Source References

Throughout this document, features, items, spells, and creatures are noted with a small superscript that indicates the source document. Sources include:

• CoS = Curse of Strahd
• DiA = Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
• DMG = Dungeon Master's Guide
• HB = Homebrew
• LLK = Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
• PHB = Player's Handbook
• SDQ = Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
• TCE = Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
• UA = Unearthed Arcana
• VRGR = Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
• WBW = The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Classes

Bard. At level 3, a College of Spirits^VRGR bard can use a tarokka deck as a spellcasting focus.

Feats

Backgrounds

Many backgrounds have a card theme, providing proficiency with playing cards, providing a deck of cards as part of the background's starter equipment package, or both.

Training

After character creation, downtime can be used for training with a playing card set to gain proficiency using the training rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.

Tools

*Marked cards are generally not found for sale. They can be created by someone proficient with a forgery kit or tinker's tools

Tarokka Deck^{CoS, VRGR}

A tarokka deck contains fifty-four tarot-like, fortunetelling cards. Tarokka decks allow you run encounters where fortune-tellers predict characters' fates. Once you're familiar with the cards and their meanings, you can interpret them in ways that tie in to the characters' pasts or events in your adventures. You can also use the results of tarokka readings to guide your campaign and make sure predictions come to pass. The tarokka hails from the same world as the domain of Barovia, but it and its users have since spread throughout the Domains of Dread and beyond.

In Barovia, the Vistani have long been masters of fortune-telling. In the hands of a Vistani seer, a deck of tarokka cards can tell tales of the future and provide answers to many a dark and mysterious question.

Although the workmanship and artistic quality of the cards can vary from deck to deck, the ability of the cards to call forth information about the future is far more valuable than the monetary worth of a deck.

Anyone can craft a deck of tarokka cards, but only someone of Vistani blood can imbue the cards with the gift of prophecy. Once they are crafted and empowered, they must be stored in accordance with ancient tradition, or they lose their efficacy. When not in use, tarokka cards must be wrapped in silk and stored in a wooden box.

Composition

A tarokka deck has fifty-four cards, each of which has its own name. Forty of them comprise the common deck, which is divided into four suits: swords, coins, stars, and glyphs.

Each suit contains cards numbered one through nine, plus a tenth card that is called the master of that suit. A card can be referred to by its suit designation or by its name. For instance, the three of glyphs is also known as the healer, and the wizard card is also known as the master of stars.

The remaining fourteen cards make up the high deck, which symbolizes the natural forces of the multiverse. These cards are represented by a crown symbol and are the most powerful cards in the deck.

Card Spells

Antagonize^UA

3rd-level enchantment

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 30 feet
• Components: V, S, M (a playing card depicting a rogue)
• Duration: Instantaneous

You whisper magical words that antagonize one creature of your choice within range. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 4d4 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to make a melee attack against another creature of your choice that you can see. If no other creature is within range, the target has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the start of your next turn.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d4 for each slot level above 4th.

House of Cards^UA

3rd-level conjuration

• Casting Time: 1 minute
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S, M (a deck of cards)
• Duration: 24 hours

You touch the ground and conjure forth a defensive structure made of enormous playing cards. The structure rises with you at its center, harmlessly lifting you and any creatures in the area. The house of cards has a square base that is 30 feet on each side, and it has three floors with 10-foot-high ceilings. The second floor is 20 feet on each side, and the top floor is 10 feet on each side—both centered above the bottom floor. Ramps connect the interior of each floor, and empty doorframes connect the interior and exterior of each level. Creatures inside or on top of the structure have half cover.

Each card that comprises the house is 5 feet wide and 10 feet tall and is very fragile. A card has AC 10 and 1 hit point. The cards are immune to poison and psychic damage. Reducing a card to 0 hit points destroys it. Every time a card is destroyed, roll 1d6. If you roll a 5 or a 6, the house collapses, ending the spell.

The house and all its cards vanish when the spell ends.

Spirit of Death^UA

4th-level necromancy

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: V, S, M (a gilded playing card depicting an avatar of death worth at least 400 gp)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You call forth a spirit that embodies death itself. Choose a creature you can see within range. The spirit manifests in an unoccupied space that you can see within 10 feet of the target, and the target becomes haunted by the spirit. The spirit uses the reaper spirit stat block. The spirit disappears when it or the haunted creature is reduced to 0 hit points, or when the spell ends.

The reaper spirit is an ally to you and your companions. In combat, the spirit shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It obeys your verbal commands (no action required by you), but it will only attack the haunted creature. If you don’t issue the spirit any commands, it takes the Dodge action and uses its move to avoid danger.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, use the higher level wherever the spell’s level appears in the stat block.

Deck of Illusions^DMG

Wondrous item, uncommon

This box contains a set of parchment cards. A full deck has 34 cards. A deck found as treasure is usually missing 1d20-1 cards.

