The Story
Where it came from, and why it turned out this way.
LineageFrance · the European tarot-game family
Tarot cards were games before they were oracles
French Tarot belongs to the old European family of trick-taking games, and tarot packs circulated at gaming tables long before their imagery became widely associated with divination. The deck adds a permanent trump suit to four ordinary suits. Its 21 numbered trumps and Fool-like Excuse are therefore not ornamental cards: they organize following, ruffing, overtrumping, and the transfer of control throughout a deal. Each ordinary suit also keeps four courts—Valet, Cavalier, Queen, and King—which helps bring the complete pack to 78 cards.
The three bouts shape the contract
Petit, trump 21, and the Excuse are the three bouts. Each is worth the same 4.5 points as a King, but their strategic value is larger because the number secured by the taker changes the contract target itself. A taker with all three needs 36 card points; a taker with none needs 56. They are therefore both scoring cards and navigational landmarks for the whole deal. The taker plans how to protect Petit, account for the Excuse, and control 21, while the defenders count trumps and force cards in an effort to change the final bout total.
One against three, scored as four
In the mainstream four-player form, the auction winner becomes a lone taker and the other three players form a defensive camp that lasts for one deal. The six-card dog may be exposed and folded into the taker's hand, or remain hidden and score for a specified camp under Garde Sans or Garde Contre. Partnership at the table does not erase individual settlement: each defender receives or loses one scoring unit, while the taker receives or loses the opposite three units. That design preserves both the temporary team struggle and an exactly zero-sum four-player score sheet.
The FFT codified a living social game
French clubs and household tables still use local vocabulary and regional variants, but the Fédération Française de Tarot publishes a precise free-deal reference that gives players a common adjudication language. It fixes the auction order, dog and discard restrictions, exact Poignée displays, Excuse compensation, Petit au bout, and Chelem exceptions. This implementation follows that current four-player system and deliberately leaves three-player, five-player, misère, and local multiplier rules outside its boundary, so every enabled action can be traced back to one coherent frozen ruleset.
- The Cavalier is a distinct court between Valet and Queen, so every ordinary suit contains fourteen cards instead of the familiar thirteen.
- The Excuse is both a bout and a special play card that normally cannot win a trick; its owner usually reclaims it and compensates the trick winner.
- Petit au bout rewards the camp that carries the smallest trump through the final trick, even though that camp may still lose the contract overall.
Complete Rules
Start with what a turn allows and how the game is won.
- Players
- 4 · one taker against three defenders
- Deal
- 18 cards each · 6-card chien
- Bouts
- Petit (1), trump 21, Excuse
- The 78-card deck has fourteen cards in each suit, twenty-one numbered trumps, and the Excuse. A petit-sec hand—Petit as its only trump and no Excuse—cancels the deal automatically.
- Each player speaks once, starting to the dealer's right. Pass or bid above the current Prise ×1, Garde ×2, Garde sans ×4, or Garde contre ×6. Four passes cause a fresh deal.
- Prise and Garde expose the six-card chien and add it to the taker's hand. The taker sets aside six cards: never a King or bout, and a numbered trump only when there are not enough ordinary cards; such a trump is shown. Sans leaves the hidden dog with the taker for scoring, while Contre gives it to defense.
- Before a player's first card, 10, 13, or 15 trumps including the Excuse may be shown as a Poignée. The exact cards are public. If the Excuse fills the display, no numbered trump may remain hidden.
- Follow the led suit. If void, play a trump. On a trump obligation, overtrump if you can; if you cannot, any lower trump is legal. The Excuse may always be played.
- The highest trump wins; otherwise the highest led-suit card wins. The Excuse normally returns to its player in exchange for a low card, but changes camps on the final trick unless it completes the taker's Chelem.
- With 0/1/2/3 bouts, the taker needs 56/51/41/36 points. Kings and bouts are 4.5, Queens 3.5, Cavaliers 2.5, Valets 1.5, and all other cards 0.5.
- The base is 25 plus the absolute margin, multiplied by the contract. The taker gets three times the final unit and each defender gets its opposite, so all four deltas sum to zero.
Your First Game
Use this order of thought to get through a complete game quickly.
- The numbered trumps are a permanent fifth suit. Trump 21 is highest; the Petit is lowest but is a bout worth 4.5 points and lowers your contract target.
- Do not spend the Excuse just to avoid a hard decision. It protects a valuable card, but usually costs your camp a low compensation card and cannot win the trick.
- A long trump suit makes a bid safer. Bouts and Kings supply points, while high trumps help you capture them.
- For Prise or Garde, use the écart to create a short or void suit, but never expect the interface to allow a King or bout.
- Watch the current highest trump. If you hold a higher one while obliged to trump, lower trumps are illegal.
Practical Strategy
Move from knowing the rules to playing with a plan.
- As taker, draw trumps before cashing vulnerable Kings when defense is likely to ruff. As defense, signal distribution through legal low cards and preserve the 21 to capture a point-rich trick.
- The Petit becomes more valuable late in the deal. Winning the final trick with it earns 10 times the contract multiplier even if that camp loses the contract itself.
- A Poignée informs everyone about your trump length and its bonus goes to the camp that ultimately wins the deal. Declaring from a weak camp can reward the opponents.
- Garde sans and Garde contre multiply both reward and loss while hiding the dog. Bid them only from the strength of the eighteen cards you actually see.
- Count bouts before counting raw points: changing from one bout to two lowers the target by ten full points.
Winning and Special Rules
Details that are easy to miss but can change the result.
- Chelem means taking all eighteen tricks. Announced and made is +400; announced and missed is −200; unannounced and made is +200.
- An announced Chelem makes the taker lead. For a successful Chelem with the Excuse, the Excuse must be played last and wins; a Petit on the penultimate trick still counts as Petit au bout.
- Simple, Double and Triple Poignées show exactly 10, 13 and 15 cards and add 20, 30 and 40 to the winning camp.
- This release follows the current FFT four-player free-deal rules only. Three/five-player tables, misère and local multiplier variants are intentionally not mixed in.
- Hidden dog and écart faces never enter the UI or AI observation. Only the six Prise/Garde dog cards and any forced trump discard become public.
Common Mistakes
The traps new players fall into most often.
- Discarding when void in the led suit despite holding a trump. Trump is compulsory.
- Undertrumping when a higher trump is available. You must overtrump whenever possible.
- Treating the Excuse as a winning trump. Outside the special final Chelem trick, it never wins.
- Assuming the Poignée bonus belongs to its declarer. It is paid to the camp that wins the deal.
- Using poker ranks. French Tarot adds Cavalier between Valet and Queen and keeps suit cards 1 through 10.