This tarot game, for two players, stands out for the engaging nature of the matches, but also for the originality of its game mechanics. Pinch tarot (in Genoese Ligurian taròcchi à pessigo or chinze) maintains a general structure similar to that of other Ligurian tarot games, with certain fundamental differences that are reminiscent of some variants of tressette.

We wish to express sincere thanks to Romano Romani and Patrizia cuneo from Genoa for generously sharing the rules of the game, as well as to the other players who have provided valuable testimonies on the local variants of this game. A special acknowledgement goes to Jonathan Kandell and Samuele Pasi for their significant contribution to the improvement of this page.

Basic Concepts

Deck

The deck consists of 78 cards: 14 cards for each of the 4 suits (hearts ♥, diamonds ♦, clubs ♣ and spades ♠)^[1]; 21 trumps numbered 1 to 21; plus the Fool (★, which has the number 0 on some decks). The cards of the four suits are, in ascending order, 1, 2, …, 9, 10, Jack (J), Cavalier (C), Queen (Q) and King (K)^[2]. The trumps beat all other cards and, among themselves, the trump with the higher number usually wins. The only exception is represented by the Judgment (trump №20), which always beats the World (trump №21). The Fool is a special card that cannot beat any card nor be beaten.

Counting Cards

In tarot games, some cards, called “counting cards”, have an intrinsic value for scoring purposes:

Hands

The game is divided into “hands”, which are the phases of play between one card distribution and another. A game of pinch tarot consists of one or more hands, typically two.

Deal

The role of dealer, initially assigned by draw, alternates between players in subsequent hands. After shuffling the cards and having the opponent cut the deck, the dealer deals fifteen cards to each player. The remaining cards, placed face down on the side, constitute the “stock”.

Gameplay

Tricks

Just like in tressette and bridge, each hand of a tarot game consists of a sequence of “tricks”. A trick is the phase of play in which each player plays a card. For the first trick, the dealer’s opponent leads (i.e., plays the first card). The defending player responds by playing another card. For tricks following the first one, the winner of a trick becomes the player on lead for the next one. The player who played the highest trump wins the trick, keeping in mind that the Judgment (trump №20) always beats the World (trump №21). If no trumps were played, the player who played the highest card of the suit which was led (the suit of the first card of the trick) wins. The winner collects the two cards on the table and places them face down in a pile next to them. In each trick, the player who leads is free to play any card, while the player who follows must adhere to the following rules.

• If the card that was led is of one of the four suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades) and the player has cards of that suit, they must play any card of the same suit. If they have no cards of that suit, they must play any trump. If they don’t have trumps either, they may respond with any card.
• If the card that was led is a trump and the player has trumps, they must play one^[3]. If they have no trumps, they may play any card.

The Fool

The only exception concerns the Fool: the holder of this card always has the right to play it during their turn, without having to respect the aforementioned rules. The Fool cannot win a trick, but it is not captured either: the player who played it takes it back and puts it, face up and sideways, in their pile of captured cards. If the Fool is led to a trick, the other player is free to play any card, and wins the trick. If the Fool is played as the second card, the player on lead wins the trick.

Since the player who played the Fool is left with one extra card (having “rescued” it from a lost trick), they will later have to give the opponent another card in its place^[4]. They will therefore have to win one or more tricks after the one in which the Fool was played (a process called “covering the Fool”) and give the opponent any of the cards captured in these tricks; once the card has been given, the Fool can be turned face down. If they fail to win at least one trick after playing the Fool, at the end of the hand they will have to give the Fool to the opponent.

Drawing from the Stock

After each trick, the players, in turn, starting with the winner of the trick, draw a card from the stock. This is shown to the opponent before being added to the hand. Players continue to play tricks, drawing a card from the stock each time, until the stock is exhausted. Subsequently, players continue to play the remaining cards until the end of the hand.

Melds

Players can, if they wish, announce the possession of certain combinations called “melds”, immediately obtaining a point bonus:

Unlike other tarot games, in pinch tarot players can announce their melds not only at the beginning of the hand (before having played their first card) but also every time they draw a card from the stock.

The announcement of melds is not mandatory, but it is necessary to obtain the related points. A player who intends to announce a meld must do so by showing the cards that compose it to the opponent. Players may announce multiple melds, even using the same cards for different ones (for example, a king of hearts can contribute simultaneously to both the “family of hearts” and the “four kings”). Undeclared melds cannot be claimed later. For the “trumps” meld, the Fool is not considered a trump.

If a player, after declaring “trumps”, finds themselves in possession of a greater number of trumps, they have the option to “increase” the meld, earning the points corresponding to the difference. To illustrate, let’s consider the case of a player who initially obtained 11 points for a meld of “11 trumps”. If they subsequently drew an additional trump and had kept the 11 already declared in hand, they could announce “12 trumps”, securing an additional point. The same mechanism applies to a meld of “three-of-a-kind” followed by a meld of “four-of-a-kind” for the same face card.

Bagatto Ultimo

An optional rule awards additional points for Bagatto Ultimo: if a player, in possession of the Bagatto (trump №1), plays it in the last trick, winning it, they obtain 20 points; however, if the attempt fails and the trick is won by the opponent, it will be the opponent who obtains the 20 points^[6].

Scoring

Computing the Score

At the end of the hand, players tally up the final score, given by the sum of the so-called “deck points”, the melds, and a possible Bagatto Ultimo.

For the “deck points”, each player counts one point for each trick taken (i.e., one point for every two cards captured) plus the points of the counting cards which they captured^[7]. The sum of the “deck points” of the two players will always be 91 points (52 for the counting cards, plus one point for each of the 39 tricks).

To form the final score, players must add the points of the declared melds and the points for Bagatto Ultimo (if applicable) to the “deck points”.

How to Mark the Score

The score is marked on a sheet of paper, in a table, with a column for each player. A horizontal line is drawn to separate the hands.

The example shown above represents two hands of a pinch tarot game. In the first hand, player A obtained 10 points for a meld of “10 trumps” and later obtained another 2 for a meld of “12 trumps”. Player B obtained 10 points for a “family of spades” and 20 points for a Bagatto Ultimo. The first player totaled 46 deck points, the second 45. In the second hand, the first player obtained 10 points for a meld of Gatti and 58 deck points. The second player obtained 5 points for “three cavaliers”, with the addition of another 5 points for a subsequent “four cavaliers”, and 33 deck points.