Viennese Grosstarock is a modern, three-player Austrian

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

of the

Tarock Tarock is German for Tarot and may refer to: * German Tarok, progenitor of a family of American and Austro-German card games * Bavarian Tarock, once popular Bavarian card game * Königrufen, most popular Austrian tarot game, often just called Ta ...

family that emerged in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. The game died out in the 1970s, but was revived in 2004 and further developed.

Description

Viennese Grosstarock is a

Tarock card game Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent Trump (card games), trump suit alongside the usual four Playing card suit, card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the F ...

for three-players played with a 54-card

Tarock pack Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French name tarot are called tarocchi in ...

. The name, which means 'big tarock', refers to the size of the pack which was larger than the 40-card pack used for the more common game of

Zwanzigerrufen Zwanzigerrufen or Zwanz'gerrufen is the leading trick-taking card game of the Tarock family in many regions of eastern Austria. Its rules are simpler than the game of Königrufen which is more widely played in the whole of Austria. As is common in ...

. In the same way, the name '

Grosstarock Grosstarock () is an old three-handed card game of the Tarock family played with a full 78-card Tarot pack. It was probably introduced into the southern German states around 1720 but spread rapidly into Austria and northwards as far as the Nethe ...

' was used in the 19th-century to refer to the original 78-card game at a time when the 54-card game was introduced and spreading throughout Austria and into Germany. However, the two games are not directly related. Unique features of the Viennese Grosstarock include its "idiosyncratic method of counting the cards" and the ability of an opponent to pick up the declarer's discards and play a higher contract.

References

Bibliography

* {{Tarot and Tarock card games Austrian card games Three-player card games Tarock card games Card games introduced in the 1950s