Sancho Games | Larks!

Trumps

A Tarot Game by Aaron Pavao
copyright © 1994 by Aaron Pavao
Materials
A tarot deck.
Two to eight players.
Object
To have the highest card on the top of your Suit Stack at the end of the game.

Setup
Each player chooses a suit, Swords, Cups, Wands or Pentacles. If more than four people are playing, each suit should be chosen once before additional players choose that suit, making an even distribution of players between the suits. Shuffle. Deal five cards to each player, set the rest of the cards in the center of the playing area. This is the draw deck.

Play
Play starts with the dealer and proceeds to the left. Each player, in turn, first draws a card from the Draw Stack and then plays a card, either onto one of the four Suit Stacks, into his Court, or onto his Trump Stack. Play then goes on to the next player.

Only the top card of a Suit Stack or Trump Stack is visible. No face-down card may be turned over and looked at until it is turned face-up during normal play.

The Suit Stacks
The Suit Stacks are the core of the game. It is the cards on the top of each Suit Stack that determine the winner of the game. The only cards that may be played on a Suit Stack are suit cards, numbered Ace through Ten. There are four separate Suit Stacks, one for each suit. Cards may only be played on the stack of its own suit, (e.g. the Three of Cups may only be played on the Suit Stack for Cups). The suit with the highest card (closest to Ten) at the end of the game wins.

The Court
The Court is placed in an open area in front of each player. Cards that go into the Court are placed side-by-side, rather than in a stack. Only Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings may go into the Court.

The Court is used to cancel cards being played by other players. To cancel a card as it is played, the canceling player declares it and turns one face-up Court card over, so it is face-down, to indicate that it has been used. The card that has been cancelled has no effect, and is discarded from the game.

The Trump Stack
Each player is the owner of his or her own Trump Stack, which is placed in front of them, to one side of their Court. Only Trump cards (also known as the Major Arcana) may be played onto this stack. Each Trump has a special effect on the game, described below. When the special rules for a Trump card disagree with these main rules, follow the rules for the Trump. Only the top card of each player's Trump Stack is in effect; Trump cards buried in a Stack have no effect on the game (with the exception of The World, see below).

Winning
The game ends when a card must be drawn from the Draw Stack and the Draw Stack is empty. The cards in each player's hand at the end of the game are discarded and do not affect the game. The Suit Stack with the highest card on the top of it is the winning suit, with all players that played that suit declared the winner. If there is a tie for the highest card, then all tied Suit Stacks are the winning suits.

To play a full game of Trumps, play a number of games equal to the number of players, with each player dealing once. At the end of each game, the numbers of the top cards of each Suit Stack are totaled (Aces count as one), and that many points are awarded to the winner(s). After the allotted games are played, the player with the highest point total wins.

The Trumps and Their Effects

0 - The Fool	The Suit Stack with the lowest card on top is considered the winning suit, not the highest.
I - The Magician	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may put the top card of a Suit Stack on the bottom of that stack.
II - The High Priestess	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may trade one card from own hand for random card from another player's hand .
III - The Empress	All players must play with open hands (their hands on the table for all to see).
IV - The Emperor	No Trump cards but the Emperor have effect.
V - The Heirophant	Owner may use Court cards from other players' Courts as well as his or her own Court.
VI - The Lovers	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may trade one Court card from any player's Court.
VII - The Chariot	When the game ends, the owner of the Chariot wins, in addition to other winners.
VIII - Strength	Owner's cards may not be cancelled by Court cards.
IX - The Hermit	Owner only wins if s/he would normally lose and at least one other player wins.
X - Wheel of Fortune	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may trade suits being played with another player.
XI - Justice	No player may play onto the Suit Stacks. If a player cannot play a card other than a Suit card, s/he must discard a card and remove it from the game, as if it had been canceled.
XII - The Hanged Man	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may change own suit being played.
XIII - Death	May trade hands with any other player once per turn.
XIV - Temperance	No Court cards may be used to cancel, although they may still be played.
XV - The Devil	Owner may play Trumps onto another player's Trump Stack instead of his or her own.
XVI - The Tower	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may steal a Trump card from the top of another player's Trump Stack and place on top of his or her own.
XVII - The Star	Owner may draw two cards and play two cards each turn, instead of one.
XVIII - The Moon	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may turn one of any player's Court cards face-down (making it unusable).
XIX - The Sun	Once per turn, before the draw, owner may turn one of any player's Court cards face-up (making it usable again).
XX - Judgment	When the owner's next turn begins, the game ends.
XXI - The World	Owner plays this card next to own existing Trump Stack, starting another Trump Stack. As long as The World remains on the bottom of this stack, owner has two Trump Stacks. If The World ever ceases to be at the bottom of this stack, the owner loses the second Trump Stack. If the Emporer is in play, the owner discards the second Trump Stack.