"Cego speilkarte" (FX Schmid)

"Cego speilkarte" -- FX Schmid, 54c. ( printed c.  1975)

Here is another Tarock deck, published by FX schmid. Although I have seen many pictures of this deck ever since I started collecting, I have only recently came across one such deck on sale-- on Ebay.It is apparent that this deck is no longer printed. The present deck ( which I incline to call the "cego tarock") differs greatly from any other tarock deck.

This pattern is extremely similar to the bourgeoisie tarot.(http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2012/02/french-tarot-grimand-part-i.html and http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2012/02/french-tarot-grimand-part-ii.html) I shall attempt to point out the distinguishing features of this deck as I go along.

As you can see, the numbers indicating the value of the trumps are located in the centre of the cards. Likewise, the trump cards are illustrated by pastoral scenes. Note the fool ( 1st from left) He is dressed in green wearing a red hat, and playing a mandolin. This particular card is often an invaluable aid in distinguishing decks.

Here are the rest of the trumps of this deck.

 

The court cards: Note the jack of clubs ( 4th from left) he wears a shawl over his shoulder.

as you can see, the figures in this deck are rendered in a markedly different style from the other decks, with a greater use of green

Note the knight of diamonds ( 3rd from left). his back faces the viewer. This card is almost identical to the knight of diamonds in the bourgeoisie tarot

 

 

Chicks rule- A tarot game

The four "chicks" or queens.

 This rather curiously named game is the only instance, as far as I can tell, of a tarot game invented within living memory. The inventor of this game is a blogger called Narj, and the post describing this game dates to April 13 2009.( http://narjsberk.blogspot.sg/2008_11_01_archive.html). A rough summary of the game follows

 Basicaly, the game is bridge played with a tarot deck. It is most suitable for 4 or 6 players. The cards are dealt out evenly amongst the players, and what remains is left as a "kitty". ( This means that in a 4- player game , each person has 19 cards, with 2 in the kitty.) Then, the bidding for the trump suit proceeds. The bidding is done as in bridge,  with the highest bidder being allowed acess to the cards in the kitty.

 As in this game, the highest ranking suit varies, and hence the suit normally called "trump" in tarot ( AKA major arcana ) may not be the actual trump suit in play. Hence, the  aforesaid suit are known as "bettys", with the fool, or "nymph"( as it is known here) as the highest.

 In play, the queen outranks the king ( hence the name), but the cavaliers & jacks remainding as usual. The  game play is much as in bridge. Should the winning team make a contract, it scores that number of points. Should it not, the opposing team  scores that number of points, much as in bridge.

*******

One of the major gripes that people had with this game ( judging by the comments ) is that the amount of cards in a hand was rather larde and unweildy. Hence, as A suggestion, I propose that the game may be played with a tarock deck, viz; one that has all number cards ( that is, ones in the non trump suit) lower than 7 removed from the deck, leaving a deck of 54 cards.

Kaffehaus Tarock ( Piatnik)

Kaffehaus Tarock ( Piatnik)- 54c.

 In my opinion, this deck is probably the most beautiful of all the tarock decks, with it's colourful illustrations. ( compare http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/02/tarock-ass.html)
The deck is slightly larger than normal tarock decks.Otherwise, it is identical to the standard versions.

I shall leave the pictures to tell the rest of the story.

"cego"( animal tarot) , ASS

"cego"( animal tarot) , ASS . 54c.
( if'you dont know what a tarock deck is, see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/02/tarock-ass.html. )
Sometime in the 18thc, a german maker tried to revamp the tarock/ot deck. Instead of putting the standard imagery in the trumps, he replaced it with a series of animals, and called it the tiertarock ( ger. - 'animal tarot/tarock".)
  Now, several patterns to this theme developed, but eventualy, a pattern known to some as the "alder-cego" won out, and is the deck that is shown here.
The deck has exactly the same composition as an ordianary tarock deck, save that the rural images on the trumps have been replaced by those of animals. The trumps sometimes have a sort of contrast of the animals between them, most often male/feamle  (the 21 has a cock on one side and a hen on the other. )
 The sküs ( fool) is placed here with the 21, as in the game of cego, it is the highest card.

miniature "tell pattern" piatnik

miniature "tell pattern", by piatnik. 32 cards.
a pleasing miniature of the "william tell"/ four seasons pattern.
these cards are harldly used in Germany at all, instead being used in central europe.
Note the pip cards. they have little scenes from the wtell legend, like the death of Tell's archenemy, gessleer, on the 7 of hearts.
for a Hungarian version of this pattern, see: http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/10/magyar-kartya.html