(Early Modern German for "Diligence and Fortune") is a pattern of French suited playing cards used to play tarock. The name originates from an inscription found on the second trump card. This deck was developed during the nineteenth century in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.Austrian Tarock Type A at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 19 February 2016. The earliest known examples were made in Vienna in 1815. After the collapse of the empire in World War I, it remained the most widely used tarot deck pattern in Central Europe and is used by almost all tarock players throughout the former parts of the empire.Pollett, Andrea. Regional Tarock at Andy's Playing Cards. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
Composition
In the deck, each suit contains four face cards; the Jack, Cavalier, Queen, and King. The 5s through 10s in red suits and the 1s through 6s in the black suits are removed and 22 trumps are added for a total of 54 cards.Industrie und Gluck at Alta Carta. Retrieved 19 February 2016. In Central European tarock games, the order of the black suits from highest to lowest goes from K, Q, C, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 but the red suits goes from K, Q, C, J, 1, 2, 3, 4. The Sküs (The Fool), named after the French Excuse, is considered the 22nd and highest trump and no longer has its excusing power despite its name.McLeod, John. Tarot games at Pagat.com. Retrieved 19 February 2016. The lowest trump is called the pagat after its Italian equivalent, il bagatto. Unlike the Italian tarocco decks which depict the original Renaissance allegorical motifs or even the French Tarot Nouveau which added modern themes, all trumps illustrate genre scenes of rural life with no themes. All trumps except the unnumbered Excuse use Roman numerals unlike the Tarot Nouveau or Cego decks. The pip cards and face cards lack corner indices.
Around seven versions of this deck were once made, but only two have survived as standard packs. The older of the two surviving versions – designated by the IPCS as Type B – was established by 1865 and is still found today, primarily in the southern half of the former empire (Hungary, Croatia, Vojvodina, and Trieste) and the other later pattern – appearing around 1890 and designated as Type C – in the northern half (Austria, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania). The southern version can also be found where the northern version is sold but is not as widespread. Both share many pictures in the trump suit but some are arranged differently.Austrian Tarock Type B at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 19 February 2016. The 21st trump is nicknamed the Mond (moon) a mistranslation of the French name monde for The World tarot card. The northern version of the card features a crescent moon; the southern version, which is now manufactured only by Modiano and Piatnik, shows different scenes without a moon. The Czechs use the northern version but since receiving their independence at end of the First World War, the second trump has lacked the inscription.Austrian Tarock Type C at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
42-card versions were printed until the late 20th century since some games like Zwanzigerrufen and Hungarian Tarokk do not require the pip cards below the black 10s and red 1s. of Budapest was the last manufacturer of this version. A 78-card version by Piatnik was once made to play Grosstarock (No. 1938); it was also adapted for the Austrian game of Droggn, although players used only 66 cards from the pack.McLeod, John. Droggn at Pagat.com. Retrieved 19 February 2016. There was also a mysterious 73-card version from the 1930s, also by Piatnik, which was composed like the 54-card deck but with 19 more trumps.Fara, Rudolf and Salles, Maurice (2006) An interview with Michael Dummett: from analytical philosophy to voting analysis and beyond. Social Choice and Welfare, 27 (2). pp. 347-364. ISSN 1432-217XUnsolved Problems in Playing-Card Research at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 19 February 2016. It is believed to have been used for a lost version of Minchiate.
Reprints of another early pattern, classified by the IPCS as the Type A pattern, are occasionally produced as limited editions. Like the Type B southern pattern, Type A was established by 1865 but had largely died out by the time of the First World War.Pattern Sheet 14 at i-p-c-s.org. Retrieved 24 July 2020. Between 1910 and 1935, however, Piatnik produced a pack of cards using the Type A pattern, smaller in dimensions than the regular pack (52 x 97 mm as opposed to 63 x 113mm), ostensibly more suited for the smaller hands of women players and known as Allerfeinste Damen Tarock or "Ladies Tarock". A facsimile was produced by Piatnik in 2019.Information card from the 2019 facsimile of the Piatnik Damen Tarock pack.
Other uses of imagery Though packs were not designed for cartomancy, their imagery was incorporated into Argentine fortune telling decks produced in the mid-20th century and misleadingly presented as an ancient gypsy oracle.Wintle, Adam. Cartas Gitanas at the World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
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