Tarot

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The trull , the most important trump cards in Central European variants
Tarot cards in the hand of a player

Tarock is the name of a large family of card games that are played in many European countries. Many of the family's games, such as Königruf and Zwanzigerufen , are usually simply called “Tarock” by their players. The original form of the tarot was created around 1425 at the time of the early Renaissance in the Po Valley , making it one of the oldest traditional card games in the world. Bavarian tarot and similar games do not belong to this family, but have adopted elements from it.

The defining element of these trick card games is that, in addition to the color cards, they have a series of classic 21 permanent trumps , which are usually numbered with Roman or Arabic numerals. Originally these trump cards were called trionfi ; the concept and the term trump was developed from this and transferred from the tarot games to other card games. There was also the valuable fool's card , played according to certain special rules , which is often mistakenly viewed as the forerunner of the joker . In most Central European variants, however, it has been converted to the 22nd and highest trump card. In German, the trumps are usually also referred to as tarot .

Tarot cards have also been used for fortune telling since the late 18th century . The corresponding esoteric meaning of the cards is called tarot in German . Many languages ​​have the same term for tarot and tarot, especially English and French .

In its heyday from around 1730 to 1830, tarot was played in much of Europe. Today's strongholds of the game are France and several successor states of the former Habsburg monarchy . Regional variants have been preserved in the country of origin Italy , Switzerland , Germany and Denmark .

In the course of time, the trumps broke away from their traditional motifs , which are mainly known today from the tarot sheet, and were replaced by depictions of animals, vedute , social scenes or other images, but also used for political messages in the form of satire or propaganda .

Tarot has also been a passion of many celebrities throughout history. The composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Johann Strauss Sohn and Johannes Brahms as well as Sigmund Freud played different variants of tarot.

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history

the "Hope" card from the Cary-Yale Tarocchi

Tarock, together with other early card games in Europe, can be identified for the first time in the period around 1430–1440 in northern Italy. The previously known game was initially called Trionfi , " Triumph ", "ludus triumphorum" and similar (Italian-Latin forms of the German Triumph or Trumpf ; Trionfi is the plural of Trionfo = Triumph). This form of name was first mentioned in February 1442 in a Ferrarese account book in connection with playing cards, in France it was first mentioned in 1482. The game was later renamed Tarocchi for an unknown reason .

Many earlier Italian documents make it clear that the game in question first developed in Italy and then became indigenous to the south of France. The numbered trionfi with higher engraving power have been added to the classic Italian colors of spade (“swords”), bastoni (“sticks”), coppe (“cup”) and denari (“coins”) , as well as the special card il matto (“the fool "). The details of the history of the origin can no longer be reconstructed, alleged inventors are legends.

Later the game spread to France (in Avignon as Taraux). Around 1480–1510 a dominant card game production developed in Lyon and the surrounding area, which exported extensively to other areas and countries. This resulted in the southern French dominance in this originally Italian game, which led to the " Tarot de Marseille " type (17th century) , which is now considered traditional . In the course of the mutual French-Italian influence, the game was exported to German-speaking countries, and subsequently to many other regions in Europe.

In the Habsburg monarchy , numerous regional variants developed ( King Call , Twenty Call , Nineteen Call , Straw Almonds , etc.), which are still played today in Austria , Hungary , Slovenia , the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Poland , Romania and the Ukraine . Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando coined the term Tarockei as a name for a strange dreamland in his novel Mask Game of Geniuses, which remained unpublished during his lifetime . Later, in the heavily edited and controversial first publication , Friedrich Torberg replaced the term Tarockei arbitrarily with Tarockanien - based on Kakanien by Robert Musil .

Tarock was once widespread in Germany , as shown, for example, by some references in the works of Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . Today it is only played in the variant " Cego " in Baden . In France and Austria tarot is still popular, in its country of origin Italy it is only rarely found. In Switzerland , the local variants Troccas and Troggu have been preserved.

The cards

Animal tarot card game, Mannheim around 1778

Tarot is played with a characteristic hand which, in addition to the classic colors of hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs, also has the so-called tarot, which are numbered with Roman or Arabic numerals. They serve as permanent trump cards. There is also an additional figure card in every classic color, the cavall or rider , it ranks between jack and queen.

There are a total of 78 cards in a full tarot hand. This complete hand is mainly played in France today, and to a lesser extent in Denmark. In those areas that previously belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy, today a reduced hand of 54, 42 or 40 cards is played. The highest card in classic tarot games today is the Sküs (derived from the French term " Excuse "), also known as Gstieß . Tarock I (the "Pagat") and Tarock XXI (the "moon") as well as the Sküs are collectively called Trull (probably from French "tous les trois" = "all three"). These three cards play a special role in most rule variations.

