Tarock

About this board game

Tarock is a central European point trick-taking game for 2–5 players, with sessions lasting about 30 minutes. It uses a 54-card Tarock deck built from four suits and a permanent trump suit of 22 Tarock cards.

Across its many variants, play commonly begins with a bidding round, followed by announcements of bonuses players will attempt during the hand. The game or any announced bonus can also be doubled, adding another layer of risk and reward before the tricks are played.

Tarock includes formats for different group sizes, each with its own structure:

• Straw man tarock: a two-player variant in which each hand is augmented by cards dealt into piles in front of the players.
• Tapp tarock: a three-player variant that removes the bid to “call a king.”
• Königrufen: a four-player game, with one player dealing and sitting out when five people play. Players receive 12 cards, while six cards form the talon.

In Königrufen, bidding indicates how many cards will be used from the talon, with the remaining cards divided among the other players. The declarer calls either a trump, XIX, or one of the kings to identify a hidden partner, after which players may announce bonuses and doublings.

During trick play, players must follow suit and play a Tarock when they are unable to follow suit. Points are counted after each round, and the declarer generally needs to take more than half the points to fulfill the contract. This variety of rules and player counts makes Tarock a broad family of traditional card games rather than a single fixed format.