aesthetic

Some cool Calculate Folder Size images:

aesthetic
Calculate Folder Size

Image by KevinHutchins314
This is my aesthetic.

Here’s a copy of a document in my Games Folder:

TAROT TRUMPS ~ RULES ~ 3 PLAYERS FRIENDLY COMPETITIVE REWARDING STYLE OF SEXY COSMIC TAROT ENTHUSIASM

***
basically, 3~ways are hot hot hot…
***

we use a Cosmic Tribe deck from stevee.com …

we learned how to play multi-player trump games from letarot.net …

we have photos at www.flickr.com/photos/kevinhutchins314 where we show our digital algorithms in our sets and screenshots …

so we would love to present to hot tarot game lovers everywhere:

Tarot Trumps Rules for friends of Teledildonix: a casual competitive card game involving strategies and luck for three players to take tricks while using the entire deck among them. This is based on the original styles of tarot trumps (using a deck of seventy-eight ecclesiastic cards and 78 Tricky Points) which have been historically enjoyed recreationally for centuries. That’s right, my dear galpals, they’ve been doing this 3~way style since the late XVth or early XVIth somewhere in villas near a gorgeous Mediterranean coast….

*********************

_____ THE 78 CARDS IN THE DECK _____

The deck consists of 78 (seventy-eight) cards. Everybody enjoys cards with different styles of names and numbers, so i will describe ours. You can adjust your style to match your own iconography, but you will see the ranking concepts are universally applicable.

77 (seventy-seven) of these cards are divided into five suits: four of the suits are smaller (Minor) and one of the suits is bigger (Major).

56 (fifty-six) cards are divided into four Minor suits which contain fourteen cards each: Air, Water, Fire and Earth are these four Minor arcana elements.

The fourteen items of each element are ranked from lowest to highest (1st thru 14th). Ten of these fourteen items are numeric cards with PIPS (one is ‘ace’, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, thru ten); they may be ecclesiastically ascending for Earth and Water or descending for Air and Fire, and comprise the 1st thru 10th items going up or down next to the courts. The other four of the fourteen items in each element are the courts of face cards with NAMES (Practician, Marvel, Shaman, Archon). They are always in an exact ecclesiastic order: they comprise the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th items respectively. The highest (14th) item of each of the four Minor Arcana suits is the most valuable scoring card ("archon" is from a Greek word for ultimate rank) and is stronger than all of the other items in its same element;. The lowest (1st) item of each arcana is weaker than all of the other items in its same suit. Some people refer to the pip-number-one as an "ace". [In other variations, some people play with all the ecclesiastics polarized in the same ascent or descent across all the suits, but we prefer to play with mixed polarities involving two ascending 'female' suits and two descending 'male' suits; just be sure all three players agree on all ecclesiastic rankings before you shuffle and deal.] The face cards with names will have greater scoring effects in tricks than the pip cards with numbers (elaborated below in the section on TRICKY POINTS).

21 (twenty-one) cards are numbered in the bigger Major suit of the trumps (if you must describe its Major element you can say "Aether" but we usually refer to these twenty-one as being ‘in the Void’ of the elemental suits). These twenty-one also each have their own unique titles but we concern ourselves mainly with the lowest-ranked and the highest-ranked. The 1st is always lowest, then the 2nd thru 20th are ascending in order, then the 21st is always highest in the ecclesiastics. The big suit of trumps is played "in the void" when a player is lacking other elements, and trumping is mandatory when other suits can not be followed; trump cards always beat cards from smaller Minor suits. The LOWEST and the HIGHEST ecclesiastic trump cards are extra special for scoring purposes (the 1st is a "Wizard" at the least rank, and 21st is the "Cosmos" at the greatest rank). Overtrumping is mandatory whenever a player uses a trump card in a trick where other trump is already being played; the concept is: "If you can beat this trump card, you MUST overtrump, otherwise you must throw a lower trump card under it, or toss a card from another element if you have no more trump cards in your hand." The lowest and the highest (1st and 21st) will have greater scoring effects in tricks than the other cards in the void (2nd thru 20th); the 1st Wizard and 21st Cosmos are also known as two of the three special "KEYS" to the games’ tricky points targets. [Some players use a style where the 20th 'Portal' is a Key and the 21st 'Cosmos' is not, but that's a whole other story; we can do either style but will describe the usual version here wherein the 21st is always higher than the rest and is always a crucial Key.] There is a super bonus for cleverly strategizing to utilize the 1st (lowest) Wizard trump during the very last trick played on the table ("Least-At-Last" bonus). The 21st (highest Cosmos) can never be captured by other cards; and it will always remain in the tricky pile of the player who was dealt this prestigious item. The 1st trump (lowest Wizard) is very risky because it can be captured far more easily, and thus it may or may not move from the tricky pile of the player who was dealt this perplexing item.

