Copyright: (c) Ubi Soft


Digital Tarot help file

Digital Tarot is Ubi Soft's multiplayer online tarot card game.  You can only play it on our Game Service.  Tarot is a french card game but its cards are also used by fortune-tellers.  It is a quite complicated game since it has 78 cards instead of 52.  The scoring system is also a little bit difficult but Digital Tarot will perform it by itself so you won't have anything to do at the end of each round.

For those of you who never played tarot, we strongly suggest that you read the rules before trying to play.  It may also take a few games to fully understand everything but once you're into it, you won't wanna stop.

Here is what we will be discussing in this document :

•	Digital Tarot interface

•	How to play Digital Tarot

•	Bidding

•	Playing

•	Scores

•	Tarot rules

•	Credits


Digital Tarot interface

The tarot interface is divided in four (4) main parts : the chat window, the playing table, the other players' section and your own section.

The chat window lets you talk with other players while you play.  Since you'll have opponents and teammates, you'll to be careful not to reveal any secret strategies to everyone.  Every player's writing will be in a unique color to help you differ from one another.

The playing table is where the cards you play are displayed.  They will be disposed on the table with the same positions as the players in a way that you'll know know who played what.

The other players' section displays their name, score and (back of) cards.

In your section, you will have all your cards, your score as well as other information about the game (the current taker, the current bid, potential bonuses if there is any) and the buttons to play (Deal, Exit, Poignée/Chelem).


How to play Digital Tarot

The concept of tarot is to bid higher than the others (to be the taker) and try to make enough card points to win your bid, or try to prevent the taker from winning it if you didn't bid high enough (in take case, you're forming the “ defence ” with the other players).  So there are three steps in the game :

•	Bidding

•	Playing

•	Scores


Bidding

The first thing to do, of course, is to deal the cards by pressing the DEAL button.  After every players have received their cards, the bidding window appears.  This is where you'll bid (or pass) on the hand.  If someone bids before you, you have to bid higher than him or pass.  You have five choices : Pass, Prise, Garde, Garde sans le chien and Garde contre le chien.  The higher you bid, the harder it is to win.  The player who made the highest bid is the taker.

The taker plays against all other players (Défense) except when it's a five-player game.  In that case, the taker calls a king and the player who has it becomes his partner.  A “ king-calling ” window appears right after the taker has been chosen and he has to determine which king he is calling.

When all this is done, the taker has the right to call a bonus.  He can announce a Poignée (single, double or triple) or a Chelem.  These are bonuses that are added or substracted to his total of points at the end of the hand, depending on whether he succeeded or not.


Playing

If you are the taker and bid a Prise or a Garde, the six cards of the chien will be shown to all and you'll have them in your hand.  Then, you have to discard any six cards (which are not trumps, oudlers, or kings) by selecting them in your hand and pressing the OK button.  After that, the game starts.

A little arrow indicates whose turn it is to play.  When it's your turn, you'll only be able to play a card that you can play.  For example, if the 2 of hearts was led, you won't be able to play the 6 of spades, unless you don't have any hearts nor trumps.  Digital Tarot helps you identify all the cards you can play for each trick.  The winner of the trick is the player who led the highest-ranked card.

When everybody have played all their cards, Digital Tarot will add the taker's points for each card he has and verify if the total is high enough to win his bid.

After the scores have been shown, the taker can deal the cards again to start a new hand.


Scores

Tarot's scoring system is quite elaborated.  Each type of card has a different value, the multiplying coefficient depends on the bid you made, you can have bonuses that are multiplied or not by this coefficient, you take and you give points to your opponents.  In fact, when the taker succeed to make his bid, he will equally take points away from his opponents and vice versa when he loses.

For example, if the taker succeeds to make a bid that gives him 700 points against two opponents, then these two will each give him 350 points, even if their total is below zero.

There is no specific total that you have to reach to win.  Some players play games of a thousand points, but it can vary.  Therefore, the scores of Digital Tarot won't be saved and displayed in the Scores section of your profile in the Game Service.


Tarot rules

Games are played with Tarot cards in various countries of Europe, but nowhere is it as popular as in France.  There are clubs, tournaments (including duplicate events) and an official body, the Fédération Française de Tarot.  French Tarot is also played in the French speaking parts of Canada.  The following description is partly based on contributions from Craig Kaplan, Michel Braunwarth and Eric Betito (Thanks!!! ).

Here are the different items you'll need to learn about :

•	Players

•	Cards

•	Deal

•	Bids

•	Playing the cards

•	Bonuses

•	Scoring

•	Tarot for Three Players

•	Tarot for Five Players


Players

Tarot is a trick-taking game in which the partnerships vary from hand to hand.  It is most commonly played by four players, and this version is described first.  However it is also common for five to play, and it is also possible for three; the necessary modifications will be described at the end.


