Bauerntarock

Bauerntarock, whose name translates from German as farmers' tarot, is a point-trick card game from the Brixental valley in the Austrian state of Tyrol, also known regionally as Brixentaler Bauerntarock or Brixental Tarock. It is played by three or four players using a 36-card German-suited deck rather than a true tarot pack, and hearts serve as the permanent trump suit throughout the game. Card game historians believe the game likely emerged during the nineteenth century as an adaptation of the larger 54-card Tapp Tarock onto the smaller and cheaper 36-card German deck used across rural Tyrol. Play follows a bidding structure and scoring pattern related to the Skat Schedule found in neighboring regional games such as Schafkopf and Jass, and includes a distinctive bonus element called the Spatz, formed by holding the six of hearts. Bauerntarock belongs to the broader German Tarok family and is closely related to Bavarian Tarock, Dobbm and Wurttemberg Tarock, though unlike true tarot games it is played entirely with standard German or French suited cards rather than a tarot deck with its extra trump suit of allegorical cards.