July 10, 2023: For one who plays tarocchi - Milan 1793

This is a translation of Franco's "Per chi tarocca ‒ Milano 1793," as posted at https://www.naibi.net/A/MILA1793.pdf on July 10, 2023. It is the second in a series of four, the first translated immediately blow this one in the list that appears on the sidebar for July 2024. It is one of the two most interesting of them; the other, derived from the same source (although including quotations from a previous book), will follow in a later post.

In my previous post I explained the term "rifiuto," ordinarily meaning refusal but in English gaming terminology corresponding to the term "invoke" (as a noun). An invoke or rifiuto is a failure to play a card in the suit led when one can. A slight problem is that the current author, while using the term in that sense numerous time, also uses it in one case that seems not to fit this definition! (See Franco's summary of the text's p. 54).

Another term is "taroccare," seen in the title as well as in the text. It seems to have a slightly different meaning in the title than in the text. In the title it probably means "to play the game of tarocchi," since that is what the text is about. The word can also be used to mean something more specific, in a trick to play a tarocco, that is, one of the 21 cards that beat any suit card, when one is void in the suit led. We will see that use in the text. if you look online in the Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana, you will see these two meanings as meanings 1 and 2 (there is also a third meaning, "to get angry," which is not our concern here, although it may have a bearing on the etymology of "tarocco"). In English, the corresponding term is "trump," which can mean, according to the online dictionaries, either to play a trump card and win, or, more technically, the same as the second Italian meaning, to play a trump card when one is void in the suit led, something that happens even when there is no special suit of such trumps (derived from "triumphs"). It is also called "ruffing," an odd term with a somewhat obscure history, seemingly applied in trick-taking games with trumps from a game that wasn't a trick-taking game at all. Dummett has an interesting discussion of the term in Game of Tarot, pp. 81-85. "Trumping" and "ruffing" are used in this second sense in bridge.

Another term that I at least wasn't clear about was "discarding," whether it included cards put into play in a trick. The answer, in modern English terminology (as defined by bridge) is, sometimes. In the text's own language, with scarto and scartare, is even less clear. To discard, in non-gaming contexts, is to get rid of something not needed. So in trick-taking games, the word applies in two instances. First, if the dealer takes up the extra cards after the deal, he discards the same number of cards he deems not needed during the trick-taking part of the game. He puts them on the bottom of what will be his trick pile, cards won in tricks. They are his unless he fails to win any trick, in which case they go to the winner of the last trick, at least that seems to be what happens in the game described here. The second instance is if a player cannot respond in the suit led, and has no trump, he then plays a card of his choosing. If there is a good chance his partner will not win the trick, he will play a card of no value to them - that is called discarding. If his partner will win the trick, however, he can play a point-getting suit-card instead (a court card). That is also discarding, at least in English bridge terminology, even though it is discarding a valuable card. A problem here is that the actual word our 1793 text uses for this case is rifiuto, for which see the summary of p. 54). There may be other types of discards, too, I don't know. But playing a card in the suit led or a trump is not called discarding/scartare, whether in English or Italian.

Comments in square brackets are mine, in consultation with Franco, for clarification purposes. They are particularly numerous here, because the author quoted really gets into details of strategy. Translating this was a learning experience.

For one who plays tarocchi - Milan 1793

Franco Pratesi


1. Games and books in Milan

This study directly follows one on a Codex on tarocco, printed in Milan a year after the book under examination here and equally unknown; [note 1] I refer to that one for information on the historical-bibliographic context of tarocchi in Milan between the 18th and 19th centuries. Unexpectedly, but only in part, this study is also related to another previous study, which also refers to Milan at the end of the eighteenth century, but is significantly different in that the game involved is checkers instead of tarocchi. So I intend to illustrate the relationship between the texts on checkers and those on tarocchi before moving on to deal exclusively with books on tarocchi.

In Milan, more manuals on various games were printed in the course of the nineteenth century, which also had numerous reprints. In these books, the same chapters on both the game of checkers and that of tarocchi were reproduced. The differences that can be observed are only of an editorial nature, but even few of these are observed. An author is never indicated for the book, nor for the individual chapters. With some exceptions, there is no advice suggested to readers personally by the anonymous author. In some cases, the publisher-printer explains at the beginning of the book that he has collected individual booklets already published on the various games as chapters.