Cards

The deck consists of 78 cards.  The four suits are the standard ones of diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs, and each suit contains fourteen cards ranking from high to low :

Roi (king), Dame (queen), Cavalier (knight), Valet (jack), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

In addition to the four standard suits there is a extra suit of twenty-one atouts (trumps) numbered from 21 (high) to 1 (low).

Finally, there is a special card called the excuse, or the fool, marked with a star in the corner.  Three cards, the 1 of trump (called the petit), the 21 of trump and the excuse are particularly important in the game and are known as oudlers or bouts (“ ends ”).

Not only are the oudlers worth points, but having them in your tricks also reduces the total number of points you need to win.


Values of the cards

In each hand one player, the taker (le preneur) plays alone against the other three in partnership.  The taker's objective is to accumulate enough card points to win the hand by taking tricks.

For every card in every trick taken, 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

        Every other card:	0.5 points

It's easiest to count them in pairs, grouping each court card or oudler with a 0.5 point card - so for example a queen and a pip card together are worth 4 points.  The total of the card points is 91.

The number of points the taker needs to win depends on the number of oudlers the taker has in his tricks:

•	With 3 oudlers the taker needs at least 36 card points to win;

•	With 2 oudlers the taker needs at least 41 card points to win;

•	With 1 oudler the taker needs at least 51 card points to win;

•	With 0 oudler the taker needs at least 56 card points to win.


Deal

The first dealer is chosen at random - thereafter the turn to deal passes to the right after each hand (the whole game is played counter-clockwise).  The player opposite the dealer shuffles and the player to the left of the dealer cuts.

In a hand, 18 cards are dealt to each player, in packets of 3.  During the deal, six cards are dealt face down to the centre of the table to form the talon or chien (meaning the dog, but maybe the best English equivalent is "kitty").  The chien cards are dealt singly at any time during the deal, at the choice of the dealer, escept that the first three and the last three cards of the deck cannot be dealt to the chien.

A player who is dealt only the 1 of trumps and no others (counting the excuse as a trump) immediately declares this and the hand is cancelled - the cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals.


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 someone bids, subsequent players have the choice of bidding higher or passing.  If all four players pass, the hand is thrown in and the next dealer deals (this happens quite often).

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

Prise (Take)

You can use the chien cards to improve your hand (see below) and you then try to take enough card points in tricks to win.

Garde (Guard)

Same as Prise but outranks Prise in bidding.

Garde sans le chien (Guard without the kitty)

No one looks at the chien, but the card points in it count as part of the taker's tricks.

Garde contre le chien (Guard against the kitty)

No one looks at the chien and it is counted as part of the tricks of the opponents of the taker.

The highest bidding player becomes the taker.  The remaining three players form a temporary team, trying to prevent the bidder from making enough card points.

In Prise or Garde, the taker turns the six cards of the chien face up for all to see and then takes them into his hand.  He then discards face down any six cards which are not trumps, oudlers, or kings.  In the (very rare) case that the taker can't obey this rule, he can discard trumps (not oudlers) but must show them to the other players (use the chat to do this  ).  The cards discarded by the taker count as part of his tricks.


Playing the cards

When the discard is complete, the cards are played.  The player to the dealer's right leads to the first trick.

Each trick is won by the highest trump in it, 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 if you have no cards of the suit which was led you must play a trump.  If trumps are led, the other players must of course follow with trumps if they can.  There is a further restriction : whenever you have to play a trump (either because trumps were led or because you have no cards of the suit which was led), you must if possible play a trump which is higher than the highest trump so far played to the trick.  If you are unable to do this, you are free to play any trump, but you must still play a trump, even though you cannot win the trick with it.

Playing the excuse

The excuse is an exception to the above rules.  If you hold the excuse you may play it to any trick you choose - irrespective of what was led and whether you have that suit or not.  With one rare exception (see below), the excuse can never win the trick - the trick is won as usual by the highest trump, or in the absence of trumps by the highest card of the suit led.

It is legal to lead the excuse, and in this case the second player to the trick can play any card, and this second card defines what suit must be followed.

Provided that the excuse is played before the last trick, the team that played the excuse keeps it in their trick pile, even though they may have lost the trick to which it was played.  If the trick is in fact won by the opponents of the player of the excuse, the trick will be one card short; to compensate for this, the team that played the excuse must transfer one card from their trick pile to the winners of the trick.  This will be a 0.5 point card; if they do not yet have such a card in their tricks, they can wait until they take a trick containing a 0.5 point card and transfer it then.

If the excuse is played in the last trick, the excuse is taken by the team who wins the trick.

