petite (small) - in the literature this is often referred to as prise (take). You can use the Chien cards to improve your hand (see below). Then, you try to get enough points with the tricks to win. Garde (guard) Like Petite, but when it comes to bidding it has a higher rank than petite. Garde sans le chien (guard without the dog) Nobody looks at the Chien cards. But the card points in it count as part of the taker's tricks. Garde contre le chien (guard against the dog) Nobody looks at the Chien cards. But the card points in it count as part of the taker's tricks. The player with the highest bid becomes the taker. The other three players form a team on a temporary basis and try to prevent the taker from gaining enough points. n Petite or Garde, the taker turns the six cards of the chien face up for all to see and then takes them into his hand. Then he discards six cards face down. These cards cannot be trumps, kings, or the excuse. In the (very rare) case that the taker can't obey this rule, he can discard trumps (but never bouts); any trumps discarded must be shown to the other players. The cards discarded by the takerer count as part of his tricks. The play of the cards When the discard is complete, the cards are played. The player to the dealer’s right puts down the first card. Each trick is won by the highest trump in it. If no Trump is played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner of a trick starts the next trick. If possible, the suit has to be followed. If this is not possible, you must play a trump card. If trumps are played, the other players must of course, also play trumps. There is an additional restriction: Whenever you have to play a trump (either because trumps were led or because you have no cards of the suit which was led), you must if possible play a trump which is higher than the highest trump so far played to the trick. If you can't do this, you can play any trump card. However, you must still play a trump anyway, despite not being able to win the trick with it. Playing the excuse The excuse is an exception to the above rules. If you have the excuse, you can play it in every trick of your choice regardless of what was led and whether you have that suit or not. With a rare exception (see below) the excuse can never win the trick. The trick is won as usual by the highest trump, or in the absence of trumps by the highest card of the suit led. It is allowed to play the excuse. In this case, the second player can play any card. This second card, then, sets the suit that must be followed. If the excuse before the last trick has been played, the team that has played it, keeps it in the trick pile, even if it lost the trick, in which it was played. If the trick is in fact won by the opponents of the player of the excuse, the trick will be one card short. To compensate for this, the team that has played the excuse, must pass a card from his pile of tricks to the winners of the trick. This would be a 0.5 point card. If the team has no such card in the trick, it can wait until it wins a card with 0.5 points on a trick, and then pass it. If the excuse is played in the last trick, the excuse is taken by the team who wins the trick. (Please note: This rule was described up to the 1990s in most books. But but the official rules of the Fédération Française de Tarot (FFT) are a bit different. These rules say that the excuse changes sides when played in the last trick. If an opponent of the taker's side plays the excuse in the last trick, he wins the excuse, even if he does not win the trick.) There is only a very rare case in which the excuse can win a trick: If a team wins all the tricks with the exception of the last one and then the last trick is the excuse, the excuse wins. Bonuses There are some special bonuses. The points for these bonuses do not count as points. So they do not help you to win your bid. They are extra points which can be scored in addition to what you win or lose for your bid. Poignée This is a bonus, which is achieved when a player says that he has 10 or more trumps: 10 trumps: 20 points (simple Poignéée) 13 trumps: 30 points (double Poignéée) 15 trumps: 40 points (triple Poignéée) To declare a poignée, the player must show the correct number of trumps before the first card is played. The trumps must be sorted so that the other players can easily see what is there. The excuse can be counted in a poignée as a trump card. But if the excuse is shown, this indicates that the player has no other trumps. The bonus is for the team that wins the hand. If you declare a poignée and then lose, they've given the bonus to the other side. A poignée is only scored if it is declared. It is not necessary to declare a Poignée, if you have one. If you have 10 or more trumps, but are not confident that your team will win, it may be wiser not to declare the poignée. Petit au bout This is a bonus for playing the trump card of 1 in the last trick. In this case, the team that wins the last trick wins a bonus of 10 points. Chelem Chelem (= slam) is a bonus for winning all tricks. The score depends on whether this was announced in advance: Chelem annoncé: The team (usually the declarer) says Chelem before the game begins and leads the first trick. The bonus is 400 points if the team wins all the tricks. If