The earliest detailed description of rules for a Tarot game in any language were published by the Abbé de Marolles in Nevers in 1637. Tarot games originated in Italy, and spread to most parts of Europe, notable exceptions being the British Isles, the Iberian peninsula, and the Balkans. The games are known in many variations, mostly cultural and regional. The basic rules first appeared in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona, written before 1425. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, Tarock in German and various similar words in other languages. Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The Trull, the highest-valued trumps in Central European Tarock games Hungarian statesmen playing tarokk in 1895, the preferred card game of the pre-communist era. For other uses, see Tarot (disambiguation).
This article is about a family of trick taking card games.