Here then is how checkers fits into the context: I found and described the single booklet that initially describes that game. [note 2] Even in that case the author remains anonymous, but writes “his” text in the first person, which will then be reprinted many times as a simple chapter of a book without an author, and using “we” to address the reader. I couldn't be sure of finding a similar trend for tarocchi, but it was worth checking the editions from the end of the eighteenth century that hadn't yet been studied.


2. Typology of the book

The book in question here is small in size, and the pages dedicated to the game of tarocchi are not many, but, in the absence of an index, they are indicated in detail in the subtitle. Per chi tarocca. Almanacco critico-istruttivo per l’anno 1794. Che contiene non solo le penali corrispondenti ai falliche commettere si puonno nel giuoco de’ tarocchi, ma anche molte regole generali, e particolari, avvertimenti, ed istruzioni necessarie a sapersi da chi ha piacere di ben giuocarlo. [For one who plays tarocchi. Critical-instructive almanac for the year 1794. Which contains not only the penalties corresponding to the fouls that can be committed in the game of tarocchi, but also many general and particular rules, words of advice, and instructions necessary to be known by those who would like to play it well.] In Milan: from the printer Luigi Veladini in contrada nuova [new district]. 108 p.; 12o.

The book, as often happens with almanacs, is made up of different parts, which evidently increases the interest of buyers - at least in the publisher's intention. We are only interested in the first part, that on tarocchi, and we will see it better later. Perhaps the printer was afraid of not finding enough buyers for the tarocchi booklet; he then continues it with a part that contains the calendar for the following year and other information of general interest for the ordinary Milanese citizen. Some will buy the almanac thanks to the first part, others thanks to the second. It would seem that, even in terms of encouraging people to purchase, there is strength in unity.

Naturally, this editorial package, alongside the aforementioned advantages, also has its defects. The main one is the short-term objective: who among tarocchi players would be interested in the calendar from a few years ago? Then we understand that the production of this type of almanac is set up with the idea of publishing a limited number of them, ready to print a new version the following year. The new version can at most be changed only in the second
_____________
1. https://www.naibi.net/A/MILA1794.pdf
2. https://www.naibi.net/c/DAMA1799.pdf


2
part, leaving the first unchanged; however, it would have been possible to change the first part too, not so much with a modified re-edition of the tarocchi text but, for example, with a cooking recipe book. Whatever the detail, it is clear that this type of booklet did not produce unsold stocks that could be used for deferred sales over time, but an attempt was made to avoid leftovers remaining which would have been unsalable after only a few months.

If this was the situation at the time, what can we expect regarding the number of specimens preserved today? The subsequent selection of librarians also intervenes in this regard: let us imagine that a librarian has to reduce the number of books to make room for more recent and more requested purchases: what will be the first old specimens to be safely thrown away? The very idea of the almanac-calendar is the enemy of conservation!


3. The specimens preserved

To hope for some preservation of books of that genre and from those times, one can think almost exclusively of libraries of collectors passionate about games. But this worked at most for chess, much less for any other game. A perhaps unexpected supply comes from the numerous foreigners who stayed in Italy. They learned our "conversation games" here and brought the booklets with the relevant instructions back home. It was thus, for example, that the great Dummett had more old Italian game booklets available in his Bodleian than can be found in the great Florentine libraries.

As regards our Almanac, it is possible that some specimens are still preserved in private libraries, with catalogs that have not been included in large databases, but with current search engines and the countless digitized catalogs, we are now able to explore libraries all over the world searching for any book, in a way that someone like me who did this research half a century ago would never have dreamed of. However, despite the power of the means of research and the unimaginable quantity of recorded books, only three extant copies of our almanac are found today in total, which could then be considered two.

The first is in the Trivulziana Library in Milan, M 1542, and this is reasonable because it is the local seat that comes to mind first, or among the first, for its rich collection of very old works of historical and literary interest.