Only 1 (one) card is generally un-numbered and technically un-suited and treated as a ‘harlequin Fool joker’; the Fool’s lack of suit (or transcendence of the suits) makes him a sort of "Zero the Hero". He is always innocently excused from the concept of suiting. His card almost never beats anything and thus it may be considered a sort of 0th (zeroth) ecclesiastic in any (or all, or none) of the suit situations. Despite losing tricks, he has a greater scoring effect than most of the other cards; he is also the third (and queerest) of the three special "KEYS" to the games’ tricky points targets. The 0th Fool is very bizarre because it usually remains on the tricky pile of the player where it was dealt, as long as it is played before the final trick; it only moves to the opposing side if it is lost during the final trick ("Nothingest-At-Last" situation). The exception to this concept is when a special "Slam" occurs, and a winner who takes ALL of the tricks on the table is thus allowed to play the 0th card during the final trick in order to complete the Slam (keeping the Fool on the winning slamming side as though he could be like another major trump capturing the last tierce). If the 0th (Fool) card completes the Slam during the final trick on the table, and the 1st (lowest wizard) trump card wins the penultimate trick (i.e., just before the final foolishness) then the "Least-At-Last" bonus shall also apply in this most exceptional super slam situation.

There are other scoring bonuses related to possession of suit majorities when the cards are dealt but the tricks haven’t been played yet; and there are multiplication factors which depend on the style of bid. There are six cards which are dealt to a "dog" position besides the three players’ hands, and these are part of the bidding. The three players are each dealt twenty-four cards, so there are twenty-four tricks on the table (each is a tierce of three cards) and there are effectively two tierces in the "dog". These twenty-six tierces containing three cards yield the deck of seventy-eight cards. The total value of all the tricky points is (not coincidentally) also 78:

4 names + 10 pips = 14 elements in each small Minor suit.

4 minor suits x 14 elements = 56 minor cards.

56 minor cards + 21 major cards + 1 nonsuited card = 78 cards altogether in the deck.

Quaint Terminology:
When people put three cards in a group, that is called a "tierce". When people put four cards in a group, that is called a "quart". The deck is generally dealt in packets which are quarts, but then the tricks are played in tierces. The "dog" contains six cards, so it is said to have two tierces. The other seventy-two non-dog cards are dealt into six quarts among each of three players who will hold twenty-four per person. After bidding (and optionally looking at the dog and allowing the bidder to exchange some cards with the dog and discard appropriately) these will be played in twenty-four tricks, wherein each trick contains one card from each player. These twenty-four tierces yield seventy-two cards, the dog (or discard) yields six cards, and altogether there will always be seventy-eight cards: the entire deck is utilized in every deal.

_____ THE 78 TRICKY POINTS AMONG THE CARDS _____

The four (minor) suits are internally ranked as follows, from highest (14th) to lowest (1st) in each element:

Suit of Earth: (female ecclesiastic ascension)
+4 points =14th = Archon = sustain
+3 points =13th = Shaman = heal
+2 points =12th = Marvel = cherish
+1 points =11th = Practician = dance
+0 points =10th = ten pips = abound
+0 points = 9th = nine pips = share
+0 points = 8th = eight pips = permit
+0 points = 7th = seven pips = hesitate
+0 points = 6th = six pips = objectify
+0 points = 5th = five pips = worry
+0 points = 4th = four pips = steward
+0 points = 3rd = three pips = produce
+0 points = 2nd = two pips = evolve
+0 points = 1st = one (ace) pip = embody

Suit of Fire: (male ecclesiastic descent)
+4 points =14th = Archon = dare
+3 points =13th = Shaman = transform
+2 points =12th = Marvel = clown
+1 points =11th = Practician = tame
+0 points =10th = one (ace) pip = enact
+0 points = 9th = two pips = ignite
+0 points = 8th = three pips = integrate
+0 points = 7th = four pips = reward
+0 points = 6th = five pips = frustrate
+0 points = 5th = six pips = realize
+0 points = 4th = seven pips = encourage
+0 points = 3rd = eight pips = occasion
+0 points = 2nd = nine pips = socialize
+0 points = 1st = ten pips = burden

Suit of Water: (female ecclesiastic ascension)
+4 points =14th = Archon = grace
+3 points =13th = Shaman = dream
+2 points =12th = Marvel = counsel
+1 points =11th = Practician = care
+0 points =10th = ten pips = fulfill
+0 points = 9th = nine pips = enjoy
+0 points = 8th = eight pips = drain
+0 points = 7th = seven pips = relenquish
+0 points = 6th = six pips = please
+0 points = 5th = five pips = disappoint
+0 points = 4th = four pips = luxuriate
+0 points = 3rd = three pips = befriend
+0 points = 2nd = two pips = adore
+0 points = 1st = one (ace) pip = emote