this does not succeed, the penalty is -200 points. Chelem non annoncé: The team wins all the tricks without having announced it. It receives a bonus of 200 points. If a team wins all the tricks with the exception of the last one and then the last trick is the excuse, the excuse wins. This special rule which is used maybe once in a player's life, allows that a player achieves a chelem with the excuse. When making a chelem with the excuse in this way, it counts as petit au bout if you win the 1 of trumps in the second last trick. The scoring At the end of the hand, the taker counts his card points. The opposing team pool their tricks and count their card points. The six chien cards are added to the taker's tricks, unless the bid was "Garde contre le chien". In this case the chien cards are added to the opponents' tricks The taker wins if he has enough card points, depending on the number of bouts in his tricks. The number of points won or lost by the taker is calculated as follows: 25 points for the game plus the difference between the card points the taker actually won and the minimum number of points he needed (pt). the petit au bout bonus is added or subtracted if applicable (pb) This total is multiplied by a factor (mu) depending on the bid: Petite (prise) x 1 Garde x 2 Garde sans le chien x 4 Garde contre le chien x 6 The following additional points are then added or deducted if they can be applied. The multiplier has no effect on these: the poignée bonus (pg) the chelem-bonus (ch) The calculation of the score, expressed as a formula, is: ((25 + pt + pb) * mu) + pg + ch The calculated points are either won by the taker from all three opponents or lost by the taker to all three opponents. The always opponents win or lose alike: If an opponent wins petit au bout for example, all teams equally benefit. Example of scoring: A B C D Hand #1 240 -80 -80 -80 Hand #2 144 208 -176 -176 Hand #3 216 280 -392 -104 Hand #4 186 250 -302 -134 Hand #5 108 172 -380 100 Hand #1: A bids garde and has 56 card points with 2 bouts. Each other player gives (25 + 15) * 2 = 80 points to A. Hand #2: B bids garde, has 49 card points with 3 bouts and takes the last trick with the 1 of trump. Each other player gives (25 + 13 + 10 )* 2 = 96 points to B. Hand #3: C bids garde, has 40 card points with 2 bouts and the other team takes the last trick with the 1 of trump. C gives (25 + 1 + 10) * 2 = 72 points to each other player. Hand #4: C bids garde with 3 bouts, and takes 41 card points, but the other team captures his 1 of trumps in the last trick. C now only has two bouts in tricks so his target score becomes 41. Each other player gives (25 + 0 - 10) * 2 = 30 points to C. Hand #5: D bids garde, has 40 card points with 3 bouts and the other team declares a poignée of 10 trumps. Each other player gives (25 + 4) * 2 + 20 = 78 points. Note: to make the addition easier, some players prefer to round all the scores to the nearest 5 or 10 points. Tarot for three players The game is essentially the same as for four players. Each player is dealt 24 cards, in packets of 4. Because the hands are larger the number of trumps needed for a poignée is increased: single 13; double 15; triple 18. Because the tricks contain an odd number of cards, there will sometimes be an odd half card point when counting. his is rounded in favour of the taker if he wins, and in favour of the opponents if he loses. If the taker is half a point short of the target, the bid is lost by one card point. Tarot for five players Each player is dealt 15 cards, so there are only 3 cards in the chien. The number of trumps needed for a poignée is reduced: single 8; double 10; triple 13. Half card points are treated as in the three player game. There are two teams with five players. Before exposing the talon, the taker calls a king. and the player who has that card plays as the partner of the taker. The other three players play as a team against them. If the taker has all four kings, he may call a queen. The holder of the called king must not say anything to give away the fact that he has it. The identity of the taker's partner is only revealed when the called king is played. Though it may be suspected earlier from the fact that the holder of the king will try to help the taker. If the called king (or queen) is found to be in the chien or in the hand by playing cards that include many points. If the called king (or queen) is found to be in the chien or in the hand of the taker, then the taker plays alone against four opponents. Sometimes, people play that when the taker has a partner, the taker pays or receives double, while the partner and the three opponents pay or receive singly. In other variant the taker and partner split the gain or loss equally between them. This is more difficult, as this can lead to a fractions in scores. If the taker plays alone, the taker's win or loss will of course be four times that of each opponent. Note on Poignée Regardless of the number of players you can remember the minimum number of trumps needed for a Poignée as follows: You have a Poignée, if more than half of the cards in your hand are trumps. Variations Other variantions for five players: Each player is dealt 14 cards, so there are only 8 cards in the chien. The taker plays alone however. This variation is