The second was in the personal library of Stuart R. Kaplan, who included it in the bibliography at the end of Vol. 2 of his well-known Encyclopedia of Tarot: he marked it with an asterisk, thus indicating its presence in his library. But Kaplan died in 2021, and much of his collection of cards and accessories had already been sold in 2006; [note 3] I don't know if the book is still with the family.

The third is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. This is in several respects an unexpected finding. Certainly not for the library, which is very rich in very rare Italian editions of that era, but because this is not one of the many books brought to England by Englishmen who had stayed in Italy. In fact, it turns out that it is not even an original book, but only a copy made and bound by the same Stuart Kaplan, starting from his own copy. The surprises don't end there: the book-copy entered the Bodleian together with other books from Michael Dummett's personal library. Kaplan had prepared a copy of the book as a gift for him. What most of all made the presence of this book surprising to me is the fact that I found no trace of it in Michael Dummett's writings. On the other hand, there are original elements worthy of study and discussion.


4. Book structure and presentation

I did not have the opportunity to browse the almanac in person, which does not have an index, but I was able to benefit from a kind communication from the Officer in Charge of the
__________________
3. Historic Cards and Games. New York: Christie’s 2006.


3
Specialist Libraries Unit and Castello Sforzesco Archives, who also promptly sent me some scans of the text.

In the edition in question, as per the subtitle, the main part that follows the brief address to the readers is made up of the penalties in case of fouls (pp. 5-31) and the general rules, divided into 25 sections (pp. 32 -55). This is followed by the calendar of the year (pp. 56-76), blank tables month by month where losses and gains can be noted (pp. 77-100), and finally the composition of the Supreme Court of Justice in Austrian Lombardy in Milan (pp. 101-108).

As you can see, in this case the division of subjects goes beyond the two parts on the game and the calendar, as each of the two is in turn divided into several different sections. The division of the calendar part is not surprising: it may seem a little strange to us, but in fact it is similar in other cases. A pleasant surprise, however, is the completely unexpected subdivision of the first part, the only one of interest to us. We had in fact found in countless cases the same discussion on the game of tarocchi in Milan, which here would seem to correspond only to the first of two different parts. It should be reiterated that the very absence of what was explained here in the second part had revealed itself as a constant gap in the traditional description. This makes it particularly interesting to read what is described in this "new" second part. But first let us see the rest, starting with how the work is presented.


5. Initial notice

Our Almanac begins with a two-page notice to readers, with an explanation of the reasons that led to the composition of the text and a note on its content. These are a few sentences that have considerable importance in placing the text in the series of similar ones, and therefore I consider it useful to reproduce it in full.

TO GENTLEMEN OF THE TAROCCHI If Eutrapelius Manfridius' treatise entitled The Game of Tarocchi and its Rules had so much circulation that the translator had to reproduce it also toward the end of 1793, despite the fact that it was imperfect and lacking in almost all of its parts: I would like to hope that the Critical-instructive almanac, in which, with the opinion also of the most intelligent and watchful players, I have tried to collect the most essential rules, by means of which anyone can easily adapt the corresponding penalties to most of the fouls that usually happen in the game of Tarocchi: I would like, I say, to hope that it will not be unwelcome to you, especially since with this in hand you will be able to easily put an end to so many issues that happen every day between players: the only object, for which, to my great pleasure, I determined to produce it. You will also find it accompanied by many instructions and rules, both general and specific, for playing it well, adapted to the cards that each person will have in their hands, and to the players with whom you will have for playing. Be happy.

On the comparison with the previous texts, I postpone the possible in-depth analysis to a future occasion. The substance of the intervention remains, completely different from the usual. Here we do not find a printer who proposes pre-existing texts, but a player who intervenes personally to compile a new text more suitable for practical use than what had already been published. Rightly, tarocchi players do not need to read instructions and rules written in cultured and refined language, but ones that are simple, clear and useful for practice - as our author intends to do.

Even when, on the next page in the book, we move from the notice to the actual text, we encounter for several pages the continuation of the criticism of the previous Treatise, which goes as far as reporting entire paragraphs and subjecting them to specific criticism. I will pass over these examples here and move on to p. 13, in which, without any interruption, the various cases of fouls with related penalties are described.