Suit of Air: (male ecclesiastic descent)
+4 points =14th = Archon = believe
+3 points =13th = Shaman = meditate
+2 points =12th = Marvel = rebel
+1 points =11th = Practician = legislate
+0 points =10th = one (ace) pip = ideate
+0 points = 9th = two pips = pacify
+0 points = 8th = three pips = sadden
+0 points = 7th = four pips = cooperate
+0 points = 6th = five pips = defeat
+0 points = 5th = six pips = explore
+0 points = 4th = seven pips = deceive
+0 points = 3rd = eight pips = decide
+0 points = 2nd = nine pips = squelch
+0 points = 1st = ten pips = delude

The fifth (or zeroth) major suit in the Void is internally ranked as follows, from highest (21st) to lowest (1st):
Suit of Aether: (trumps ecclesiastic ascension)
+4 points =21st = Cosmos [KEY]
+0 points =20th = Portal
+0 points =19th = Sun
+0 points =18th = Moon
+0 points =17th = Star
+0 points =16th = Tower
+0 points =15th = Devil
+0 points =14th = Art
+0 points =13th = Death
+0 points =12th = Suspense
+0 points =11th = Strength
+0 points =10th = Fortune
+0 points = 9th = Hermit
+0 points = 8th = Balance
+0 points = 7th = Chariot
+0 points = 6th = Lovers
+0 points = 5th = Hierophant
+0 points = 4th = Emperor
+0 points = 3rd = Empress
+0 points = 2nd = Sorceress
+4 points = 1st = Wizard [KEY]
The major trump cards are always ranked above the cards of minor elements.

The unsuited card has no rank (0th):
Zeroth Harlequin of the Void: (non~suited ecclesiastic transcendence)
+4 points = 0th = Fool [KEY]
The Fool is always ranked below the other cards, regardless of suit.

The twenty-six tierces (tricks with three cards each, whether among the twenty-four episodes on the table or among the two triplets in the dog) are worth 1 point per tierce. To those we add the extra points from the sixteen face cards with names, plus we count the extra points from the three KEY cards.

26 tierces x 1 point = 26 tricky points

face cards in each minor suit (archon, shaman, marvel, practician):
4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 10 tricky points
and four minor suits (earth, fire, water, air)
4 suits x 10 points = 40 tricky points

three KEY cards (Cosmos, Wizard, Fool):
3 keys x 4 points = 12 tricky points

tierces + face cards + key cards:
26 tiercewise + 40 facewise + 12 keywise = 78 tricky points

Thus there are 78 tricky points in each deal, and these are determined by the mechanics of the seventy-eight cards in the deck. These 78 tricky points will be divvied into two tricky piles: one pile is captured by the solo contractor, and the other pile is held by the co-defenders.

_____ GOAL OF THE GAME _____

This style of Tarot Trumps is a game in which each hand is played by one solo contractor (bidder) versus two co-defenders (collaborative opponents who try to foil the contract). These alliances of collaborators versus contractor may shift from deal to deal, depending on the bids. After each deal, a new hand may involve new bids and a new alliance, reconfiguring every time.

The contractor makes a bid if she has some confidence in an attempt to reach a minimum number of Tricky Points in her tricky pile. This minimum amount targeted is determined by the quantity of the three KEYS (Wizard, Cosmos, Fool) which the contractor will accumulate among his trick pile at the end of the round:

***Number of KEYS held by contractor in their tricky pile at end of round***

*Ending with none of the three keys requires 46 tricky points for contractor to succeed.

*Ending with one of the three keys requires 43 tricky points for contractor to succeed.

*Ending with two of the keys requires 36 tricky points for contractor to succeed.

*Ending with three of the keys requires 33 tricky points for contractor to succeed.

The minimum amount of tricky points to reach for the contract target does not depend on the bid, it depends on how many of the three KEYS are in the contractor’s tricky pile at the end of the round (Fool, Wizard, Cosmos).

The three players are able to play as many deals and bids as they desire, depending on the amount of time available. Most people exchange their credits scored for money, but casual friendly gamers might choose to score for other valuable rewards, such as kisses or raspberries. A ‘tournament’ would involve tallying scores cumulatively until a pre-determined number of bids (or pre-determined credit payment levels) have been completed. With three clever players whose dexterity and strategies are quick, a tournament of many bids could be resolved in just a few hours. Some people always stop when they reach a particular amount of credit (a few hundred or maybe a thousand credits are quite sufficient for most sociable tables, whether positive or negative.) Some people don’t wish to stop until they’ve had the opportunity to announce several attempted bids. We enjoy any style around here!

_____ DEALING _____

Before the first hand is dealt, all the cards are shuffled unseen, and each of the three players randomly chooses a card until they find a Major trump (1st thru 21st. The highest ranked card will designate the dealer of the first hand. If a player draws a Minor suit card, or they draw the unsuitable Fool, they may redraw until they find a trump. The highest trump holder then reshuffles the entire deck and begins dealing.

For all subsequent deals, the player seated counter-clockwise from the previous dealer becomes the new dealer for the next hand. There is no further "hard shuffling" on the table throughout the rest of the game. After each hand is played (or passed) the piles of cards are stacked up, turned over so they can’t be seen, and then cut by a non-dealer before the dealer divvies them among the three people. This "soft shuffling" (which is influenced by the random nature of the dog) is the only shuffling which takes place during the rest of the game.

