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Cards used for video games or divination Selection of trumps from the Tarot de Marseilles, a typical 18th-century pack Deck of the 22 Major Arcana cards influenced by the Tarot of Marseilles, but with the author's graphic style The tarot (, first called and later as tarocchi or tarock) is a pack of playing cards, used from a minimum of the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play games such as Italian tarocchini, French tarot and Austrian Knigrufen, much of which are still played today.
Like the typical playing cards, tarot has 4 fits which differ by area: French fits in Northern Europe, Latin matches in Southern Europe, and German matches in Central Europe. Each suit has 14 cards: ten pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to 10, and 4 face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave/Page).
Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the leading trump or may be played to avoid following match. Check it Out are still utilized throughout much of Europe to play conventional card video games without occult associations. Amongst English-speaking nations where these games are not played frequently, tarot cards are utilized mainly for novelty and divinatory functions, usually using specially developed packs.
History [edit] Milanese tarocchi, c. 1500. Playing cards first got in Europe in the late 14th century, but the origin is unidentified. The very first records date to 1367 in Berne and they appear to have spread out extremely quickly across the entire of Europe, as might be seen from the records, generally of card games being banned. [] Little is understood about the appearance and number of these cards; the only significant information being supplied by a text by John of Rheinfelden in 1377 from Freiburg im Breisgau, who, in addition to other variations describes the fundamental pack as including the still-current 4 matches of 13 cards, the courts normally being the King, Ober and Unter ("marshals"), although Dames and Queens were currently known already.
These fits are still used in conventional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks, however have likewise been adapted in packs utilized specifically for tarot prophecy cards that initially appeared in the late 18th century. The first recorded tarot packs were taped in between 1440 and 1450 in Milan, Ferrara, Florence and Bologna when extra trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack.