Tarock is similar to, but more complicated than French tarot, particularly in the bidding. It is better suited for 3-player games than tarot, if only for the reason there are fewer cards to hold in one's hand! The tarock deck is smaller, the difference being fewer cards are included from the ordinary suits.
The tarock deck consists of 54 cards divided into the following categories:
[Note that in traditional tarock, the 1 in red suits ranks highest of the red non-face cards; this seems to be an unnecessary complication and under House Rules we observe natural card order.]
The deck is cut for the high card first deal. The role of dealer subsequently rotates in the direction of play, counterclockwise. A set of games is at least one rotation of deals, or as long as all players are willing to continue.
The dealer shuffles and deals the cards counterclockwise.
Cards are dealt:
with two cards dealt to the Talon after the 1st, 2nd and 3rd deal rounds. The order of the Talon cards must be preserved!
Players organize their hands and bidding begins with the person to the right of the dealer. Bidding continues counterclockwise until all pass. Once a person has passed he may not subsequently bid. The next bid must be higher than the last, except in the case of more senior bidders: they may bid at the same level of the last bid. A bidder is more senior the closer he is to the dealer's right.
If all players pass without bidding, or if any player has a hand with no tarocks, a game of Klop is played with the current hands. Otherwise, the high bid determines the game, although the winner of the bid (the Declarer) may call a higher bid game to play as a replacement.
Bids may be organized into two groups: Low and High.
| Low Bids | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bid | Base Award | Goal | Use Talon? |
| Partnered Three | 10 + Bonuses | Exceed 35 pts. | yes |
| Partnered Two | 20 + Bonuses | ||
| Partnered One | 30 + Bonuses | ||
| Solo Three | 40 + Bonuses | ||
| Solo Two | 50 + Bonuses | ||
| Solo One | 60 + Bonuses | ||
| High Bids | |||
| Closed Barach Three | 20 | Take at most 3 tricks. | no |
| Closed Barach Two | 30 | Take at most 2 tricks. | |
| Closed Barach One | 40 | Take at most 1 trick. | |
| Closed Barach Full | 70 | Take no tricks. | |
| No Peek | 80 | Exceed 35 pts. | |
| Open Barach Three | 60 | Take at most 3 tricks, open hand. | |
| Open Barach Two | 70 | Take at most 2 tricks, open hand. | |
| Open Barach One | 80 | Take at most 1 trick, open hand. | |
| Open Barach Full | 90 | Take no tricks, open hand. | |
| Colour Valat Three | 50 | Take all tricks but 3, tarocks are a normal suit. | |
| Colour Valat Two | 75 | Take all tricks but 2, tarocks are a normal suit. | |
| Colour Valat One | 100 | Take all tricks but 1, tarocks are a normal suit. | |
| Colour Valat Full | 125 | Take all tricks, tarocks are a normal suit. | |
| Barcelona Three | 75 | Take all tricks but 3. | |
| Barcelona Two | 125 | Take all tricks but 2. | |
| Barcelona One | 175 | Take all tricks but 1. | |
| Barcelona Full | 250 | Take all tricks. | |
The rank of the bid is by base award, except for Closed Barach 3, 2 and 1, which are ranked just before Partnered 3, 2, and Solo 3 respectively; otherwise, if two or more bids have the same base award, the one closer to the bottom of the list is highest.
In Low Bid games the Declarer tries to win—either with a partner or alone—enough tricks to exceed 35 points. Scoring depends on how well the Declarer or his team did, and additional bonuses. In Low Bids the player to the dealer's right leads.
In High Bid games, the goal is either met or lost, and the base award is either added or subtracted from the Declarer's score. In High Bids the Declarer leads.
In all games:
In many versions of tarock, the role of the Skeench or Fool is High Trump. Those of us who enjoy French tarot prefer to use it as an Excuse under House Rules, except under certain circumstances.
Each style of game that can be bid is described below. At the end, the points are tallied and either awarded or subtracted from the Declarer's score. Bonuses are applied independently, and some penalties are applied individually.
If, after a given game, any player who had a non-zero tally now has a zero tally, the next game played is Klop.
If the called king was in the Talon:
After the Talon is revealed, the players may make announcements. Announcements are bonuses that either the Declarer or the opposition think they can make. These are:
| Bonus | Unannounced | Announced | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trula | 15 pts | n/a | Capture all 3 Trula. |
| French Style | n/a | 0 pts | Always play a higher tarock. |
| Kings | 10 pts | 20 pts | Capture all 4 kings. |
| King Ultimo | 10 pts | 20 pts | Win the called king in the last trick. |
| Pagat Ultimo | 25 pts | 50 pts | Win with the Pagat in the last trick. |
| Valat | 100 pts | 200 pts | Win every trick — no other bonuses or bid points count. |
Note that the unannounced bonuses apply to the Declarer if he meets the condition, and that they become negative penalties if the opposition meets the condition. The announced bonuses become a penalty to the Declarer if he doesn't meet the condition or if the opposition makes good on their announcement; and if the opposition fails to make a bonus they announced, it becomes the Declarer's bonus. "French Style" is not a bonus but an overall game option.
During announcements, the Declarer's opponents may double the stakes; the Declarer may then double in turn, and so forth, until all parties are satisfied.
At this point, normal play begins.
Solo Low Bids
This is similar to partnered, except no king is called. The Declarer
plays by himself.
Closed Barach
In this game, the Declarer plays alone and the Talon is ignored.
The object of the game is to take no tricks. In Barach (and Klop)
a player must beat the highest card on the table, if possible.
A player is not allowed to play the Pagat until he must play it; that
means: if it's his last card; if it's the last tarock; or if it's the only
card that will win the trick (see the Emperor Trick).
Open Barach
As in Closed Barach, but the Declarer's hand is revealed and left open on
the table after the first trick is played. The opponents are not allowed to
discuss the play.
Klop
Follows the rules for Barach, but every player is on his own.
The goal is to take no tricks at all, or as few as possible.
For the first six tricks, the winner of each trick
gets the top card of the Talon. If a player takes more than 35 points,
he gets a losing penalty of -70 pts; if a player takes no tricks, he
gets a winning bonus of +70 pts. Other players do not score and the cards
themselves are not counted toward the score. If no one wins
or loses, the total card points (as in a low bid game) are subtracted
from each player's score.
No Peek
In this game, the Declarer plays alone. The Talon is ignored.
The goal is to win more than 35 points.
Colour Valat
The Declarer plays alone with the object of winning all the tricks,
but the tarocks become an ordinary suit. The talon is ignored.
The Declarer leads. A player unable to follow suit is still obliged to play
a tarock, but the tarocks are not trumps. The Fool functions as the
lowest tarock.
Barcelona
The Declarer plays alone. The Talon is ignored. The Declarer must win every
trick.
The Declarer must announce
before the first trick whether the Fool functions as an Excuse or as
a High Trump.
When the Fool is played as High Trump, it wins the trick, except in special circumstances (the Emperor Trick).
The Fool may not be led until a tarock has appeared in the game. If the Fool as Excuse is led, the next card played determines the suit of the trick.
The Fool is not counted as a tarock in the hand unless it is being played as High or Low Trump. Thus a hand that contains only the Fool before bidding is still considered void of tarocks, and it is not used in bid calculations as a tarock. But during a game when the Fool is considered High or Low Trump, it must be played as a tarock if the player has no others.
If the three Trula cards are all played in the same trick, the Pagat becomes the High Trump (even over the Fool) and wins the trick. The exception is a trick in Colour Valat led by a non-tarock; in this case the non-tarock would win.
This is true for all games and conditions, including final tricks. If one is playing Barach or Klop, and the trick already contains the 21 and the Fool, then a subsequent player must play the Pagat, if he holds it.
(To read a handy analogy, jump here.)
In games excluding Colour Valat and Barcelona, if the Mond (21) is played in a non-final trick with the Fool, the Fool becomes High Trump. If this is a Low Bid game, the player of the Mond is penalized 21 points, even if the trick was won by a partner.
For a Pagat Ultimo, the trick has to be won by the Pagat. Otherwise, even if a partner wins the trick, the bonus is forfeited. If a team announces a Pagat Ultimo bonus, they are obliged to keep the Pagat until the last trick, and it is exposed by turning the card so it faces outward in the hand.
If an Ultimo bonus was not announced, but a called king or Pagat was played in the last trick, then the player is deemed to be attempting the bonus, and the bonus becomes a penalty if it is not won.
Low Bid Games
Only the Declarer's tricks are counted. The cards should be separated
out into groups of three. The following points are rewarded:
After counting up all the points, subtract 2 pts for every group of three. (For ordinary cards, counting can be shortened by assessing each group of three as 1 pt.) If there are cards remaining, subtract 1 pt for them. This is the final score.
High Bid Games
The base award is applied with no other bonuses or penalties. Card counts
only matter to determine if a goal is reached and are not scored.
In High Bid games where the Fool serves as an Excuse, its loss does not detract
from the goal of winning all tricks.
Penalties
In Low Bid games, if the Mond is lost
either by capture
or if it was in the part of the Talon that was not taken (or won by
called king trick), the person who lost the Mond is penalized -21 pts,
even if the trick was won by a partner. The partner does not share this
penalty.
If the called king is lost by the Declarer's team, both Declarer and partner are penalized -15 pts.
"Second Pickings" Option
In three-person games, in order to make partnered play fairer, the
following option may be included: After the Declarer has selected cards
from the Talon, if the called king is not in the Talon, the opponent
who does not have the called king may also discard and draw into hand
any number of the remaining Talon cards. Of course, this exposes the
Declarer's partner.
Rules for Two Players (Scarecrow)
Deal 5 cards to opponent's hand, 5 cards to the dealer, then 4 cards down to
each player in separate stacks. Repeat three times to use up all cards. Each
hand should have 15 cards, and each player should have three "straw
men" of four cards each.
The goal of this variant is the same as low-bid tarock: to make more than 35 points. There is a single bid of "take" first available to the nondealer. If neither player bids on the hand, it is played for excess points only (see below).
Immediately after bidding, each player turns over the top card of his leftmost "straw man." If the card revealed is a king or tarock, he may immediately take the card in hand and reveal the one underneath. This procedure continues until a card cannot be absorbed. The bottom card of each stack always may be taken up regardless of its value. Once a scarecrow has been exhausted, the next leftmost stack is used. Any upturned card may be used in play by its owner, triggering more exposures. An opponent must be given the chance to inspect each upturned card.
The nondealer leads, following the general rules of tarock, but applied to 2-card tricks. No announcements are made, but bonuses as listed below are paid with a "take" bid. If the only card available to a player is one exposed on a scarecrow, he must play it as if it is the only card in his hand.
Note that if there is no "taker," only positive points are awarded (no penalties for losing), no additional bonuses are given, and the result may be a tie. The Captured Mond penalty applies only if the hand is taken.
Scoring
No bid .......................... points above 35 (no bonuses)
"Take" bid ...................... 20 base pts + points above 35 3 Trula ......................... +10 pts 4 Kings ......................... +10 pts Pagat Ultimo .................... +20 pts Valat (win all tricks) .......... double score