There is a procedure for evenly distributing the cards among the three players for each hand (and it also puts six cards in the "Dog"). The dealer offers the mysterious deck of cards to the player sitting on her left (clockwise) and the deck may be "cut". This involves randomly separating the deck into two sections which each must contain six or more cards. The dealer then re-stacks this randomly cut deck and begins passing cards counter-clockwise four by four. Each of these packets of four cards (a ‘quart’) is given one at a time to each player in rotation around the table. The "Dog" is composed of six cards which are dropped randomly whenever the Dealer wishes to put one at a time in the mysterious dog pile. The dealer is not allowed to put the top or bottom card of the deck into the dog pile. The dealer is not allowed to consecutively drop cards in the dog pile; they must be plopped in the dog one at a time, between random quarts. Finally, after randomly distributing six individual mysterious cards into the dog pile and twenty-four cards into each of the three hands of the players, the seventy-eight cards of the deck will be entirely dealt.

Each player will now have six secret quarts which gives them twenty-four cards for their hand to bid and play in tricks on the table; the Dog will be utilized depending upon how the bidding goes. The players proceed to organize and rank their cards secretly in order to decide how to bid.

The special deal cancellation: "THE LONELY LEAST":
If the 1st trump card of the major suit in the void (the lowest little Wizard) is the only trump card which is dealt into a player’s hand, they must show their cards and cancel the deal. This is because "The Lonely Least" is indefensible with these gaming mechanics. The player announces "LONELY LEAST" and everybody stacks their cards back together, then the deck proceeds to the next dealer. In the jargon of tarot trumps, this is a situation of "misery" which causes deal cancellation, but it’s no kerfuffle because the deck can be quickly re-dealt by the next person. Move along and enjoy another attempt!

_____ BIDDING _____

After evaluating her cards, each player bids, beginning with the player who is seated counter-clockwise from the dealer. Each player may only bid once on this deal. She may pass, or she must bid at a higher level than the players who spoke before her. The possible bids are as follows:

"PASS": If all the players pass, the deal is annulled, the deck is stacked back up and given counter-clockwise to the next player without any hard shuffle, the cards are cut, and a new deal commences.

"TAKE": If a player wishes to TAKE the bid, she is attempting to win a certain target amount of tricky points. If she succeeds, the opponents will each pay a calculated score to the taker’s credit. If the bidder fails to reach the target of tricky points, she pays a calculated score to each of the two co-defenders who ‘busted the contract attempt’. The multiplication factor for scoring is singular; i.e., payments are made at a normal level. When she takes the bid, she will be allowed to confiscate the dog, turn it over and show it to the opposing co-defenders, and then decide on a secret discard of six items, keeping her hand size the same at twenty-four cards total, but hiding the discard information from the opponents. The contractor will later count the two tierces of discards into her tricky pile after all the tricks on the table are completed.

"GUARD": If a player wishes to GUARD the bid, they are bidding higher than a Take, and they are attempting to win a certain target amount of tricky points. The multiplication factor for scoring is double; i.e., payments are calculated at twice the usual level. When they guard the bid, they will confiscate the dog, turn it over and show it to the opposing co-defenders, incorporate it into their hand, and then secretly decide how to discard six items, keeping their hand size the same thereafter. The contractor will later count the two tierces of discards into her tricky pile after all the tricks on the table are completed.

"GUARD WITHOUT LOOKING": If a player wishes to GUARD WITHOUT LOOKING, they are bidding higher than a Guard. They will proceed to the next phase without touching the dog, and none of the three players will know what secrets the dog’s six cards hold yet. The two tierces of secret dog cards are later given to the contractor’s tricky pile, but nobody is allowed to see them until after all of the tricks have been played. Nobody will know their value in the dog until they are counted into contractor’s tricky pile at the end of the round. The multiplication factor at this bidding level is quadruple score; i.e., the payments are calculated at four times the usual level.

"GUARD AGAINST THE DOG": If a player wishes to GUARD AGAINST THE DOG (quelle bitch!), they are bidding higher than a Guard Without Looking. They will proceed to the next phase without touching the dog, and none of the three players will know what secrets the dog’s six cards hold yet. The two tierces of secret dog cards are later given to the co-defenders’ tricky pile (and the contractor never captures nor touches them) but nobody is allowed to see them until after all of the tricks have been played. Nobody will know their value until they are counted into the tricky pile of the co-defenders against the contractor at the end of the round. The multiplication factor at this bidding level is hextuple score; i.e., the payments are calculated at six times the usual level.

There is no bid higher than "Against" (hextuple). I don’t think my friends would ever desire greater bitchiness in our games!

