Sommaire
TAROT PRO 5 for Windows

Copyright (c) Patrick Coscas, 1995-97

How to get TAROT PRO ?

Official Rules of Tarot

About TAROT PRO


LICENCE

To get the full version of  TAROT PRO 5 for  Windows, please send US $35 to :

Patrick Coscas

138 rue Legendre

75017 Paris

FRANCE

You can use an ORDER FORM .

You can also order Tarot Pro from my secure Internet server :

http://www.recreasoft.com

The last evaluation version is on my Web site :

http://www.recreasoft.com

You can send me an email at  : coscasp@recreasoft.com

With this full version, you can play BILLIONS of deals thanks to a very good random generator !


ReglesTarot
Official Rules of Tarot

Tarot is a trick-taking game for four players.

The deck consists of 78 cards. There are four suits of fourteen cards each numbered 1 through 10, Jack, Knight, Queen and King. The suits are the standard ones : spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds. There is also a special Trump suit of 21 cards, numbered from 1 to 21. Finally there is a card called the Excuse marked with a star in the corners. This card can be played at any time.

The goal of this game is to accumulate enough card points to win the hand by taking tricks.

Three cards, the 1 of Trump (called the Petit), the 21 of Trump and the Excuse are special and are called oudlers.

These are key cards because having them in your tricks reduces the total number of points (the contract) you need to win.

For every card in every trick you took, you get the following card points :

OUDLER :	4.5 points

KING :	4.5 points

QUEEN :	3.5 points

KNIGHT :	2.5 points

JACK :	1.5 points

Other card :	0.5 point

The total of card points is 91.

To win a hand :

  You have 3 oudlers and at least 36 card points, or

   You have 2 oudlers and at least 41 card points, or

 You have 1 oudler and at least 51 card points, or

You have 0 oudler and at least 56 card points.

The DEAL

The first dealer is chosen at random thereafter the turn to deal passes to the right after each hand (the game is played counter-clockwise).

In a hand, 18 cards are dealt to each player. Six cards are dealt face down to form the Dog.

The BIDS

Each player, starting with the player to the dealer’s right and continuing counter-clockwise, has just one chance to bid on the hand or pass. If all four players pass, the hand is thrown in and the next dealer deals.

The possible bids, from lowest to highest, are as follows :

TAKE : you get the Dog and try to have enough card points.

GUARD : Same as TAKE but supercedes TAKE in bidding.

GUARD WITHOUT (THE DOG) : No one looks at the Dog but the card points in it count for the Taker.

GUARD AGAINST (THE DOG) : No one looks at the Dog and it is counted against the Taker.

The highest bidding player becomes the TAKER. The remaining three players form a temporary team, the DEFENSE, trying to prevent the Taker from making enough card points (his CONTRACT).

In TAKE or GUARD, the TAKER turns the six cards of the DOG face up and then takes them into his hand. He then discards face down any six cards which are not trumps, oudlers or kings. The cards discarded by the Taker count as part of his tricks.

The PLAY OF THE CARDS

When the discard is complete, the cards are played.

The player to the dealer’s right leads to the first trick. The winner of the trick is determined by the highest trump or the highest card of the suit led if no trumps were played. The winner of a trick leads to the next.

You have to follow suit if you can and there are some extra restrictions that make Tarot unique :

If you are void in the suit led, you must trump

If you are void and someone already trumped, you must overtrump

If you are void and cannot overtrump, you must undertrump

If you are void and have no trump, you can play any card

The Excuse automatically loses any trick and can be played at any time.

If the Excuse is led, the next player can play any card and this second card defines what suit must be followed.

Provided that the Excuse if played before the last trick, the team that played the Excuse always gets to keep it. If I play the Excuse and you take the trick, I keep the Excuse and give you a 0.5 point card. If the fool is played in the last trick, the opposite team (the Taker or the Defense) keeps it !

At the end of the hand, the Taker counts his card points. The six cards of the Dog are also counted by the Taker unless the bid was Guard against the dog. If the taker has enough card points for the number of oudlers, he wins.

Petit (1 of Trump) in the last trick

This is a bonus which occurs if the 1 of Trump is played in the last trick. In this case, the team that takes the last trick wins the bonus (10 points).

The Scoring

Score of the Taker :

3 * (G*25 + DeltaPoint + PetitAtTheEnd) * ContractCoeff

where G = 1 if the Taker made at least his contract card points (-1 otherwise),

DeltaPoint is the difference between the Taker card points and the contract,

PetitAtTheEnd = 10 if the 1 of Trump is played in the last trick (0 otherwise)

and ContractCoeff is 1 for a Take, 2 for a Guard, 4 for a Guard without the dog and 6 for a Guard against the dog.

Each Defense player scores (G*25 + DeltaPoint + PetitAtTheEnd) * ContractCoeff.


Apropos
About TAROT PRO 5.13 for Windows

TAROT PRO by Patrick COSCAS.


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Internet information

email	: coscasp@recreasoft.com

Web Site : http://www.recreasoft.com