4  

 Milan. Trivulziana Library, M 1542 – Title Page

6. Penalties and similar

It seems useful to me to present the text respecting the titles of the various short chapters and summarizing as much as possible the content, but I copy the beginning in full because it immediately gives the idea of the foundation of every instruction of this kind: good order.

In all things, good order is what one should always aim for: thus, wanting to play a game of Tarocchi, for good order, it would not be a bad idea to also draw places by lot, to avoid any dispute, and perhaps also some fraud.

Of fouls in general (p. 13) "All fouls, more or less, must have a penalty" to maintain the good order of the game.

Card fouls (p. 13) The discarder deals the cards and must reveal the last one. It would be a good idea for everyone to count the cards before adding the one face up. The foul of a card can be corrected in time by moving to the following players [scorrere] the last card face up. [Player 1 passes it to player 2, who puts it in place of his face-up card, which he passes to player 3, etc.] If discovered at the end, it depends: if the opponents have made a mistake, whoever has one more gives one at will, if his partnership, he gives one at random. If more than one, or it cannot be corrected, abandonment of the hand with a penalty of ten points. If done with two distributors, penalty for the one who didn't have the obligation. With a card face up, you abandon the hand only if it is an honor or if more than one. If more are discovered, whoever receives them decides whether to accept or abandon the hand. If you play with a deck with one card more or less, you only abandon the hand in the trick in which you notice it.


5
Of cutting the cards (p. 18) According to the practice, only one cut is done, and if several piles are made, the discarder [scartante] can reshuffle. Abandonment of the hand if some cards are turned over. When the discarder gives the cards to be cut, anyone can ask for them to be shuffled again, but this should not be done between "polite" players unless in suspicious cases. The cutter can take cards from above and below but must first say how many.

What is meant by covered bazza (p. 20) The bazza still on the table is also considered covered [i.e. taken into the pile of the winner face down] if whoever has won it has already played another card [even if still face up on the table].

How to correct a simple revoke [rifiuto], and what the penalty is (p. 20). The player who revoked must say so and play the lowest card (according to some with the obligation to play the Fool if he had winning cards in the suit); the opponent can change his card, the partner cannot. If a true revoke, ten penalty points and in particular cases, return the bazza made. Usually, more subsequent revokes lead to more penalties. The bazze [tricks] must be kept in good order, one on top of the other. The opponent must make the accusation immediately after the last card.

Of discarding (p. 23) One obliged to discard who does not discard, or discards only one card or more than two, loses ten points. (If he is left with 21 cards he gives the last two to whoever makes the last trick.) The penalty doubles if honors or tarocchi are also involved. Anyone not having to discard who discards loses ten points and plays with 17 cards. If one who must discard does not, or who must not does discard, and it turns out to be a capotto [one partnership winning all the tricks] or capottone [one player winning all the tricks], this [win] remains valid.

Of double-playing [doppione] (p. 25) When you play two cards together and the bazza becomes five cards. If by inadvertence, the double played card is lost even if it was an honor; if with malice, a penalty of at least ten points. To distinguish, the value and interest of the double-played card are reconstructed.

Some other fouls, abuses, and clarifications (p. 27) If the cards are placed on the table as won, the opponents can let be played a card of their choice. If a player accidentally plays in place of his partner, the latter must play in a different suit. For signalings, words, reprimands, and the like, it is best to agree on a penalty before playing. Five penalty points for anyone who asks the discarder if he has discarded [cards with] points. Better a law so as not to reveal more than two cards in the discard. The onlookers don't speak because the players can use their warnings. Revoke affects the double [doppia] and the royal [reale] [two types of wins]. Generally, capottone ten games, capotto four, royal one, one for the double [doppia], and one for the game [partita]. Two partners replaying together by mistake [when they are supposed to change partners], if cards not seen, the hand is abandoned and it [the placement of players around the table] is corrected; if cards seen, the game continues.

This section ends on p. 31.


7. The general rules

If the first part presented several original features, in the second part, with advice on how to play, no significant precedents can be found in practice. The section begins with a long title at the beginning of the page.

32: General and also particular rules / For the game of tarocchi. / With some advice and instructions / tending towards the main aim of the game, / which is to win.