_____ DISCARDING _____

When a player is bidding Take or Guard she confidentially confiscates the dog’s cards into her hand. Then she secretly discards six items (without revealing any information yet) into her tricky pile. The discard remains secret until after all twenty-four tricks are played on the table. If her memory is uncertain, she is allowed to consult the information in her secret discard, but she must never show the information to the co-defenders until after the tricks are completed. The discard may not be altered in any way; it may only be consulted for information, and it is permanently decided when the next phase begins.

The contractor is not allowed to discard any of the four Archons. The four Archons are the highest cards in each of the four small Minor suits (i.e., they’re the superior 14th ecclesiastic from each of the elements of earth, fire, water, air) with the most extra tricky points.

The contractor is not allowed to discard any of the three KEYS (least Wizard, greatest Cosmos, nothingest Fool). The three keys are the most important cards for determining the targets of tricky points when bidding and resolving the hand, and they have extra tricky points beyond the usual tarots’ values, comparable to the value of archons.

The contractor is not allowed to discard any of the trump cards (from the big Major suit of Aether) unless she has nothing in her hand except KEYS, Archons, and Trumps. If she is in this remarkable situation, and she is forced to discard some lower trumps because all her other cards are Archons and Keys and higher Trumps, then she must disclose this bizarre discard by showing those superfluous tarots to the co-defenders. This is the only (rare) situation where the defenders are allowed to know something about the contractor’s discard before they begin playing the tricks.

_____ ANNOUNCING POSSIBLE BONUS ATTEMPTS BEFORE PLAYING THE TRICKS _____

After the bidding (and usually after optional discarding) the contractor may choose to make some announcements which reveal information about their hand while gambling on extra credits. They might have a "Handful" announcement (explained later) which adds a little surplus to their score if they win (or subtracts extra if they lose). If a contractor or a defender has a "Handful" announcement they must mention it before they play their first card in the first trick. [This is called "having the runs, and telling us about it immediately, girlfriend!"]

If the contractor has a "Slam" announcement (explained later) they are signalling their desire to win ALL twenty-four tricks on the table; failure subtracts a huge amount but success adds a much more drastic amount if they win the contract. This must be spoken before playing the first trick. Announcing a Slam attempt will cause the contractor to automatically lead to the first trick. If nobody mentions a Slam announcement, the player sitting counter-clockwise from the dealer is in the position of normally leading to the first trick. The vast majority of hands begin with the player counter-clockwise from the dealer because people almost never mention a Slam… it’s usually far too difficult.

If a player wishes to attempt a covert Slam but she does not wish to announce this, she doesn’t mention any clues before the tricks are played, and the hand proceeds normally on the table with the first trick being led by the player counter-clockwise from the dealer. If a player successfully resolves the hand by winning ALL twenty-four tricks, she will then be successful at the covert Slam. A covert Slam only pays half as much bonus credit as an announced Slam attempt, but it’s less risky. Either way, a Slam is tremendously rare.

The optional slam announcement must be completed before the first trick is led; the optional handful announcement(s) must be completed during the first trick with each player speaking before they play their first card. Any contractor or defender who wishes to receive credit (or risk punishment) for her Handful announcement must show the Handful’s contents to the other two players before playing any of her cards in the first trick. After all the tricks are completed later, and the entire deck is resolved, she will be awarded or punished for her announcements depending on whether she successfully achieves her contract target of Tricky Points.

The scoring of credits for Handfuls, Slams, and other bonus situations is explained later. The multiplication factors of the bidding do not affect the Handfuls nor the Slams, but the math is unresolved until after the tricks are played anyway.

If a player has a Handful announcement, there are specific rules governing the display of the Handful contents before playing her first card; these are explained at the bottom of this page. There are three types of Handfuls: Simple, Double, or Triple Handful. They require a supermajority of approximately one-half, two-thirds, or three-quarters of the declarer’s cards to be "in the Void" respectively; and there are rules about whether the Fool can be utilized (as a temporary Zero 0th pseudo-Trump card) among these majority items. Revealing more cards will cause more danger to the announcer, but potentially they’re gambling on scoring more bonus credits for the Handful.

After the announcements are spoken, the tricks are played.

_____ PLAYING THE CARDS INTO THE TRICKS _____

The opening move is made by the player counter-clockwise from the Dealer (unless there is a rare Slam Attempt Announcement). The order of play is always counter-clockwise around the table, one card at a time from each player, so each trick is made up of three cards. When a player wins the trick, they put the tierce of cards on their winning Tricky Pile; when a player loses a trick, they relenquish the tierce of cards to the Tricky Pile of the opposing side. The two co-defenders amass their Tricky Pile together, while the contractor builds their own Tricky Pile solo. The size of the pile is potentially relevant; but more importantly, the players concern themselves with particular cards contained within each pile if the ecclesiastic value helps them to score tricky points. Each side (contractor versus defenders) will count their total tricky points after completing the twenty-four tricks and after resolving the two tierces from the discard (or dog). The points for these twenty-six tierces (and other tricky points for the face cards and keys) will yield 78 for the entire deck; one portion is earned by contractor, the other portion is earned by the defenders, and contractor must reach a target based on the final positions of the three KEYS in the tricky piles. Those targets are the Goal Of The Game: 33 or 36 or 43 or 46 of the tricky points are needed in order for the contractor to succeed at the goals with three, two, one, or none of the KEYS respectively.