There is just one extremely rare case in which the excuse can win a trick : if one team has won every trick except the last one, and then leads the excuse to the last trick the excuse wins.


Bonuses

There are some special bonuses.  The scores for these bonuses are not card points, so they do not help you to win your bid.  They are extra points which can be scored in addition to what you win or lose for your bid.

Poignée

This is a bonus which is scored if a player declares that he has 10 or more trumps :

  10 trumps : 20 points (Single Poignée)

  13 trumps : 30 points (Double Poignée)

  15 trumps : 40 points (Triple Poignée)

To declare a poignée, the holder must show the correct number of trumps just before playing to the first trick.  The trumps must be sorted so that the other players can easily see what is there.  The excuse can be counted as a trump in a poignée, but if the excuse is shown, this indicates that the player does not have any other trumps concealed.  The bonus is counted for the team who wins the hand, so if you declare a poignée and then lose, you have given the bonus points to the other side.  A poignée is only scored if it is declared.  It is not compulsory to declare a poignée when you have one; if you hold 10 or more trumps but are not confident that your side will win you may be wiser not to mention it.

Note on Poignée : whatever the number of players, you can remember the minimum number of trumps needed for a Poignée as follows: you have a Poignée if more than half of the cards in your hand are trumps.

Chelem

Chelem (= Slam) is a bonus for taking all the tricks.  The score depends on whether it was announced in advance:

•	Chelem annoncé : the team (the taker normally) announces chelem before the beginning of the play, and leads to the first trick.  The bonus is 400 points if they succeed in winning every trick and -200 points penalty if they fail).

•	Chelem non annoncé : the team wins all the tricks without having announced it.  They get a bonus of 200 points.

If one side has won all the tricks except the last, and then leads the excuse to the last trick, the excuse wins.  This special rule, which probably comes up about once in a lifetime, allows a chelem to be made by a player with the excuse.  When making a chelem with the excuse in this way, it counts as petit au bout if you win the 1 of trumps in the second last trick.

Petit au bout

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).


Scoring

At the end of the hand, the taker counts his card points and the opposing team pool their tricks and count their card points.  The six chien cards are added to the taker's tricks, unless the bid was "Garde contre le chien", in which case the chien cards are added to the opponents' tricks.  The taker wins if he has enough card points, depending on the number of oudlers in his tricks.

The amount of points won or lost by the taker is calculated as follows :

•	25 points for the game

•	plus the difference beetween the card points the taker actually won and the minimum number of points he needed (pt).

•	the petit au bout bonus is added or subtracted if applicable (pb)

This total is multiplied by a factor (mu) depending on the bid :

Prise :	x 1

    Garde : 	x 2

    Garde sans le chien : 	x 4

    Garde contre le chien : 	x 6

The following bonuses are then added or subtracted if they apply; they are not affected by the multiplier :

•	the poignée bonus (pg)

•	the chelem bonus (ch)

The calculation of the score, expressed as a formula, is : ((25 + pt + pb) * mu) + pg + ch

The calculated points are either won by the taker from all three opponents or lost by the taker to all three opponents.  The opponents always win or lose equally : for example if one of them wins petit au bout they all benefit.


Tarot for Three Players

The game is essentially the same as with four players.  Each player is dealt 24 cards, in packets of 4.  Because the hands are larger the number of trumps needed for a poignée is increased: single 13; double 15; triple 18.

Because the tricks contain an odd number of cards, there will sometimes be an odd half card point when counting.  This is rounded in favour of the taker if he wins, and in favour of the opponents if he loses.  If the taker is half a point short of the target, the bid is lost by one card point.


Tarot for Five Players

Each player is dealt 15 cards, so there are only 3 cards in the chien.  The number of trumps needed for a poignée is reduced: single 8; double 10; triple 13.  Half card points are treated as in the three player game.

With five players, there are two teams.  Before exposing the chien, the taker calls a king and the player who has that card plays as the partner of the taker; the other three players play as a team against them.  If the taker has all four kings, he may call a queen.

The holder of the called king must not say anything to give away the fact that he has it.  The identity of the taker's partner is only revealed when the called king is played, though it may be suspected earlier from the fact that the holder of the king will try to help the taker.  If the called king (or queen) is found to be in the chien or in the hand of the taker, then the taker plays alone against four opponents.


Credits

Project manager : 	Nicolas Pajot

Jr project manager : 	Frédéric Pinard

Game designer : 	Louis Lamarche

Graphists : 	Mona-Lisa Chanda

Sean Leblanc

Programmers : 	Guillaume Borgia

Stéphane Mouchel-Vichard

Testers : 	Bruno Paradis

Éric Martineau