Viennese Grosstarock is a modern, three-player Austrian

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

of the

Tarock Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...

family that emerged in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. The game died out in the 1970s, but was revived in 2004 and further developed.

Description

Viennese Grosstarock is a

Tarock card game Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...

for three-players played with a 54-card

Tarock pack Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent Trump (card games), trumps parallel to the Playing card suit, suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are cal ...

. The name, which means 'big tarock', refers to the size of the pack which was larger than the 40-card pack used for the more common game of

Zwanzigerrufen Zwanzigerrufen or Zwanz'gerrufen is the leading trick-taking card game of the Tarock family in many regions of eastern Austria. Its rules are simpler than the game of Königrufen which is more widely played in the whole of Austria. As is common in ...

. In the same way, the name '

Grosstarock Grosstarock (german: Großtarock) is an old three-handed card game of the Tarock family played with a full 78-card Tarot pack. It was probably introduced into the southern German states around 1720 but spread rapidly into Austria and northwards a ...

' was used in the 19th-century to refer to the original 78-card game at a time when the 54-card game was introduced and spreading throughout Austria and into Germany. However, the two games are not directly related. Unique features of the Viennese Grosstarock include its "idiosyncratic method of counting the cards" and the ability of an opponent to pick up the declarer's discards and play a higher contract.

References

Bibliography

* {{Tarot and Tarock card games Austrian card games Three-player card games Tarock card games Card games introduced in the 1950s