The magic of the deck functions only if cards are drawn at random (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). You can use an action to draw a card at random from the deck and throw it to the ground at a point within 30 feet of you. An illusion of one or more creatures forms over the thrown card and remains until dispelled. An illusory creature appears real, of the appropriate size, and behaves as if it were a real creature except that it can do no harm. While you are within 120 feet of the illusory creature and can see it, you can use an action to move it magically anywhere within 30 feet of its card. Any physical interaction with the illusory creature reveals it to be an illusion, because objects pass through it. Someone who uses an action to visually inspect the creature identifies it as illusory with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. The creature then appears translucent.

The illusion lasts until its card is moved or the illusion is dispelled. When the illusion ends, the image on its card disappears, and that card can’t be used again.

Deck of Many Things^DMG

Wondrous item, legendary

Usually found in a box or pouch, this deck contains a number of cards made of ivory or vellum. Most (75 percent) of these decks have only thirteen cards, but the rest have 22.

Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once.

Once a card is drawn, it fades from existence. Unless the card is the Fool or the Jester, the card reappears in the deck, making it possible to draw the same card twice.

Balance.* Your mind suffers a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change. Lawful becomes chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or unaligned, this card has no effect on you. This change can be reversed by a remove curse or similar spell.

Comet.* If you single-handedly defeat the next hostile monster or group of monsters you encounter, you gain experience points enough to gain one level. Otherwise, this card has no effect.

Donjon.* You disappear and become entombed in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you disappeared. You remain imprisoned until you are found and removed from the sphere. You can't be located by any divination magic, but a wish spell can reveal the location of your prison. You draw no more cards. Replace all text with: You are instantly teleported to and confined within the prison of the nearest settlement large enough to support a prison. Everything you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you disappeared. You draw no more cards.

Euryale. The card's medusa-like visage curses you. You take a -2 penalty on saving throws while cursed in this way. Only a god or the magic of The Fates card can end this curse. The use of divine intervention or a wish spell also automatically ends this curse.

The Fates.* Reality's fabric unravels and spins anew, allowing you to avoid or erase one event as if it never happened. You can use the card's magic as soon as you draw the card or at any other time before you die.

Flames. A powerful devil becomes your enemy. The devil seeks your ruin and plagues your life, savoring your suffering before attempting to slay you. This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies.

Fool.* You lose 10,000 XP, discard this card, and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws. If losing that much XP would cause you to lose a level, you instead lose an amount that leaves you with just enough XP to keep your level. If milestone progression is used, you do not gain a level at the next milestone.

Gem.* Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.

Idiot.* Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws. The use of divine intervention or a wish spell also automatically ends this curse.

Souls of the Tarokka

The released soul appears at a random location within 10d10 miles of you and terrorizes the living. Until the released soul is destroyed, it gains the benefit of a weal from the deck’s Twist of Fate property, and both you and the original target of Twist of Fate suffer the effect of woe.

Shuffling Fate. If you go 7 days without using the Twist of Fate property, your attunement to Luba’s Tarroka of Souls ends, and you can’t attune to it again until after another creature uses Twist of Fate on you.

Destroying the Deck. Luba’s Tarokka of Souls can be destroyed only if all fourteen souls within are released and destroyed. This reveals a fifteenth soul, a lich, that inhabits the Nether card, which appears only when the fourteen souls are defeated. If this ancient entity is destroyed, the Nether card vanishes and the deck becomes a normal tarokka deck, with no special properties, but it includes a new card of the DM’s design.

The original Terokka Deck of Many Things was by Andrew Hackard and appeared in the Book of Souls. The deck includes the High Deck from a standard Tarokka Deck.

Avatar of Death^DMG

Medium Undead, Neutral

---

• Armor Class 20 (natural armor)
• Hit Points half the hit point maximum of its summoner
• Speed 60 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)

---

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)

---

• Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
• Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious
• Senses darkvision 60 ft., truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
• Languages all languages known to its summoner
• Challenge - (0 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

---

Incorporeal Movement. The avatar can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (ldl0) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

Turning Immunity. The avatar is immune to features that turn undead.

Actions

Reaping Scythe. The avatar sweeps its spectral scythe through a creature within 5 feet of it, dealing 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.

Reaper Spirit^UA

Medium Undead, Neutral

---

• Armor Class 11 + the level of the spell (natural armor)
• Hit Points 40 + 10 for each spell level above 3rd
• Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)

---

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)

---

• Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
• Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
• Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
• Languages understands the languages you speak
• Challenge — (0 XP)
• Proficiency Bonus equals your bonus

---

Incorporeal Movement. The reaper can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. If it ends its turn inside an object, it is shunted to the nearest unoccupied space and takes 1d10 force damage for every 5 feet traveled.

Haunting Tracker. You and the reaper can sense the direction and distance to the haunted creature if it’s on the same plane of existence as you.