rarely played. The dealer does not take part in the game, but deals to the other four players, who play according to the rules for four players. If all players pass, the same dealer deals again until a player bids. In the five player game with calling a king, some people play that you are not allowed to lead the suit of the called king in the first trick, except that if the holder of the king happens to be on lead. The king may be played in this case. Variations in the bidding There used to be a bid between petite and guard called pousse. The conditions are the same, the point value is different. Some players continue to allow this commandment. On the other hand some play without petite, so that the lowest bid is garde. Petit imprenable Some play that a player dealt the petit (1 of trumps) alone (i.e. not holding any other trumps or the excuse) does not have to cancel the hand, but instead can declare "petit imprenable" (untouchable one). The player then plays the petit as though it were another excuse - it loses the trick, but the player keeps the card. Practice varies as to whether "petit imprenable" is declared immediately after the deal, when the player plays to the first trick, or not until the petit itself is played. Some play that a player who is dealt the excuse but no other trumps is also allowed to cancel the hand. Bonuses The following bonuses are allowed by some players: misère - a bonus if you have no trumps or no court cards, worth 10 points Petit Chelem - a bonus for making nearly all the tricks - all except one or all except three, as agreed by the players Some people require the declarations to be made before the first lead. You do not wait for declarer's first turn to play. The scoring Apart from the tournament scoring that was described in the main description, numerous alternative scoring systems are used. Example: 80 for Garde; 160 for Garde Sans; 320 for Garde Contre; 500 for a petit chelem; 1000 for a grand chelem; card points above or below those needed for the contract rounded to the nearest 10; no multiplying factors; other scores as above. Another version: etite x1, garde x2, garde sans x4, garde contre x5; grand chelem wins 400 if announced and made, loses 200 if announced and lost, wins 200 if made without announcement; petit chelem (all but one trick) 300 if announced and made, loses 150 if announced and lost, no score if made without announcement. When playing with the pousse bid, the multipliers may be: petite x1, pousse x2, garde x4, garde sans x8, garde contre x12. Poignées may score: single 10, double 20, triple 40. The French Tarot was formerly played with pools (mouches). This method is cumbersome and is no longer played in clubs and tournaments. It is still played in informal games. At the beginning of the game, and subsequently whenever there are no mouches, everyone pays an equal amount (say 10) to form a mouche. And the dealer adds an extra 5. A player who wins a game, is the largest Mouche. A player who wins a contract takes the largest mouche; a declarer who loses pays into a new mouche equal in size to the largest mouche. At the beginning of each deal, the dealer adds 5 to (one of the) largest mouche(s). When playing with mouches there may be no base payment for the game - only for the card points won in excess of the minimum needed. Direction of play In some places the entire game is played clockwise rather than anticlockwise. Tarot for Two Players This section is based on a contribution from Maxence Crossley The game is essentially the same as for four players. ut each player has 21 cards in hand plus 18 more on the table in six piles of three. Each pile has the top card face up. The deal is as follows: three cards one by one to your opponent, face down, side by side; then three cards to yourself, similarly; then three more to your opponent alongside the first three cards and three more to yourself. At this point there is a row of six cards face down in front of each player. Now repeat the process, dealing the new cards on top of the old ones. In the end each player has six face-down piles of two cards. This process is repeated. But this time the cards face up on top of the piles, so that each player has six piles of three cards with a face up card on top. The remaining cards are dealt out three at a time to the two players, so that each has a hand of 21 cards. There is no bidding. The non-dealer leads, and the play continues under the usual rules. You must follow suit and trump if void. If a trump card is played, this must be beaten if possible. The face-up cards on your piles can be played to tricks as though they were part of your hand. At the end of each trick, if you have played from a pile you turn the next card of that pile face up. At the end of the play, when both players have played all the cards from their hands and their piles, the winner is determined using the usual targets. for example if you have two bouts and your opponent has one, you win if you have 41 or more points. Your opponent needs at least 51 points to win. f you want to keep score, the winner gets 25 points plus one for each card point the winner has in excess of the target. f the petit is played to the last trick, the winner of the trick scores an extra 10 for petit au bout. There is no score for poignéee.