On card gaming with a tarot deck.

Temujin Felix MacAvity

Of quite a number of card games of varying ages and complexity, one factor they share is the standard modern card deck of 52 cards and maybe a pair of jokers. The games range from the many variations in poker and solitaire to the basic uniform rules of 21, go fish, and baccarat, with all of them played quite successfully with one or more decks at a time of the one same unvarying set of cards. At the same time, aside from the card decks that are specifically tailored for one game only, the other deck of cards that is in fairly major circulation is that of the tarot. Of the tarot deck, it is not currently considered a playing card deck, but it can be.

Of the tarot, both it and the regular card deck seem to have a parallel and interlinked history that dates back to Europe of the 1400s to 1500s. From there, there are All sorts of speculations and stated origins, all of which are outside the scope or interest of this paper, although I will note that Oh Boy do some of the websites I've seen get Really Thick with How Deeply Symbolic and Magickally Greatly SigNificant They All Are . . .

At any rate, there Are a number of points which seem to be universally agreed upon, or at least a look at a number of decks, both tarot and regular play, do make them obvious.

The regular playing deck is made of four suits of 13 cards each, for the total of 52. The suits are hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs, and within each suit, the cards start with the ace and then the two, and continue up to the ten and the jack, queen, and king. In varying games, the ace can be the supreme card or be rated below the two, which suit is being played can have significance to the play of the game, and so forth as the deck gets used for its primary use as a means of playing games.

Of the basic tarot deck, One of its stated origins is as merely a playing card variation, but in modern times, the primary use is of a method of divination where there almost seems to be about as many variations in placement and interpretation as there are practitioners. Almost.

The tarot deck itself is divided into two groups of cards, called the minor and major arcanas. The minor is made of four suits of 14 cards each, where the suits are 1) wands, staffs, or batons, 2) cups, 3) swords, and 4) pentacles, or coins, and where the regular card deck's Jack, Queen, and King are replaced by the tarot deck's Page, Knight, Queen and King. The major arcana is a series of 22 individual cards that represent historical and legendary archetypes that begins with the unnumbered Fool and the Magician, number 1, and finishes with Judgment and The World, numbers 20 and 21. For the purposes of playing card games usually played with a regular card deck, the extra card of the minor arcana and the entirety of the major arcana are easily adapted. Of the following, it is indeed particularly oriented towards poker, but then poker was the first and major game that I considered. However, without any changes in the adaptation, I believe that many other games can also be played, such as 21 or baccarat. Of much more complex games such as bridge, I don't yet know---I don't play bridge, so I'm going to get someone else to figure that one out.

As the four minor suits in the tarot deck consist of 14 cards each, then following The Fool, which shall stand alone, the first 14 numbered cards of the major arcana, from The Magician to Temperance, number 14, then become a fifth, major, suit. Once dealt, a major suit card may not be discarded, except to a personal discard pile. There is no general discard pile, even if a player folds, in which case the players hand is simply kept separate or added to the personal discard pile. After the game, all discarded cards are turned face up in order of discarding, because another player may win the game because of them.

The remaining eight major cards, from The Devil, number 15, to The World, number 21, and The Fool, not only rank incrementally higher than the major suit cards, but become the influence cards, with influences of their own which last for the duration of the game. Of these influence cards, they cannot be discarded at all; if a player is required to discard, and the player holds Only influence cards, then that player must fold. No influence supercedes any other influence, they just all pile on top of each other.

In play, the minor cards are played as normal. Of the major cards, they take precedence over the minor cards, and their influence affects the entire game when dealt face up on the table. When held by a player, the influence affects only that player, and, if need be, the winner of the game is revealed at the end of the game as each player displays the cards still held. And in this case of tarot as game deck, upright vs upside-down placement of a face up card is ignored, as the point of view of the players will shift.

Of play with the five suits, the only change is in increment; where four of a kind in games like poker becomes five of a kind. In games like seven card stud poker, where seven cards are dealt instead of the usual five, two threes of a kind, or two sets of three identical cards, wins over a single three of a kind. Of the majors taking precedence, a hand that relies on two major cards wins over a hand that relies on one, a flush made of major cards beats a flush that is made of minor cards, and so forth.

The major card influences are as follows;

0; the Fool; When dealt face up, the game ends immediately and the card source, whether one or more decks, is reshuffled. All bets that are current go to the one who has recieved the Fool. When dealt to a player and held, play of the other players continues for a full game, but the player with the card wins the game.

15; The Devil; All players affected by this card will have all major cards except The Devil become null and valueless in numerical value. Thus, when a player is dealt one minor card, three majors, and The Devil, the player begins the game with two playable cards.

16 The Tower; All players affected by it will have their highest minor card go to the left, while the lowest minor card of the player to the left goes to the right.---The player with five cards in a straight flush who sits to the left of the player who is dealt The Tower Is Screwed.

17; The Star; For any player influenced by this card, all minor cards have the value of major suit cards.

18; The Moon; This card becomes any suit card the player wishes, as does one other card that the player holds or is in play on the table, except any influence cards and only for that player.

19; The Sun; For any player influenced by this card, all suit cards increase by one number, except the King.

20; Judgment; For any player influenced by this card, no cards are held and all cards are played face up.

21; The World; Following the end of all other play, any player affected by this card is allowed to be dealt one more card which is then factored into that players score.

To sum up the influence cards, in a game of seven card stud poker, the player who is dealt all seven influence cards other than The Fool gets all seven influences;

The Devil, number 15, makes all these cards but itself valueless.

The World, number 21, allows the player to receive one more card, at the end of the game, after everyone is entirely finished playing.

The Star, number 17, will give that additional card the precedence of a major suit card, if it is a minor suit card.

The Sun, number 19, will increase that dealt minor card by one more number.

The Moon, number 18, makes that card any suit card the player wishes.

The Tower, number 16, sends any minor card that is so dealt to the left, as it will be the highest card of value, and that card will be added to the left hand player's score---or subtracted, as the player to the left did Not receive The World and thus does Not get an extra card as that players lowest card gets handed to the right.

Of course that card being taken from the influence of the cards that made it so valuable makes it revert back to its face value for the receiving player.

And Judgment, number 20, places All these cards face up for the duration of the game which Does have to be played through by the other players before that final card can be dealt.

If no other player has any hand of value, the point count of 15 for The Devil wins that game. If that extra card that is dealt is The Fool, while it has a value of nothing, it is a major card and cannot be handed off to the left, and as its influence is just as powerful as the rest of the influence cards, it wins the game for that player regardless of the other hands.