Grosstarock

The game is played between three players. Four may play with one player in turn, known as the 'King', sitting out for the deal. Play is anticlockwise. The dealer distributes 5 rounds of 5 cards each, keeping the last 8 cards himself. He then discards 3 cards which count to him at the end. They must not include any Kings or Tarocs unless he only has exactly 3 Tarocs including the Pagat, in which case they may be discarded. In addition, a combination of the Pagat, Sckis or Excuse (the Fool) and another Taroc is a legal discard. There are penalties for misdealing.

Opening with the dealer, players now make any of the following declarations which earn payments from each opponent in 'game points' as shown:

Declarations must be made before play starts, otherwise they do not count.

Players must follow suit, or trump if unable; otherwise they may discard any card. If a player loses the Pagat during the game, he pays a penalty of 5 points to each adversary. If it is lost in the last trick, he pays 10 points. However, if he wins the last trick with the Pagat, he is paid a bonus of 10 points from each opponent.

The Excuse cannot be beaten nor can it win a trick. But its owner may play it at any time instead of another card. He retrieves the Excuse from the trick, lays it away in his own trick pile and gives the trick winner a low card of his choice, from his tricks, in exchange. The Excuse must be played by the 3rd last trick. If it is held until that point and its owner is on lead, he must surrender the lead to the player on his right and play the Excuse in his turn. In addition, the Excuse may not be held when its owner has run out of Tarocs, but must be played to the next trick in which he is void in the led suit. If a player takes no tricks but has the Excuse at the end, he is paid 4 points from each adversary.

The game is scored in 'game points'. These must not be confused with 'card points' which represent the value of individual cards and are used to determine who won the deal and by how much. Scoring works as follows:

• Card points: First players add up the card points won in tricks. Kings are worth 5, Queens 4, Cavaliers 3 and Valets 2 card points each. The Pagat, Excuse and XXI are also worth 5 each. The remainder are non-scoring blanks. Scoring is carried out in threes, players sorting their tricks so that there is one scoring card and two non-counters in each triplet. The rules state that "in this way there are exactly 78 points in the pack", which means that there are always 7 triplets consisting solely of non-counters that are worth 1 point each. Players then work out their overshoot or undershoot points i.e. the number of points above or below 26.
• Game points: Players score game points for a) the game, b) declarations and c) the Pagat bonus. For the game, they are paid as many game points as they have scored overshoot points or pay out as many as they have undershoot points. For example if A makes 40 in card points, B makes 20, and C makes 18; B pays 26-20 = 6 game points to A and C pays 26-18 = 8 game points to A. A thus receives 14 game points which equal his overshoot points i.e. 40-26 = 14. These are then added to the game points for declarations and winning or losing the Pagat mentioned above.

Beginning with the dealer, players may make any of the following announcements which score points as shown:[20]

The player to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick; thereafter the winner of the trick leads to the next one. Players must follow suit, or trump if unable, but there is no compulsion to win a trick. Tricks are won by the highest Tarok or, if no Tarok is played, the highest card of the suit led. The Sküs may not take a trick, but is may be played at any time to any trick. Normally it is retrieved by its owner and a low card given to the trick winner in exchange from the trick pile; however, if played to the last three tricks it is captured by the trick winner.[21]

• Card points: At the end of the deal, player count up the card points they have won in tricks. The process is slightly different from that in early German Taroc. For a start, the card values for scoring purposes are: Honours (Tarok 21, Pagat/Tarok 1, Sküs) – 5 points, Kings – 5 points, Queens – 4 points, Cavaliers – 3 points, Jacks – 2 points and all others (the Ladons) – 1 point. Cards are grouped in threes again, but this time their points are totted up and two deducted per triplet. So a Queen, Jack and 7 count as 4+2+1−2 = 5. Once again, the whole pack contains 78 points.[22]

• Game points. Scoring for the game is as in German Taroc above. A player who scores exactly 26 card points pays and receives nothing. Those scoring above 26 receive as many game points as they have in excess of 26; those scoring below 26 have to pay as many games points as they fall short. In addition there are the game points for declarations (see table above) and the following game points for bonuses and penalties:

There are also options for players to announce a Vole beforehand; if successful, this scores 52 if announced before the 1st trick, 38 if before the 13th and 31 if before the 20th trick. Failure incurs the same penalty in reverse. A Nolo may also be announced; if successful, scoring 36 if announced before the 1st trick and 31 if before the 13th. If it fails, the normal payments for bonuses, penalties and card points are made; in addition, a 10-point penalty is incurred if it was announced before the 1st trick and 5 points if before the 13th trick. All bonuses are paid by both opponents to the player who earns them and all penalties are paid to both opponents by the player who incurs them.

Coloured wooden jetons of the type used for card games

In addition to the card pack, Danish Tarok also makes use of two pots – a King pot and a Pagat pot – and jetons for scoring, ideally with denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 100 points. At the start of the game, each player antes 20 points into each pot and lots are drawn to decide the first dealer.

If either pot is empty, everyone antes 20 points to it, otherwise the dealer tops it up with a 5 point stake. The dealer then deals all the cards out, to the right in packets of five. He then takes the 3 remaining cards into his hand and must lays away 3 cards to the skat. The skat must not contain any matadors (Pagat, Scies, Tarok 21) or Kings, and must not include any cards used in declarations unless this cannot be avoided, in which case the dealer must show them. Taroks may only be discarded if it leaves the dealer void in that suit, may never be discarded. If a Tarok is discarded, the dealer must disclose the fact.

Following the discard, all players must declare any scoring combinations in their hands, the dealer going first. Players are paid the score shown by each opponent. Failing to make a declaration when you could, incurs a penalty. The following declarations are possible:

Play is to the right and forehand (right of dealer) leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit or trump if unable (here the Scies may be counted as a Tarok but does not win the trick). A player need not head the trick but may underforce. The trick winner leads to the next trick.

The Scies may be used as a wild card in declarations or during play. It may be used in more than one declaration. It does not count as a Tarok when discarding to the skat or if a player has no other Taroks and is thus entitled to a redeal. During the game the Scies may be played at any time, its owner stating the suit it represents. If neither opponent can follow suit, the next player in turn may re-designate the suit for that trick. When the Scies is played it never wins the trick, but is recovered and the trick winner is given a low card from Scies player's trick pile in exchange. A player may demand that the Scies is played to the antepenultimate trick, but there is a penalty for getting this wrong. It may not be played to the penultimate trick and, if played to the last, it is captured by the trick winner.

A Nolo is the achievement of failing to take any tricks and earns a special bonus. It invalidates any ultimos by another player; but losing an ultimo still incurs a penalty. There is no payment for winning the last trick and the Noloist is penalised for losing a King or the Pagat.

• Card points. Players add up their points from cards won in tricks as in Grosstarock. Players earn 5 game points for every 5 card points scored above 24 and pay 5 game points for every 5 card points below 28.
• Game points: As before, players score game points for points won in tricks, for declarations and for bonuses or penalties. However, game points for points won in tricks are scored differently, in that players receive 5 game points for every 5 card points scored above 24 and pay 5 game points for every 5 card points below 28. Game points for declarations are given above; those for bonuses and penalties are as follows:

All bonus points are paid by both opponents to the player who earns them, and all penalty points are paid to both opponents by the player who incurs them.