Tarocchini
Tarocchini are a family of point-trick-taking card games played with a specialized 62-card tarot deck known as the Tarocco Bolognese, originating in Bologna, Italy, where they have been documented since the 15th century. Tarocchini specifically refers to the games played with this deck in and around Bologna.[1] These games emphasize strategic play through trumps, card combinations, and point scoring from both tricks won and declared melds, typically involving three or four players in partnership or individual formats.[1] The Tarocco Bolognese deck, reduced from the standard 78-card tarot by omitting the 2 through 5 of each suit, features 22 unnumbered trumps (including the unnumbered Fool or Matto) alongside four suits of cups, coins, swords, and batons, each with numeral cards 6–10, aces, and three court cards.[2] The earliest known reference to tarocchi in Bologna dates to 1442, when a local merchant sold decks of trionfi (an early term for tarot cards) in nearby Ferrara, indicating the game's roots in Renaissance Italy.[3] By the 16th century, specific rules such as the "equal-papi" mechanism—governing priority between the Pope and Emperor trumps—were established, reflecting allegorical ties to medieval power dynamics and Bologna's factional history.[4] Iconic early decks, like Giuseppe Maria Mitelli's artistically innovative Tarocchini di Bologna of 1664, commissioned for the Bentivoglio family, highlight the game's cultural significance and evolution from traditional designs to more localized, diminutive ("tarocchini") formats.[2] Prominent variants include Ottocento, a four-player partnership game aiming for 800 points per rubber through trick-taking and bonus-scoring combinations like the four kings ("crown" or corona), which preserves 16th-century elements and remains popular in Bologna today.[1] Other forms adapt the core mechanics for different group sizes while maintaining the deck's unique structure.[1] Detailed rule books, such as Carlo Antonio Pisarri's 1754 Il giuoco dilettevole delli tarocchini di Bologna, underscore the game's antiquity and instructional tradition, linking it to ancient play described in local manuscripts.[5] Despite tarot's later association with divination, Tarocchini has endured primarily as a social and competitive pastime, with modern revivals through organizations like the Accademia del Tarocchino Bolognese.[1]History and Origins
Early Development in Italy
Tarot cards, the foundational deck for games like Tarocchini, originated in northern Italy during the early 15th century as a trick-taking card game for the nobility, rather than for divination. The invention is dated to the second quarter of the century, approximately 1420–1440, with likely centers in Milan or Ferrara, where luxurious hand-painted decks were commissioned by ruling families such as the Visconti and Este. These early decks combined standard suit cards with a special series of allegorical "triumphs" that outranked the suits, introducing a hierarchical element to gameplay that emphasized both chance and strategy. Surviving examples, such as the Visconti-Sforza Tarot from around 1450, illustrate this structure and confirm the game's initial recreational purpose among the elite.[6][7] The earliest documented description of rules for a tarot-like game appears in a manuscript by Martiano da Tortona, composed around 1424–1425 for Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan. This text outlines a deck featuring four suits—each with ten pip cards and a king—and sixteen allegorical triumphs depicting deified heroes or gods, grouped thematically (e.g., virtues, riches, virginities, pleasures), totaling approximately 60 cards. The rules specify that the triumphs outrank all suit cards and kings, with mechanisms for capturing tricks based on the triumphs' hierarchy and suit strengths, such as eagles taking directly and doves in reverse. Commissioned for 1,500 ducats and possibly illustrated by Michelino da Besozzo, this work represents the first known articulation of a trump-based card game, predating fuller tarocchi rules.[8][9] By the 16th century, early tarocchi had evolved into various regional Italian variants, adapting deck sizes, trump sequences, and scoring to local preferences while retaining the core trick-taking mechanics with triumphs. These developments reflected broader dissemination across northern Italy, where the game gained popularity beyond courts, influencing family and social play. Tarocchini emerged as a shortened variant of tarocchi in the 15th century, streamlining the deck to 62 cards by omitting the 2 through 5 of each suit to enhance accessibility. A pivotal historical text, Istruzioni necessarie per chi volesse imparare il giuoco dilettevole delli tarocchini di Bologna by Carlo Antonio Pisarri, published in 1754, documents these rules in detail, including the game's antiquity and Bolognese-specific play, marking a key codification of the variant.[10][5] This early Italian tarocchi framework, distinct from the later 78-card decks used in French tarot, laid the groundwork for enduring regional games like Tarocchini.[7]Establishment in Bologna
Tarocchini, as a distinct 62-card variant of tarot, originated in Bologna in the late 15th or early 16th century, evolving separately from the fuller 78-card French Tarot and the Austrian Tarock traditions through its use of Italian-suited cards and omission of the 2s through 5s in each suit. Traditionally attributed to the exiled Pisan prince Francesco Antelminelli Castracani Fibbia in the 15th century, the variant's roots trace back to early references like a 1442 sale of trionfi decks by a Bolognese merchant in nearby Ferrara.[1] This regional adaptation, known as Tarocco Bolognese or Tarocchino, was confined primarily to Bologna, where it developed a unique local identity tied to the city's cultural practices.[11] The earliest printed rules for the game appeared in Bologna in 1754, in the pamphlet Istruzioni necessarie per chi vuole imparare il giuoco de' tarocchi bolognesi, marking a key step in its standardization as a trick-taking game with point-counting mechanics.[11] Bolognese printing traditions solidified the game's distinctiveness, with local workshops producing decks featuring characteristic unnumbered trumps and symbolic artwork, such as the four Moors on certain triumph cards. Around 1660, Count Filippo Bentivoglio commissioned an elaborate copper-engraved Tarocchino deck from artist Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, exemplifying the high-quality, bespoke production that became a hallmark of Bolognese tarot.