Far from being the exclusive property of the local fortune-telling crone, Tarot cards in their various configurations are actually used in what the authors believe is a collection of the noblest of games and most challenging of intellectual exercises. Games with Tarot cards have been played in Europe since the early 1400s, with the exception of England, the Iberian peninsula, and the former domains of the Ottoman Turks. In this first of two volumes, the authors (a knighted logician and a prize-winning researcher of card games) describe the basic game of Tarot, its origin in France and Switzerland, and its geographical variants across time. Colored plates include historical and modern cards and tarocchi. The text is double-spaced. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