The color cards of the tarot sheets have a French image and not the symbols of the tarot cards used for fortune telling with an Italian or Spanish image. The tarot cards have Roman numerals and are usually decorated with two genre scenes each, such as the "Industry and Luck" cards used mainly in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia (the name comes from this the rock shown on map II (“eagle owl”) with the inscription “Industry and luck” on which the imperial eagle sits). "Industry" stands for "hard work" (Latin industria ): The citizen could have success in life with "luck and hard work".

The playing cards differ both in the representations on the front and in the design of the back. Depending on the graphic pattern on the back, a distinction is made between “red lightning”, “ornament”, “diamond”, “hunting tarot” etc.

In the past, the variety of tarot playing cards was much greater. There were animal tarocks, tarocks with historical motifs, vedute tarocks , etc. A classification of the individual playing cards including family trees has been worked out by Klaus Reisinger.

The game

All games of the tarot family are trick card games with certain values ​​of the cards. The aim of the game is usually to win the majority of the values ​​in the tricks. The numbered trumps trump the color cards, which in turn are always equal to each other. In most family games these days, a bid is held first . For more details see the individual articles:

Legal

According to Austrian law, tarot counts - in contrast to the various poker variants - not as a game of chance , but as a game of skill : "Typical games of skill are tarot, bridge , schnapps or chess ", according to a non-binding legal opinion of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Alscher (Ed.): "Tarock" - my only pleasure ... History of a European card game. Brandstätter, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-85498-283-6 .
  • Johannes Bamberger: Tarock. The most beautiful variants. 17th completely revised edition. Verlag Perlen-Reihe, Vienna et al. 1998, ISBN 3-85223-400-X ( Perlen-Reihe 640).
  • Fritz Beck, tarot complete. All games, Perlen-Reihe Volume 640, Vienna 1972
  • Giordano Berti , Tiberio Gonard: The Visconti Tarot. Klein Königsförde-Krummwisch, Königsfurt, Klein Königsförde-Krummwisch 1999, ISBN 3-933939-11-9 .
  • Kurt Doleysch, Hans Kunz: Das Grosstarockbuch. From the XX call to the Grand Starock Modern and Trischaken. Edition Habana, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-902441-32-1 .
  • Michael Dummett , John McLeod: A History of Games Played with the Tarot Pack. The Game of Triumphs. 2 volumes. Mellen Press, Lewiston NY 2004, ISBN 0-7734-6447-6 (Supplement-Vol .: free online (PDF; 3.81 MB) ).
  • Michael Dummett: The Game of Tarot. From Ferrara to Salt Lake City. Duckworth, London 1980, ISBN 0-7156-1014-7 .
  • Wolfgang Mayr , Robert Sedlaczek : The cultural history of the tarot game. Stories about tarot and its famous players. Edition Atelier , Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-903005-11-2 .
  • Wolfgang Mayr, Robert Sedlaczek: The strategy of the tarot game. King calls, twenty calls, nineteen calls, three-tarot, straw almonds. Edition Atelier, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-902498-22-9 ; New edition: Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-903005-31-0 .
  • Wolfgang Mayr, Robert Sedlaczek: The great tarot book. Verlag Perlen-Reihe, Vienna et al. 2001, ISBN 3-85223-462-X ( Perlen-Reihe 642).
  • Klaus Reisinger: Tarock. Cultural history on map images. Austria under the Habsburgs, Austrian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, First Republic, Austria under National Socialism, Second Republic. 6 volumes. Self-published, Vienna 1996 ff., ISBN 3-9500025-1-0 .
  • Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg (Ed.): Extended game rules book from Altenburg. Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik Verlag, Leipzig 1983, Tarock section . P. 200 ff.
  • Martin Vácha: Tarot. Textbook of the king calling. A way to think strategically. Edition Volkshochschule, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-900799-74-8 ; New version: Tarot manual. The art of calling a king. Kral Verlag, Berndorf 2015, ISBN 978-3-99024-323-7 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mayr / Sedlaczek p. 9 ff.
  2. ↑ The name Trionfi, initially conceived to denote special playing cards with a "triumphant" (winning the trick) character, mutated over time and denoted games in which the special cards did not appear at all, and then also the general "trump" during a card stitch.
  3. ↑ Moriz Bermann: The practical tarot player (1894), p. 3, attributes the invention to a prince named Franceso Fibbio .
  4. ↑ Illustrated Tarock 1: An interesting and challenging game for three ( memento from March 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) by Wolfgang Mayr & Robert Sedlaczek in Wiener Zeitung , 7 Feb 2009.
  5. ↑ Quoted from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance - FAQ on the gambling monopoly ( Memento from March 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : Tarot cards  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Tarock  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikibooks: Card games: Tarock  - learning and teaching materials