Major Arcana

Major Arcana is a collection of three trick-taking card games inspired by the Tarot: The Court, The Path of the Fool, and Major Arcana. The deck contains two sets of cards: Court cards and Arcana cards.

The Court, the most strategic of the three games, does not use the Arcana cards and is best with four players. In this game the cards are dealt; each player offers one card as a bid for trump with trump being assigned if there is a majority of one suit. Players then bid on the exact number of tricks they will take. Cards are played and each trick is worth two points with a twenty-point bonus for making a bid exactly.

The title game has a great deal of variety and interaction and works well with three to five players. In Major Arcana, the Hero cards are removed and Arcana cards are added. The Arcana cards each have a scoring value based on other cards taken in the hand; they are also the only trump cards. There is no bidding in this game. Instead, after the cards are dealt there is an exchange phase where players give a card to each player with a better score and receive a stronger card in return. When a trick is won, if it is won with an Arcana card, that card will score for all players at the end of the hand.

The Path of the Fool is a combination of the two games and plays best with four or five. All of the Court cards are used and four Arcana cards are added to each hand. Each player offers a card for trump with trump being assigned if there is a majority. The Arcana cards are always trump and can be played at any time. Players score two points for each trick taken plus a 20 point bonus for making their bid exactly. Each Arcana card in the hand will also score the bonus on the card for all players. The Arcana cards are replaced after each hand.