Tarot LIVE: French Card Game

FOUR-PLAYER FRENCH TAROT Take your place at a Tarot LIVE table, where one taker faces three defenders. French Tarot is a 78-card trick-taking game built around contracts, trumps and reading the cards as they are played. Illustrated cards and a warm wooden table give the game a setting that keeps the hand and the current trick at the center. PLAY ONLINE OR OFFLINE Choose how to play French Tarot: join other human players online, or play offline against three AI opponents. In an offline game, you are the only human at the four-seat table. The other three seats are controlled by the computer. The presentation screenshots show online games with human players, rather than the offline AI mode. CHOOSE YOUR CONTRACT Petite, Garde, Garde sans and Garde contre are the four contracts in this Tarot game. Look at your trumps, court cards and bouts before deciding how far to commit. You may pass or name a contract higher than the current bid. The highest bidder becomes the taker and tries to complete that contract against the three defenders. GET TO KNOW THE DECK A French Tarot deck has four suits, 21 trumps and the Excuse. Each suit includes a cavalier as well as a jack, queen and king. The deal gives each player 18 cards and leaves six cards in the chien. Keeping the suits and trumps distinct helps you read your hand before choosing a contract, then follow the shape of the tricks as the game develops. THE CHIEN AND THE DISCARD With Petite or Garde, the taker reveals the six cards of the chien, adds them to the hand and discards six cards. Kings and the three bouts are protected from the discard. With Garde sans, the unseen chien counts for the taker without being added to the hand; with Garde contre, it counts for the defenders. Your Tarot contract therefore affects how the chien contributes to the hand. FOLLOW EACH TRICK In Tarot, follow the suit that was led when you can. If you have none of that suit but hold trumps, you must trump. When a higher trump can be played over an existing trump, you must overtrump. Watch the suit led and the trumps already played before deciding which of your available cards to use. The cards on the table give you information to consider as the trick unfolds. THE THREE BOUTS OF TAROT The Petit, the 21 and the Excuse are the three bouts of French Tarot. The taker's side needs 56 points with no bouts, 51 with one, 41 with two or 36 with all three. Reaching the target exactly is enough to complete the contract. Kings and bouts are worth 4.5 points each; a queen is worth 3.5, a cavalier 2.5 and a jack 1.5. Other cards are worth half a point. These cards connect the value of the captured tricks to the goal of the hand, so choosing a contract is about more than holding a single high trump. ONE TAKER, THREE DEFENDERS Four-player Tarot gives the two sides different aims. The taker plays for the chosen contract, while the defenders work in the opposing camp. When defending, consider your partners' plays as well as the taker's. A low card can preserve a useful suit, while a trump spent early may be missed later. Judge each choice from the cards in your hand and those already played. PLAY THROUGH THE WHOLE HAND A hand of Tarot contains 18 tricks. As fewer cards remain, the available suits and trumps change what each player can do. Keep the contract in mind, follow the current trick and decide which card to keep for later. This is the continuing puzzle of French Tarot: making the opening commitment, then responding to the table one trick at a time. ILLUSTRATED CARDS, A WARM TABLE Wood, ivory-colored paper and illustrated scenes frame the French Tarot table. The visual setting accompanies a card game with familiar roles and distinct trumps, from the opening hand to the final cards. Tarot LIVE is a playing-card game, not a fortune-telling app. The screenshots show an online game. The interface shown in this version is in English.

First release of Tarot LIVE. Four-player French Tarot with 78 cards: one taker and three defenders. Contracts: Petite, Garde, Garde sans and Garde contre. Online games with other players, or offline against three AI opponents.