Green Spade Tarock
As every educated person knows, tarot (or tarok, or tarokk,
or tarocchi, or tarock) games have a long history (first found in
the mid-15th century they predate the 18th century fortune-telling use
of cards) and are quite popular in Europe. Despite their similarity to
bridge or whist (they are almost all trick-taking games, with the extra
suit serving as trumps). Back in 1922, August Petryl & Son of
Chicago attempted to rectify this by producing the Green Spade
Tarock, subtitled The American Cards
. It’s an amusing
variant on the French tarot deck: black clubs, yellow diamonds, pink
hearts and green spades; the king, queen, knight & page have been
replaced with Indian chief, Indian squaw, white rider and white scout;
the fool is Uncle Sam (!), and the trump suite seems to feature Western
& Indian scenes. What an interesting little card
deck—I’d love to acquire a copy.