Each trick is won by the highest Trump card played; i.e., 21st trump (Cosmos) is highest above the 20th, and the 20th beats 19th or lower, and 19th beats 18th or lower, et cetera, all the way down to the 1st Trump (Wizard), which beats none of the higher trump cards.

If there are no Trump cards from the major arcana played in the trick, then the trick is won by the highest card of the Minor suit which was led.

If a card from one of the four minor suits opens a trick, each player is required to follow the same suit. If a player has no cards in her hand of the requested suit, she must automatically play Trump. When a player has no cards of the requested suit, nor any Trumps, she may play any other card she likes, but she does not win the trick.

If a major Trump card opens a trick, each player is required to overtrump, unless they have no trump cards remaining. Whenever a Trump has to be played, either after a Trump opening or instead of a missing suit "in the void", a Trump higher than the highest played so far in the trick is requested. If the player cannot play a higher trump, she must play any other (lower) trump; overtrumping is mandatory unless she has only lower trump, Lower trump loses the trick to the higher trump. If a player is being requested to play trump but they have no further Major cards in the void, then she is free to play any other card desired. The mandatory trumping continues as long as a player has any in her hand.

PLAYING THE FOOL: If the opening of a trick is the unsuited Fool (0th zeroth Key card), then the NEXT player counter-clockwise is allowed to utilize any card which then determines the "suit requested" or "trumps requested". The Fool may be legally played at any time without regard to suit; it may be led or it may follow into any trick, regardless of the suitability of the other cards in the tierce. The Fool (zero) is the only card which is able to disregard rules of following suit. The Fool does not go normally into the tricky pile of the side winning the tierce; instead, the Fool always stays over on the tricky pile of the side where it was dealt, even if this causes an oddity in the tierces because the Fool didn’t win a trick. To compensate for this oddity, a player may subsequently offer to give some other "empty" card (with no tricky points value) instead of the Fool into the tricky pile of the winning side, in order to keep the piles perfectly heaped in tierces. This makes it easier to count the tierces after all the tricks are played; but it is not mandatory unless the players feel the need to perfectly organize the trick piles into multiples of triplets of cards. There are no fractional points, thus many players maneuver the piles to avoid fractioned tierces; this is a peculiarity of Tarot Trumps games.

The Fool never wins a trick unless he is winning the final trick of a Slam, in which case he is retained on the side where he was Slamming, and his points are included in that massive tricky pile. The Fool never switches sides during a hand, unless he is played during the last trick when there is no slam, thus causing him to be lost. It’s almost impossible to cause the Fool to be lost at the end, because he is always allowed to play whenever it is more appropriate for him to enter some earlier trick.

SCORING THE TRICKY POINTS FOR THE TIERCES: Players earn 1 tricky point every time they win a tierce (there are twenty-four tierces tricked on the table and two tierces in the dog/discard). They also win any tricky points for face cards in the tierce (4 points for each Archon, 3 points for each Shaman, 2 points for each Marvel, 1 point for each Practician). They also win any tricky points for Key cards captured in the tierce (4 points for the ultra-low Wizard, 4 points for the ultra-high Cosmos). They do not win any tricky points for losing the tierce unless they happen to be retaining their Fool (4 points for the ultra-nothing zeroth card).

The entire deck is worth 78 points among the seventy-eight cards, divvied into the two tricky piles (co-defenders versus contractor). 26 points for tierces are added to the 40 face card points in the elemental courts plus the 12 points from the three Key cards, yielding 78 tricky points per deck:

(24 + 2) + ([4 + 3 + 2 + 1] * 4) + (4 * 3) = 78

_____ CALCULATING THE BONUSES and CREDITING THE SCORES _____

There are three kinds of bonuses in this version of Tarot Trumps: the Least-At-Last, the Handfuls, and the Slams. The Least-At-Last is subject to the contract multiplication. The Handfuls and the Slams are not multiplied by contract factors.

The bidding factors are 1 (single) for Take, 2 (double) for Guard, 4 (quadruple) for Guard Without Looking, and 6 (hextuple) for Guard Against The Dog.

When a player wins or loses their contract, 25 credits are awarded or penalized, and they are multiplied by the bidding factor. Also, the amount of tricky points by which they exceed or fail to reach their target is multiplied by the bidding factor and then this amount is a credit which is awarded or penalized among the appropriate players (we sometimes call this "gravy".)

When a player wins or loses the Least-At-Last, 10 credits are awarded or penalized, and they are multiplied by the bidding factor. The Least-At-Last occurs when the Wizard is utilized during the final trick on the table.

When a player wins or loses their Handful, the award or penalty depends on their initial announcement: 20 credits for a Simple Handful, 30 credits for a Double Handful, 40 credits for a Triple Handful. This is not multiplied by the bidding factors.