Then the various short chapters begin, identified by their titles centered in italics - as the first part was organized. I continue by listing all the titles as usual followed by a summary of the topic discussed.

On the secret (p. 32) In particular, don't make it clear that you have a bad game by complaining about it.

For those who must cut (p. 33) Pay attention to how the dealer [scartante] shuffles the cards. If he does it well and if the first cut is good, continue with that in the following hands too. If he shuffles badly or if there are suspicions, he recommends a break order [comanda spezza = order to cut the deck in more than two parts?] if it is the last hand, otherwise cutting freely.

For those who have to shuffle the cards (p. 34) Generally the discarder must shuffle well. In the last hand with a losing score, “if he didn't shuffle much he would be to be pitied,” although the result might sometimes be different than expected. [Lack of shuffling would tend to leave honors together, but this does not always happen.]

6
Not letting the cards be seen (p. 34). Obviously, if the opponents see the cards, “they will know better how to regulate themselves in playing theirs.”

What should be discarded (p. 34) Various particular examples, such as: of three cards in a suit, discard the top two [so as to get them back on the last trick, or lose one trick but win the next with a tarocco?]; never discard court cards if you fear strong play from your opponents; with a game to try the cappotto he recommends making the discard.

Of the first play (p. 36) You must not play a tarocco or any card where there is no strength, but first play in your strongest suit.

Of Invitations (p. 37) The card played by the partner must always be responded to with the strongest in the suit or with the highest of the tarocchi. In particular cases, you can and must not respond to the invitation. Having many cards in a suit (at least 7) with low court cards, you must come out with one of the lower ones.

When to ruff [taroccare = play a tarocco] (p. 39) Having 7 or more tarocchi you must play them. Also, with “three suits well supplied with high court cards”; also, if opponents complained about bad cards. Also, in the last hand [i.e. trick], playing the highest [in the suits] or highest tarocchi, as the case may be. Some exceptions are indicated.

When you can ruff [taroccare] even when your partner discards (p. 40) Not just in the case of trying the cappotto. When you have court cards in the suit in which your partner has discarded [played a suit card in a suit he is void, lacking any tarocchi], and the opponents have the discard in a suit in which you have the major court cards, or where you had played a tarocco to the same suit. So playing tarocchi before being weakened makes for a good game.

Keep in mind the exposed cards (p. 41) Especially if it was "a high tarocco or a court card of notice," the player before that player in order of play is better off playing that suit. You don't do this when you have a good game in your hands or only one card in the suit. When instead the game is not good, the single card must be played immediately. It [the singleton] is also used to correct any card errors.

On counting tarocchi (p. 42) Necessary to play well and having good cards to count also the high cards of the suit of interest.

On the negative invitation (p. 43) Having to play cards of different suits, you choose a weak suit and discard high-low and then one or two in another weak suit. In the strong suit, you discard [play a suit card not of the suit led] low-high. Having all the winning cards, you start from the top. Without strong suits and with a King without fellow court cards you jump from suit to suit.

When you have to show your partner a King or other figure (p. 44) The opponents' tarocchi finished and having a good game, play the King, and your partner will play the Queen or other high card. Having the Queen alone, first finish the tarocchi and then play it so that the partner with the King can take it.

When you can play the Queen rather than the King (p. 44) With high cards in a suit it is better to play [uscire] with the Queen or the Knight and play again to make your partner understand to return to that suit.

Not taking the communication card [technical term] from your partner, and trying to take it from your opponents (p. 45). If you realize that your partner has only one card left [the “communication card”] to return to the [your] strong suit, you must play tarocchi so that he takes and uses the lone card to return. Conversely, if you know only one communication card of your opponents, you must play in that suit [so as to deprive them of that card].

When one can play a suit card (p. 46) Certainly when your partner has the King, but also in particular cases, such as having bad cards and few tarocchi with the Bagatto in danger, it is better to play a single card [singleton?] first to take with the Bagatto in the second round.

When one has to try the capotto (p. 47) Once your opponents' tarocchi are finished, you continue to play them to see your partner's discards and then uscire [play?] in his strong suit.

When one has to change the [suit] played (p. 47) After the King is won, instead of playing the Queen, which could be taken by a tarocco, it is better to change the suit, and it will be the partner to return. Also playing a new suit to make one’s partner understand that one is strong there.

When one has to lose, or make one’s partner lose, one or also more court cards (p. 48) Playing in a long suit at the cost of losing the King to make your opponents use tarocchi and then remaining with good cards in the long suit.


7
When one can play false (p. 49) Usually playing with a low card in a suit in which you have the King is a bad play, but in some cases it is a good one, with the aim of making your partner understand later with the discards [suit cards played when one is void in the suit led and has no tarocchi] or to give the King on a trick of your partner's.

When the Queen should be given to the partner playing the King (p. 50) As a rule, always. However, having a Queen and a Jack [or Page, Italian Fante], the Jack must be given. It should not be given if the partner returns [torna] after having made tarocchi. Or if it remains as a return [rientro] card [also called communication card, card to play so that the partner can play his winning cards in the suit].

About making one’s partner ruff [taroccare = play a tarocco] (p. 51) It's usually not worth it. Useful if he is weak, with Bagatto in danger. To look for a tavolamolino [originally a type of Morris table game, but here to do the giocolino = girare, where two partners take turns leading with cards that enable the other to win]. To make a few more points. Or to make him play by returning to a useful suit.

Of counting points (p. 52) Essential for deciding e.g. whether to give your partner a court card. Decisive when the game is on the border between winning or type of winning [i.e. simple, double, royal, capotto, capottone].

Of the Bagatto and the Fool (p. 52) Two cards that "sometimes embarrass the players, and especially the Ladies." Don't give too much importance to the fear of losing the Bagatto, and try to play it well instead of winning it as soon as possible.

Of the Fool (p. 53) Keep it if you need to save a tarocco or a court card. You don't need to play it at first chance.

When it is possible to play the court cards (p. 54) If you are strong in tarocchi, play the King and also the Queen to cut off [tagliare, here meaning "take and prevent the opponents from taking"] the other court cards, but it can be dangerous in certain cases. “If a player isn't strong in tarocchi, he won't be able to play court cards so easily.” He will be able to do it [play a court card] to free the game of his opponents [?] either in a suit where his partner has already discarded [rifiutato, but not meaning "revoked" here, only that he responded, being void in the suit led, with a card in another suit] and can give a court card discard [rifiuto, but with the same meaning as just previously], or in the last hand to score a few more points and win the hand. With King and Knight third or fourth, give a low card. Having the King to play it on the play [uscita] of the opponents, regulate yourself [behave] according to the cards if in danger of losing it.

The text ends on p. 55, while on p. 56 begins the calendar with Movable Feasts.

8. Research in subsequent texts

Among all the short descriptions of the Milanese tarocchi so many times reprinted with minimal corrections, one may wonder whether the one presented in this study has had any sequel. I was ready to conclude that it was a true unicum in the bibliography of Milanese tarocchi when, out of scrupulosity, I wanted to check another version cited in the Lensi Bibliografia. [note 4]

38. Player (The) of the tarocchi which gives the rules with which not only are the penalties fixed corresponding to the fouls that can be committed in this game, but also many other things in general and particular; warnings and instructions necessary to know by those who like to play it well. Milan: Francesco Pulini, 1817. In -16, 84 pp., 32, 3 nn.

In the first part he gives the rules of tarocco and tarocc'ombre, in the second of dominos and cucù.

Searching for it in the catalogs online, at a national and international level, I only found the report of a single example, preserved in Vicenza in the Bertoliana civic library. From that library, they kindly sent me a scan of the index, which I transcribe below [on p. 8]. The comparison with the titles and pages of the chapters in our For those who play tarocchi shows that the differences, in the few cases in which they can be appreciated, are minimal.

All in all, this re-edition must be considered as a nice recognition of the validity of the "revolutionary" approach of our anonymous author. In fact, it is not an annual that reprints the text from one or two years earlier; an entire generation passed from 1793 to 1817! And this is no longer an almanac with a calendar, as the pages of different parts might suggest. The first 84 are all reserved for tarocchi and replicate the For one who plays tarocchi with minimal changes. What follows are not calendars and various notices but descriptions of other games.
________________
4. A. Lensi, Bibliografia Italiana dei giuochi di carte. Ravenna: Longo 1985.


8
It is also interesting that the Pulini printing house had published a Codice del tarocco already in 1794 [note 1], the same year in which the annual Per chi tarocca circulated in Milan. More than twenty years later, the printing house reuses the same subject, but instead of reproducing its own text, it copies that of the competition. Evidently, it considered it more suitable, as we would judge, too. It's a shame that, instead, a version like his old one was widespread in various game manuals reprinted several times in the 19th century.

CONTENTS [1817 version]
Explanation of the cards 5
Fouls in general 6
Fouls of cards Ibid.
Of cutting the cards 11
Degrees of winnings and losses in tarocchi games 13
Way of dividing, that is, of taking the Partner 15
Of revokes [rifiuti – not playing a card in the suit led when one can] 16
What is meant by covered trick 17
How to correct the simple revoke, and what the penalty is Ibid.
Of the discard 20
Of double-playing [doppione] 22
Of some other fouls, abuses and clarifications 24

GENERAL RULES
Of the Secret 30
For those who must cut 31
For those who must shuffle the cards 32
Not letting the cards be seen 32
What should be discarded 32
About the first play 35
Of invitations 35
When one must ruff [taroccare = play a tarocco] from one’s hand 37
When one can ruff even when the partner discards 39
Keeping the exposed cards in memory 40
Of counting the Tarocchi 41
Of the negative invitation 42
When one has to show one’s partner a King or another court card 43
When it is possible to play the Queen rather than the King 44
In taking the communication card away from the partner, and trying to take it away from the adversaries 45
When you can play a suit card 46
When you change [the card] played 47
When should you attempt capotto [one partnership winning all the tricks] 47
When one has to make one’s partner lose one or even more court cards 48
When it is possible to play false 49
When it is necessary to give the Queen to the partner who plays the King 50
Of making the partner ruff [taroccare = play a tarocco] 51
On counting the points 52
Of the Bagatto and the Fool 53
When court cards can be played 55
SUMMARY. With the pretext of a revoke [rifiuto, one cannot reveal the tricks 57
Refusal and double-playing [doppione] 60
Capotto [one partnership winning all the tricks] 64
Capottone [one player winning all the tricks] 65
Tarocc’ombre 79

9. Conclusions

The Codice del tarocco of 1794 [note 1] had proven to be a useful step forward in the reconstruction of the first Milanese books on tarocchi, as it was a booklet entirely dedicated to the game and


8
therefore presented itself as the original of countless chapters on tarocchi present in the reprints of various game manuals. However, that description was not yet set in the first person by the author, and therefore one could think of the existence of a very similar previous book, as I had found and described in the case of the game of checkers.

The Almanac described here takes us two further steps together, but instead of going back in time in the reconstruction, it is as if we were going sideways. We finally find an author who, although remaining anonymous, speaks in the first person! We also find a second part, this one unexpected, alongside the one on penalties for fouls repeated several times later. This new and original part, which completes the discussion with useful advice on the card game, will unfortunately not be present in the current reprints. In short, the text that we find in this almanac is original and very interesting in itself, but it does not appear to be a member of the usual series, and only in one of the numerous treatises that appeared later did I find a re-edition of it.

On the other hand, there are indications of even earlier editions, [note 5] in particular we would go from 1793 to the years 1792 and 1789 for Il Giuoco de’ Tarocchi, e sue Regole [The Game of Tarocchi and its Rules], certainly different, so much so that this author harshly criticizes it; then to the year 1786 with Le regole per ben giuocare a tarocco [Rules for playing tarocchi well] [almanac – brackets FP] about which we know even less. However, the few texts still "missing" are of the same type as this one: almanacs, with a first part dedicated to tarocchi and a second with a calendar and other general information. One could already conclude that what we were looking for, the first single book on the game of tarocchi in Milan, written and made printed by the author, has either not been preserved or never existed.

Florence, 10.07.2023
_____________

5. Th. Depaulis, The Playing Card. Vol. 38, N.1 (2009) pp. 9-13.