Talon: A Tarot Card Game

TALON: A TAROT CARD GAME is a modern tarot trick taking game.

The tarot is a long time subject of misinformation and pseudohistory, falsely linking the cards to ancient Egypt, Romani people, or Kabbalah and of baseless assertions that the cards were always intended for esoteric or divinatory purposes.

The best available evidence, however, tells us that the tarot was created for a trick taking game back in the 15th century because a clever Italian wanted to have a trump suit in a card game.

Inspired by contemporary Central and Eastern European tarock games but with influences from similar French and Swiss games, TALON: A TAROT CARD GAME incorporates many refinements of modern tarot trick taking games and combines them in a way to further appeal to today's tabletop gamers.

Outline of play:

Each player receives a hand of 12 cards and players bid to become the declarer by stating how few cards they wish to exchange with the talon or kitty. The declarer's side tries to win the majority of card points in tricks.

The three player game is a simplified form of 42 card Tapp Tarock similar to the kind played in Eastern Europe.

The game for four players is a streamlined form of Königrufen in which the declarer has the option of choosing a hidden partner by naming a king.

The five or six player games use 66 or 78 cards and blend elements of early Tapp Tarock with Swiss card games.

Although designed mainly for three to six players; a two player variant, similar to Strohmandeln or Strawman Tarock, is also provided in which players are dealt additional piles of cards in addition to their regular hands.

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy