Okay, I take you back about 12 years.  I'm over at a gaming buddy's apartment.  He has a set of tarot cards that I've never seen before.  Now, I regularly looked at all of his gaming stuff, so I didn't think it would be a problem when I took the cards down and looked at them.

Boy was I wrong!  The stupid superstitious son of a bitch freaked out and said something to the effect that I was "tainting" the cards and they wouldn't give a "true" reading any more.  :yell:

Ever since that episode of midevil backwardness, I have wanted to develop a set of rules to play poker using Tarot cards.  And then play it in front of a bunch of similar fools.  :heh:

My problem is that I'm not a gambler and I'm not really familiar with the full range of poker rules.  The basic five card draw and stud I know, sure, but the other versions are pure mysteries to me.

My thoughts are that the minor arcana would be used like regular cards -- 56 instead of 52, but it's only a minor change.  The big problem is the major arcana.  I rather quickly rejected the idea of mixing them into the playing deck; I just can't think of a way that might work.

So my current idea is to shuffle the major arcana and deal out X of them in the center of the playing area.  Each card would change the rules in some way.  Since it is tarot cards, they might even have different effects depending on whether they're face up or down (from the dealer's perspective).

(If anyone is familiar with Robert Asprin's "Myth" series, you will note that this has more than a passing similarity to the Dragon Poker game in "Little Myth Marker".)

But here's where I'm stuck.  I'm not sure what would be *good* variant rules for the major arcana to have.  I have the idea, but not the poker knowledge.  I thought I'd throw this idea out here, though, and see if any of y'all do have that knowledge.  

I'm in the same boat as you as far as not knowing enough about poker to have good ideas for powers. But I did think I should point out that there are literally hundreds of different tarot decks out there now, and a huge number of them seem to be making up their own major arcana. If you're wanting to make a game that players can just pick up a tarot deck and play, well, it's not going to work as well as you think. People are going to be pulling out the tarot deck somebody gave them sometime, shuffling it up, and dealing it out, and your rules and their deck won't match.

(loved that series, by the way, even if I never got around to reading past book 5 or so)

Or, you know, you could just get the rules for Tarrochi, the card game that is the reason the cards exist in the first place.

Quote from: Levi KornelsenOr, you know, you could just get the rules for Tarrochi, the card game that is the reason the cards exist in the first place.

That would be too easy!  

Of course, I may eventually cave and do that.  

It's not a bad game.

Slow, though, meant for groups that natter while they play.

A lot like Whist.  Not that this likely means anything to anyone else...

I've had fun using five-suited poker rules, with the major arcana as a "fifth suit" that is just numbered higher.  You have to fiddle things (flushes and straights have their relative probabilities fucked) and I like to add in hands from the five-suited poker variants online.

Poker is great.  One of my favorite games.

yrs--
--Ben

P.S.  If someone gives you crap about energy and cards again, tell him that if he can't do a simple energy cleansing he has no business using the cards to begin with.  Then, when he's confused, punch him in the jaw and run off.

Quote from: Ben Lehman...and I like to add in hands from the five-suited poker variants online.

I had no idea that there was such a beast out there!  I'll have to take a look at that.  

Quote from: Ben LehmanP.S.  If someone gives you crap about energy and cards again, tell him that if he can't do a simple energy cleansing he has no business using the cards to begin with.  Then, when he's confused, punch him in the jaw and run off.

I like your style, mang.  You are truly a scholar and a gentleman.  :bow:

Here are a couple of things of possibilities for the major arcana altering a basic poker game:

First of all I'd deal one in the middle, have a round of betting, then deal a second one before getting new cards (for draw poker)  or dealing more cards (stud).  That way, the game changes slightly in midplay.  Or deal two then one more for each round of betting, something that keeps you on your toes.  Effects of all cards are cumulative, unless of opposite effect, then they cancel each other out.

Here are a couple of possible effects (I don't remember tarot very well so I won't even try to map effects to cards.)

a given suit becomes more powerful than the others. Each card of that suit in your hand raises your hand by one category (two pair with it is as good as 3 of a kind without it)

the game switches to lowest hand wins.

If you don't fold but lose, then you must match the pot.

order of betting reverses.

Flushes and/or straights don't count.

Only flushes and straights count (3 and 4 card flushes or straights count for somethng but less than a normal flush or straight.)

Thanks, Nicephorus.  Some of those match my sketchy ideas, but you added a number of different ones.  I especially like the straight/flush only idea.

Gives me a lot more to work with.  

Apologies for the bit of thread necromancy.  But I'm new, you see. . .

Quote from: Levi KornelsenIt's not a bad game.

Slow, though, meant for groups that natter while they play.

A lot like Whist.  Not that this likely means anything to anyone else...

As a general rule if it seems similar to Whist that's probably because the set of rules are a Whist derivate.

Last I checked no one actually has a clue what the original game played with the Tarot deck was, though most speculate it was the antecedent of trick taking games. (Which, IIRC, sprouted up around the same time that the mass produced card stock sets of tarot cards began to circulate.) You'd be surprised how many sets of rules for "tarrochi" are out there, and just how different they are.

And of course who know what they used the Visconti-Sforza wedding deck for . .  Not that most probably care.

Anyway last Halloween I crated a virtual tarot and had it available for download over at RPGnet.  I do not know if the link is still active but you can find the link to the ZIP file here.  Within you will find a card game for use with the Major Arcana.  It's not based on poker but you could consider it, with a strech of the imagination, a derivative of Blackjack.

This might give the original poster an idea how to adopt the cards for use with a more traditional card game.

A simple way to do it would be to use the suit card like regular poker cards (just rememner there is a page and knight instead of just a jack) and treat the major arcana as a "trump" suit which can determn a winning hand vie a higher card is the regular cards don't amount to anything. And runs of three or more beat a single MA card. Something like that. Personally, I find the major arcana cards too weird to just treat as a fifth suit, but that may just be me.

You could also take a look at the Swords & Dragons card game (which has a poker-meets-tarot feel to it) for some ideas.  A review of S&D can be found here.

One thing to bear in mind is that tarot cards, due to their larger size and their not being plastic coated, do not shuffle or deal as easily as playing cards. Likewise, it may not be as easy to hold a fanned-out hand of tarot cards and visually sort through them, like you can with playing cards; this, because of the size of tarot cards, but also because not all tarot card designs have their suites and numbers marked in the corners.

"I played poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and 4 people died." -Steven Wright