Tarocchino Bolognese

Special

62

4

An intricate network of scores characterizes the conclusion of this game that, on the contrary, has a really simple and linear course.

The deck is special both because it is small and because it contains triumphs that differ from traditional major arcanes.

The goal of the game is to win as many points, regardless of how many hands are necessary to make them. The pair that first reaches 800 points wins, even in the declaration phase of a knockdown.

The dealer, chosen by extraction, shuffles the deck and has it cut by the first player to his left. Deals 15 face-down-cards to each player, including himself, in the counterclockwise direction. The cards are dealt in three successive rounds of five cards each. But, on the last spin the dealer deals himself seven cards instead of five. After having observed them, he shall choose two of the seventeen in his possession and, without showing them, set them aside, covered, to make up the deck. The dealer cannot choose either Kings or Tarots (the Angel, the World, the Bégato and the Fool). At the end of the game, the deck will belong to the dealer, but only if he has made at least one catch.

Before the normal catch game, there are two types of combinations which can be declared: cricche and sequences.
The cricche are combinations of cards of the same numerical value, each with the following score.
• Three Tarots: 18 points.
• Four Tarots: 36 points.
• Three Kings: 17 points.
• Four Kings: 34 points.
• Three Women: 14 points.
• Four Women: 28 points.
• Three Horses: 13 points.
• Four Horses: 26 points.
• Three Knaves: 12 points.
• Four Knaves: 24 points.
The combination of three or more cricche forms a criccone. Who makes it doubles the points of the individual cricche. The criccone can be built by one player only and not by combining a pair of cards.
The sequences are seven sets of cards made up of three or more elements and according to extremely rigid patterns.
• No. 1 – three or four Aces.
• No. 2 – three or four Mori.
• No. 3 – three or more Triumphs. (also called Grand Sequence)
• No. 4 – three or more Swords figures.
• No. 5 – three or more  Clubs figures.
• No. 6 – three or more Cups figures.
• No. 7 – three or more Suns figures.
To make a sequence number 3, that of Triumphs, the presence of the Angel and at least two of the three triumphs following it (World, Sun and Moon) is necessary.
To form the sequences 4 through 7 you need at least the King of the given suit and at least two of the other figures. Then you can continue until the Ace. For a sequence of three cards, 10 points are awarded; for a sequence of four, 15 points are awarded; and so on, adding 5 points to each additional card.
For sequences, there is also a doubling of the score, only if there are three or more.

The Bégato and the Fool can be a joker. Since they count (are worth) like any other card, they are called counters.
There are some restrictions on the use of such counters.
• Sequence of Aces– at least two Aces are needed, to which one counter can be added; with three Aces two can be added.
• Sequence of Mori – As in the Aces sequence.
• Grand Sequence – you need the Angel and at least one of the three Triumphs that follow it after which you can insert the counter. Two counters may be inserted only if the first one replaces an unnumbered Triumph and the second one a numbered Triumph. It is forbidden to add two counters to the Angel, the World, the Sun and the Moon.
• Sequence of a given suit – the King and one of the other three figures are needed; to add two it is enough that there is the King, one of the three figures and the Ace (or the King and two of the other three figures).
The same card can be used several times in different combinations. This is also true of counters.

The player at the dealer’s right is the first to declare any cracks or sequences in his possession, before laying the face-up card with which he opens the draw.
Others must also behave in the same way. There is no obligation to declare all cracks and sequences in hand, you can even not do so.
First you declare and only then you show the combinations.
The total declaration score is assigned to the pair, but the single declaration must be made by one component only.
After the declarations, the player to the dealer’s right opens the hand by putting a face-up card on the table. The others, in the counterclockwise direction, will do the same with the obligation to respond to the suit and being attentive to the behavior of the Fool. Only if they have no opening cards of the same suit, they can cut with a triumph that is winning if it is not overtaken by another. So you go on to the next hands (instead, the declarations are to be exhausted in the first), until all the cards have been played.

At the end of each hand, the dealer adds to the cards that he has won the two of the deck he had put aside at the beginning of the game and then the partners of each pair join the cards they have captured. One of the two pairs, chosen at random, puts on the table the cards valid for combinations: four columns of cards of ordinary suit (Swords, Clubs, Cups and Suns), united in a well-defined box (from the top King, Queen, Horse, Knave, Ace).
The Triumphs are arranged in the first column, according to a fixed hierarchy for those not numbered, starting from above with the Angel, the World, the Sun, the Moon and, from below, with the Fool, the Bégato and the Popes.
Between the high and low parts you have to leave space to welcome the intermediate triumphs that the couple has captured.
In the spaces reserved for ordinary seeds, the cricche are read horizontally, as regards the figures, and the sequence of Aces; in vertical, the sequences concerning the figures and the Aces are read.
In the space reserved for the Triumphs, the cricche and the sequence of the Mori are read vertically.
There is no relationship between the combinations declared at the beginning of the first hand and those formed with the cards won during the game.
Also, unlike the declarations made by the single player based on the cards he has in hand at the beginning, the score for the combinations of cards won is calculated by combining those of both.

Special cards and regular cards are counted two by two. The first to be evaluated are the 20 special, each accompanied by a normal card.
Then pairs of normal cards are formed and each pair is worth 1 point (half plus half).
If a player does not have enough regular cards to accompany the special ones, he will still need to form pairs. A pair of special cards is the sum of the two card values minus 1 point.
The total amount of fixed points (special cards, regular cards and final hand) is always 93.

The hierarchy of cards is as follows:
Angel 21; The World 20; The Sun 19; The Moon 18; The Thunderbolt (the Tower) 16; The Devil 15; Death 14; The Traitor (the Hanged) 13; The Old Man (the Hermit) 12; La Roda (the Wheel) 11; The Force (the Fortress) 10; The Righteous (Justice)9; The Tempra (Temperance) 8; The Chariot 7; The Love 6; The Pope 2 (all 4 Popes have the same value); The Bégato (The Bagatto) 1; The Fool 0.

Special cards, those that give a score, are twenty and have precise identification values.
• The Angel: 5 points.
• The World: 5 points.
• The Bégato: 5 points.
• The Fool: 5 points
• Each King: 5 points.
• Each Woman: 4 points.
• Each Horse: 3 points.
• Each Knaves: 2 points.
The other cards (42) are worth half a point each when combined, or zero points if combined with a special card.

In summary, the following sum should be calculated for each stripping.
• The points of any combinations declared.
• 6 points to the last player.
• The points of the combinations obtained with the captured cards.
• The fixed points of the special cards and the ordinary cards.
The total score is normally rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.