When a player succeeds at a covert Slam, they are awarded 200 credits. This is not multiplied by the bidding factors.

When a player succeeds at an announced Slam, they are awarded 400 credits; when they fail at an announced Slam, they are penalized 200 credits. This is not multiplied by the bidding factors.

Players award or penalize their credits and settle up after each deal; credits are usually exchanged for money, but other alternatives such as kisses or raspberries are nice.

SCORE PAYMENT FORMULA: The formula for payment when a player succeeds or loses at their contract by reaching or exceeding their target is:

[(25 + g + L) * m] + H + S
= payment or penalty to or from each player when settling up.

g is the amount they went over or under their target (it could be positive or negative). For example, if their tricky pile ended with all three Keys and thus their target was 33, but they had actually earned 35 tricky points, then they are in excess by 35-33=2 and so g=+2. If, for example, they had zero Keys and targeted 46 but they only earned 40 tricky points then they are deficient by 40-46=-6 so g=-6. This is the "gravy" that you get for going over or under your target.

L is the bonus for Least-At-Last. It is +10 for the player capturing the Wizard in the final trick, or it is -10 for the side losing the Wizard at the last trick. It is 0 if the Wizard was utilized in some other trick before the last.

m is the multiplier for the bidding level, so it will be either 1, 2, 4, or 6 depending on whether they said Take, Guard, Guard Without Looking, or Guard Against The Dog, respectively.

H is the bonus for winning or losing with an announced Handful, so it may be +20, +30, or +40 for achieving single, double, or triple; and it will be -20, -30, or -40 for failing single, double, or triple. The positive or negative depends on whether a contractor or a defender is winning or losing, so it’s possible to achieve a contract while being punished by a defender’s handful; and it’s possible for a bidder to lose a contract while also mentioning a handful, thus being punished. Usually it’s unlikely for people to have a handful announcement if they aren’t bidding on a contract, but it’s not impossible for a defender to mention. It depends how many tarot trumps are held by each player upon dealing or discarding.

S is the bonus or penalty for Slamming. It is +200 if achieving covert Slam. It is -200 if failing Announced Slam. It is +400 if achieving announced Slam.

As an example: somebody bid "guard without looking" and her opponents passed. The contractor announced a Simple Handful before playing her first card, and revealed the appropriate majority of trumps in her hand. She earned points from the tierces and face cards and keys in the tricks on the table and also added the extra points from the mysterious dog after all tricks were completed. Altogether she earned 42 tricky points in her pile, because the co-defenders held onto 36 in their pile. The contractor finished the hand with two of the three Keys (the Wizard and the Cosmos) in her winning pile. The defenders retained the Fool on their tricky pile. The contractor ends with two of the keys so she needs to reach a target of 36 (see "goal of the game" section at top of this page.) Her 42 tricky points exceeded her target of 36, so the difference was 42-36=6. Her "gravy" is 6 on top of her contract of 25, so 25+6=31. She was lucky to utilize her Wizard during the very last trick, so she is awarded the Least-At-Last +10 and thus 31+10=41. She bid "without looking" so her multiplier is quadruple score; thus 41×4=164. She announced a simple handful for an award of +20, so 164+20=184. She did not win all of the tricks on the table, so there was no slamming, and S=0. Her ultimate score is 184 credits; each of her opponents pays her that amount, so her purse increases by 184×2 and each of the losers’ is debited (-184). If they didn’t want to use dollars and cents, they could agree to exchange their credits for kisses or raspberries instead. She loves those. Then the player counter-clockwise from the seat of the current dealer will subsequently become the new dealer. They stack up the cards without any hard shuffle, cut and proceed to deal the next hand. There is a lot of passing and redealing (soft shuffling) for a few minutes until somebody dares to bid again.

The next example bid is when a player said "take" and her opponents passed. The contractor confided in the dog, made a confidential discard, and nobody announced any handfuls before playing their first card. The contractor earned points from the tierces and face cards and keys in the tricks on the table, and also added the extra points from the tierces and minor face cards in her discard which was not revealed to her opponents until after all the tricks were completed. Altogether she earned 29 tricky points on her pile, because the co-defenders held onto 49 in their pile. The contractor finished the hand with all three of the Keys in her pile, so her target was 33 (see "goal of the game" section at top of this page.) Her 29 tricky points were deficient below her target of 33, so 29-33=-4. Her horrible "gravy" is -4 in addition to the contracted -25, so her punishment is -4 + -25 = -29. She utilized the Wizard during the final trick, so she is awarded Least-At-Last of +10, and this ‘cushions the blow’ so -29+10=-19. Her multiplication factor for bidding "take" is a ‘single’ award, so -19*1=-19. There were no handfuls and no slamming, thus -19 is the ultimate score. She is debited by a penalty of -19 credits out of her account twice– once to each of the opponents. Each of the opponents is awarded 19 credits into their own account because contractor must pay them each a ‘share’ for her failure to hit her target. They stack up the cards without any hard shuffle, cut and proceed to deal more. After several minutes of passing and redealing, somebody will try again. Et cetera.