[12] In the 18th century, printers like those behind the Al Mondo deck (circa 1725–1760s) used woodblocks to create single-headed cards with enduring motifs, such as the Moon card depicting a woman with a staff, preserving the style across generations despite broader European shifts toward double-headed designs.[13] These traditions, rooted in Bologna's artisanal heritage, ensured the deck's visual and structural uniqueness compared to tarot variants elsewhere.[14] The game's persistence in Bologna contrasted with tarot bans in other Italian regions, where ecclesiastical authorities occasionally suppressed cards associated with gambling or divination; for instance, a 1725 papal decree following the controversy over Luigi Montieri's geographic tarot pack imposed restrictions, yet Bolognese production adapted by standardizing motifs like the four Moors to comply while maintaining play.[13] This resilience allowed Tarocchini to endure as a secular parlor game, played continuously in Bolognese families and social circles for over 400 years without significant alteration.[11] In the 20th and 21st centuries, Tarocchini experienced revivals through documentation and organized play, including post-World War II efforts to codify rules in Italian card game literature, such as Luigi Laghi's 1983 manual Il gioco dei tarocchi bolognesi and scholarly works by Franco Pratesi.[11] Tournaments and club matches persist today in Bologna and surrounding areas, supported by cultural associations promoting traditional Italian games, ensuring the variant's vitality among enthusiasts.[1]The Deck
Composition and Ranks
The Tarocchini deck, originating from Bologna, Italy, is composed of 62 cards, a reduction from the standard 78-card tarot deck used elsewhere in Europe. This structure includes 22 cards comprising the major arcana: 21 ranked trumps, referred to as tarocchi (from Bégato or Bagatino the lowest, through the four equal Moors in intermediate positions, numbered equivalents 6 to 17, Moon, Sun, World, to Angel the highest), often unnumbered in traditional patterns, alongside the unnumbered Matto (Fool) which serves as an excuse card. The remaining 40 cards form the suit portion of the deck, divided equally among four suits: coins (denari), cups (coppe), swords (spade), and batons (bastoni or mazze).[1][15][13] Each suit contains 10 cards: the ace, numeral cards 6 through 10, and four court cards: the Fante (knave or jack), Cavallo (knight or mounted soldier), Donna (queen), and Re (king). In swords and batons (long suits), the order is Re (high) to ace (low); in cups and coins (round suits), ace follows the courts as second highest.[16][1][13] The hierarchy of the trumps places the Bégato at the lowest position, followed by the four Moors (of equal rank, equivalent to the fourth through seventh highest trumps, depicted as identical Moorish figures), then ascending through the numbered equivalents 6 to 17, Moon (18), Sun (19), World (20), culminating in the highest trump, the Angel (21). A unique aspect of the Bolognese system involves the four Moors, which hold equal rank among themselves and feature special rules that elevate their strategic importance, with the last played winning the trick when multiple are played; they replace traditional papal and imperial figures found in other tarot traditions, reflecting regional adaptations in the deck's evolution.[1][13][15]Card Values and Suits
Tarocchini uses a 62-card Tarocco Bolognese deck featuring four Latin suits: cups (coppe), coins (denari), swords (spade), and batons (bastoni). Each suit consists of ten cards: king, queen, knight, jack, and numbered cards from ace (or 10 in some suits) through 6, with the lower ranks (2-5) omitted. The suits function primarily in trick-taking, where the led suit must be followed if possible, but the trump suit (tarocchi) overrides all others. Additionally, the deck includes 22 trumps, which outrank the suits and determine many key plays.[1] The trumps are ranked from highest to lowest as follows: Angel (21), World (20), Sun (19), Moon (18), numbered trumps 17 through 8, the four Moors (unnumbered, equal in rank as the fourth through seventh trumps), and Bégato (1). The four Moors, depicted as identical Moorish figures, serve as extra trumps of intermediate strength; they beat the Bégato but are beaten by higher trumps, and when multiple Moors are played to a trick, the last one played wins. The Fool (Matto, unnumbered as 0) has no fixed rank and functions as an "excuse" card: it can be played to any trick regardless of suit or trump led, and if it wins the trick (by default as the lowest card), the player retrieves the Matto and substitutes another card from the won trick. Among the trumps, only the Angel, World, Bégato, and Matto carry a base value of 5 points each; all other trumps (including the Moors, Sun, Moon, and numbered ones) are valued at 1 point each in the basic counting system.[1] In the suits, point values are assigned to the court cards, while numbered cards share a uniform low value. Kings are worth 5 points each, queens 4 points, knights 3 points, and jacks 2 points. The remaining numbered cards in the suits (aces, 6-10) are each worth 1 point in the basic system. These values emphasize the importance of court cards in scoring, as they contribute significantly more than pips.[1] To ensure whole-number scores, card points are tallied in pairs from each side's captured tricks (since each trick has four cards, totals are always even), deducting 1 point per pair. This method is equivalent to assigning fractional values to individual cards: 4.5 for 5-point cards (Angel, World, Bégato, Matto, kings), 3.5 for queens, 2.5 for knights, 1.5 for jacks, and 0.5 for all other cards (including low trumps and numbered suit cards). The total point value of the deck's 62 cards is thus 87 points, divided between the two partnerships during play. No additional rounding is applied, as the pairing ensures integer results.[1]| Card Type | Examples | Base Value (Individual) | Effective Fractional Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Trumps & Fool | Angel (21), World (20), Bégato (1), Matto | 5 points | 4.5 points |
| Kings | One per suit | 5 points | 4.5 points |
| Queens | One per suit | 4 points | 3.5 points |
| Knights | One per suit | 3 points | 2.5 points |
| Jacks | One per suit | 2 points | 1.5 points |
| Low Cards | Numbered suit cards, low trumps (incl. Moors, Sun, Moon, 2-17) | 1 point | 0.5 points |