PIEDICAVALLO TAROCCHI

Hey there, let me tell you about Piedicavallo Tarocchi—a cool card game for four people. The aim is to score the most points throughout four rounds. Are you ready to learn how to play?

Alright, first things first. We need to create two teams of two people each. You and your partner will sit across from each other.

SETUP

Now, let’s get everything set up. Before we begin, we’ll need to modify the deck a bit. Take out the 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s of both swords and batons. Don’t forget to remove the 10s, 9s, 8s, and 7s of cups and coins as well. With these cards removed, you’ll be left with a deck of 62 cards.

Alright! To decide who the first dealer is, we’ll choose randomly. After each round, the dealer position will move to the right. Every player will get a chance to deal once.

The dealer will shuffle the deck and then let the player on their left cut the deck. Once the deck is ready, the dealer will deal 15 cards to each player, starting from the person on their right and then going counterclockwise. The dealer themselves will be dealt 17 cards.

When I’m playing the card game, the dealer has a special role. First, they pick up their hand and look at the cards. Then, they have to decide which cards to get rid of. They can choose any two cards, but there’s a rule – they can’t discard any cards that are worth 5 points. They have to keep those.

The dealer also has to think about whether they want to discard any trumps. Trumps are special cards that can win over other cards. But the dealer can only discard trumps if they have no other options, or if they don’t have any more trumps in their hand after discarding. If they do discard trumps, they have to tell everyone how many they got rid of.

Here’s something interesting: the cards that the dealer gets rid of can still be worth points. But only if the dealer’s team wins at least 1 trick during the round. A trick is when you get to play a card and see if it’s the highest card. If the dealer’s team wins a trick, then the dealer’s discarded cards count towards their team’s score.

Card Rankings and Point Values

The cards in the game have different rankings based on what suit they belong to.

If a card belongs to the trump suit or the tarocchi suit, it has a ranking from 21 (which is the highest) to 1 (which is the lowest). There are 21 cards in total in the trump suit.

The cards in the cups and coins suits are called the red suits. In those suits, the highest ranking card is the King, followed by the Queen, Horse, Jack, and then the numbers 1 to 6 (which are the lowest ranking cards).

When it comes to ranking the suits in a deck of cards, swords and batons take the throne as the highest. After the King, we have the Queen, Horse, Jack, and then the numbers 10 through 5, with 5 being the lowest. These are known as the black suits.

But hold on, there’s also the fool card that doesn’t belong to any particular suit. It’s a bit of a maverick, you could say.

Now, let’s talk points. Each card has a value assigned to it. The Kings, the fool, trump 1, and trump 21 are all worth a hefty 5 points each. Queens come in at a solid 4 points. Horses trot in with 3 points each. Jacks earn 2 points each, while all the other cards score a single point. So, when you tally it all up, you can potentially score a grand total of 114 points per round.

Now, Let’s Play!

Alrighty, here’s how the game goes: the player on the right side of the dealer takes the lead on the first trick. They can play any card they fancy, and the rest of the players must play a card of the same suit, if they have one. If they don’t have a matching suit card, they can play a trump card instead. And if they don’t have any trump cards, well, they can play any card their heart desires. It’s all about strategy and playing the right cards at the right time.

Winning a trick in a card game can be pretty tricky. The key is to play the highest-ranking card of the suit led. However, there’s an exception to this rule when someone plays the fool. The fool can be played to any trick, and it won’t win the trick. But here’s the twist – the fool isn’t captured by the winner of the trick either. Instead, it goes into the scoring pile of the team that played it. The fool will only be scored if that team manages to win at least one trick during the round.

Now, if the fool is used to lead a trick, the suit that the remaining players must follow will be determined by the second card played to the trick.

But that’s not all. In this game, you’re allowed to communicate with your partner. Yes, you can signal and even talk during the game. However, there are a few restrictions. First, all communication must be perceivable by all players. No secret codes here! Second, everyone must know what each signal means. No confusing your partner or others!

When I play a card in a trick, I can give information, but it has to be true and related to the card I’m playing.

If I play a trump card or the fool, I can signal information to my partner about the remaining trumps in my hand. I can openly declare any trumps ranked from 21 to 15, but I can’t declare any other trumps. However, I can tell my partner how many other trumps I have. If I have the current highest unplayed trump, I can either bang the table once or say “batto” to let my partner know. If I have the next highest two trumps, I can bang the table twice or say “batto” twice. I can also declare if I have the 1 of trumps and it’s at risk of being captured, or if I have no more trumps.

COINS, CUPS, SWORDS AND BATONS

When it comes to the other suits, I want to make sure I give you all the important information. If I play a card of the same suit, I will always let you know. I can declare kings, queens, horses, and jacks specifically. Or I can tell you how many numeric cards I have, without revealing which ones. I can also tell you how many cards of a suit I have. And if I have the current highest card of the suit that hasn’t been played yet, I will say “batto.” On the other hand, if I don’t have any more cards of that suit, I will let you know.

OPPOSITE SUITS

When I’m playing a card in a game, I can actually give you some information about the opposite-colored suits. Like, if I play a red card, I can tell you something about the black suits. It’s called giving specific information. There’s this special phrase “alto batto,” which means I have one of the kings in the opposite color, but I can’t tell you which one exactly. If I have both kings, I can say “alto batto” twice to let you know. And if I don’t have any cards in one of the opposite-colored suits, I can just say “alto.”

Oh, and it’s not just about the kings. I can also declare other cards like queens, horses, and jacks. I just have to mention the card and its suit color, but not the specific suit. I can do the same thing for the numeric cards to let you know how many I have.

DEALER

The dealer can also give information about the cards they’re throwing away. They do this by holding their hand near the discard pile and following the same rules mentioned earlier.

PARTNER PLAYS

When playing a card game with a partner, you can give them suggestions on what to play. However, there are some rules to follow. You can only talk about trumps if you have already played a trump card. And you can only discuss specific cards of a suit that you are currently playing. You are allowed to mention a card of the opposite color, but you can’t specify the suit of that color. You can also tell your partner to play a card that you have mentioned before by saying “farlo.” But remember, your partner can choose to ignore your suggestion.

SCORING

At the end of each round, players count the points in their score piles. The fool and the discarded cards can only be scored if your team has won at least one trick. If not, those cards are given to the other team to score.

END OF GAME

After four rounds, the game comes to a close and the scores are tallied. The team that has amassed the most points emerges as the victorious team. In the event of a tie, an extra round can be played to determine the ultimate winner.

Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Amber (but you can call me They/Them). I hail from Austin and I’m a writer who happens to be quite the gaming aficionado. I take great pride in my gaming skills and have a soft spot for dogs, plants, and a good ol’ game of D&D.

Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Amber (but you can call me They/Them). I hail from Austin and I’m a writer who happens to be quite the gaming aficionado. I take great pride in my gaming skills and have a soft spot for dogs, plants, and a good ol’ game of D&D.