_____ REQUIREMENTS FOR HANDFULS _____

When a player has a majority or supermajority of the cards in their hand dealt from the trump suit, they might announce a Handful. Each of the three players is dealt twenty-four cards. A simple handful is over one-half trumps, so they need at least thirteen major tarots to announce it. A double handful is at least two-thirds trumps, so they need at least sixteen major tarots in their hand to announce it. A triple handful is at least three-quarters trumps, so they need at least eighteen major tarots in their hands to announce it.

A player does not need to announce their highest level of handful, and they might prefer to announce a smaller amount, because this will reveal less information to their opponents. They only have to reveal as many trumps as are required to reach the simple, double, or triple they mention.

If they are announcing a handful, and they wish to pretend that the Fool is a sort of zero (0) of trumping, they can include it in the count of their majority or supermajority but only if it is absolutely necessary for achieving the level (thirteen, sixteen, or eighteen cards to show.) If they already have the thirteen, sixteen, or eighteen trumps without counting the Fool as a "zero", then they are not allowed to show the Fool. Broadcasting information about the Fool in a handful announcement is PROOF that the announcer does not hold any further trumps beyond the declaration level. Broadcasting information about the quantity (majority or supermajority) of trumps without mentioning the Fool is not proof that the announcer is showing all their cards in the Void; announcers may choose to strategically describe a smaller handful level because they wish to conceal some of the truth about their tarot trumps in the major suit of the void, but they can only do this if they avoid mentioning the Fool.

When they reveal their handful of trump cards (either thirteen, sixteen, or eighteen major cards, depending on simple, double, or triple announcement) they should take care to avoid giving away too much strategic information. The best way to do this is by keeping the Key cards secret as much as possible (Wizard, Fool, Cosmos). For example, if an announcer holds sufficient quantity of trump so they don’t need to reveal every card in their major suit, they might hide the Cosmos if they are keeping secrets about their higher trumps; or they might hide the Wizard if they are keeping secrets about their lower trumps; or they might hide both the Highest and the Least if they have the stupendous luxury of a giant surplus of trump cards to show beyond their announcement requirement. They are absolutely always required to hide the Fool unless it is strictly needed to be used as a pseudo-zero for completion of the thirteen/ sixteen/ eighteen card announcement level. When in doubt, hide the higher cards and only show the lower trumps as much as necessary for the declaration, and avoid hinting to the opponents about anything which might affect the Key cards. The concept in the trade-off, as for most card games, is "bigger gambles pay more credits for revealing more dangerous information" while "smaller gambles pay less credit for describing less information." This is true in all calculable phases of the game (bidding for contracts, announcing handfuls, attempting slams, capturing and defending cards in tricks, chasing the Least-At-Last, et cetera.)

_____ VARIATIONS _____

There are other styles which allow four, five, or other numbers of participating players. There are other styles which add up to other amounts of tricky points per deck instead of 78. There are other styles which utilize modified decks with fewer than seventy-eight cards. There are some styles where the ecclesiastics rank the Portal and Wizard and Fool as the three crucial KEYS instead of the Cosmos, Wizard, and Fool. There are some styles where all the pips are ecclesiastically low at the ace and high at the ten, while some have customized mixtures of asenscion and descent in the minor pips. There are other titles for the seventy-eight cards in the deck, but you will enjoy them however you choose to call them.

artloverswords
Calculate Folder Size

Image by KevinHutchins314
This is my truth: art lovers words.

For example:

Here’s a copy of a document in my Games Folder:

TAROT TRUMPS ~ RULES ~ 3 PLAYERS FRIENDLY COMPETITIVE REWARDING STYLE OF SEXY COSMIC TAROT ENTHUSIASM

***
basically, 3~ways are hot hot hot…
***

we use a Cosmic Tribe deck from stevee.com …

we learned how to play multi-player trump games from letarot.net …

we have photos at www.flickr.com/photos/kevinhutchins314 where we show our digital algorithms in our sets and screenshots …

so we would love to present to hot tarot game lovers everywhere:

*********************

_____ THE 78 CARDS IN THE DECK _____

77 (seventy-seven) of these cards are divided into five suits: four of the suits are smaller (Minor) and one of the suits is bigger (Major).

56 (fifty-six) cards are divided into four Minor suits which contain fourteen cards each: Air, Water, Fire and Earth are these four Minor arcana elements.

There are other scoring bonuses related to possession of suit majorities when the cards are dealt but the tricks haven’t been played yet; and there are multiplication factors which depend on the style of bid. There are six cards which are dealt to a "dog" position besides the three players hands, and these are part of the bidding. The three players are each dealt twenty-four cards, so there are twenty-four tricks on the table (each is a tierce of three cards) and there are effectively two tierces in the "dog". These twenty-six tierces containing three cards yield the deck of seventy-eight cards. The total value of all the tricky points is (not coincidentally) also 78: