Tarocchini
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| Origin | Italy |
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| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 2-6 |
| Skills required | Tactics, Strategy |
| Cards | 62 |
| Deck | Tarocco Bolognese |
| Play | Counter-clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | Trump suit 20-0 Long suits: K Q C J 10 9 8 7 6 A Round suits: K Q C J A 6 7 8 9 10 |
| Playing time | 30 min. |
| Random chance | Moderate |
| Related games | |
| Minchiate | |
Tarocchini (plural for tarocchino) are point trick-taking tarot card games originating from the 17th century. They are the diminutive form of tarocchi (plural for tarocco), referring to the reduction of the Bolognese pack from 78 to 62 cards, which probably occurred in the early 16th century.
The games are popular in the Bologna region of Italy and has been confined mostly to this area. Tarocchini are very complex games, yet the rules have changed little over the years.
Tarocchini can be played with a 78-card Tarot deck (where the 2–5 pip cards in each suit have been removed), though normally, a special Tarot deck, the Tarocco Bolognese is used. The trump cards have a unique ordering where the second to fifth trumps are known collectively as the Popes ("Papi") or Moors ("Murett") and are of equal rank (the last one played is the highest, in regards to taking a trick). In the Tarocco Bolognese, these cards are depicted with four Moors, two of which are identical.
The Fool is not a trump, it can't beat any cards and is played as an excuse from following suit. The Magician is the lowest trump. However, both the Fool and the Magician may be used as contatori (counters or wild cards) to assist in making sequences. The contatori are very valuable, because they can be used as wild cards in multiple locations. The four highest trumps, which are unnumbered, are Angel, World, Sun, and Moon and they are collectively known as grande (big). Angel, World, Magician, and the Fool are collectively known as tarocchi.
The cards won by each side are counted in pairs, with 1 being subtracted from the total for each pair. There are also six points for winning the final trick, giving a total of 93 points.
In tarocchini, card points are not as important as bonus or meld points gained from combinations. Combinations can either be associative or sequential. Associative combinations or cricche consist of three or four of a kind sets.
There are four types of sequential combinations although two of them are more like associative combinations. Each sequence needs at least three cards for 10 points and every extra card is worth 5 points. What separates the sequences from the cricche is the use of the contatori. The contatori may not be used to substitute Angel or a King. They also cannot fill in consecutive gaps with one exception: in the trump sequence if the two cards replaced are trump 16 and a grande.
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Wikipedia