Actions

Multiattack. The reaper makes a number of attacks equal to half this spell’s level (rounded down).

Reaping Scythe. Melee Weapon Attack: your spell attack modifier to hit (with advantage), reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d10 + 3 + the spell’s level necrotic damage.

Paralyzing Fear (1/Day). The reaper attempts to instill fear into the haunted creature it can see within 60 feet of itself. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of the reaper for 1 minute. While frightened this way, the creature’s speed is 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. The frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, or immediately after it takes damage, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Geas

by William Connors; appeared in Dragon Magazine #210

The two-player game

It is possible to play with only two players, but this is generally only done as a contest of honor or a type of duel. In such cases, defeat in the game can result in any number of horrible fates for the loser. Among the gypsies, a two-player game of Geas is known as "Tangar Rak," or Confrontation.

Lots of players

More than six players also can be accommodated, but it is standard practice to use one deck of cards for every five players. Stories have been told of Vistani games that included as many as 30 players and six decks, but the logistics involved make this an almost unheard-of event. Games involving more than one deck are known by the Vistani as "Tankempaki,"" or Great Battles.

Gambling

The Vistani often play this game for money, especially when playing with outsiders. When playing for money, every character playing tosses in a gold piece as an ante. Whenever a PC completes a quest, she tosses in an additional coin. At the end of the hand (sometimes the game), the player who completed the most quests claims the pot.

Nine alignments

Players who wish to add an extra level of complication to the game might wish to consider the full alignments of the cards in the Common Deck. The complete alignments of the cards are as follows:

When this option is used, an adventuring party can be composed of characters that are all lawful or all chaotic, in addition to the more traditional good, neutral, or evil gatherings. Thus, a party would be complete if it had the one of swords, the six of stars, the six of glyphs, and the nine of coins.

Neutrals wild!

When this option is used, the three neutral-aligned cards (the 4, 5, and 6 cards) can be used to fill out an otherwise good or evil party. This option generally results in the quick formation of a party and the rapid completion of all the quests in the deck.

Setup

Shuffle the 14 High cards, marked with a Crown symbol, andset them aside. The remaining 40 Common cards form the deck players will draw from during play, and consists of four suits (Swords, Stars, Coins, and Glyphs), each with a Master and cards numbered 1 through 9.

Choose a player to be the dealer.

The dealer shuffles the deck, then places a card face-up inthe center of the table. This is the Focus card, and is shared by all players. Then, they place one card per player face-down around the Focus. These are the players' Fate cards.

Players may look at their own Fate card at any time.

Each player is dealt a hand of 6 cards, and the deck is placed within easy reach of all players. Discarded cards should be placed in a pile face-up, next to the deck.

How to Play

The goal of the game is to refine your hand down to 3 cards, which will be combined with the hidden Fate card and shared Focus card to make the best hand of 5 cards possible.

Ranking of Hands

In order from strongest to weakest:

• Family (straight flush)
• Circle (four of a kind)
• Fortune (full house)
• Village (straight)
• Guild (flush)
• Three of a kind
• Two pairs
• One pair
• Highest card

High Card Effects

Revealing cards from the High deck is risky, as there's notelling what chaos you might unleash!

• Artifact. Swap your Fate card with the Focus card.
• Beast. Each player discards a card, then draws a card.
• Broken One. Discard your hand, then draw that many cards.
• Darklord. Choose another player. Look at their hand of cardsand choose one for them to discard, then they draw a card.
• Donjon. Each player must discard cards until they have threeleft in their hand. Immediately advance to the Reveal.
• Executioner. Keep this card on the table in front of you.Regardless of who wins the Execution, you decide whetherto kill or save the Focus card.
• Mists. Rotate all Fate cards one player clockwise.
• Ghost. Choose a card from the discard pile to add to yourhand, then discard a card.
• Horseman. Draw two cards, then discard two cards.
• Innocent. Keep this card on the table in front of you. You andyour cards can't be affected by any future High card effects.
• Marionette. Choose a player who hasn't taken a turn thisround. That player must immediately play either theirhighest or lowest numbered card, as directed by you.
• Raven. Each player chooses a card from their hand andpasses it to the player on their left.
• Seer. Look at all players' Fate cards once.
• Tempter. Exchange a card from your hand with a randomcard from another player's hand.

Equipment Needed

• One or more common decks
• Three to six players

Goal

• To get rid of all the cards in your hand.

This one’s pretty simple. Cards go from 1-A. Deal cards clockwise around the table until all cards are exhausted (it does not matter if some players get more cards). It’s best to use one deck for three or four and two decks for five or six; the game is playable by up to eight people but gets very unwieldy. It’s a poor game for two players.

The player to the dealer’s left starts by playing from her hand, and play then moves clockwise (suit doesn’t matter.) Cards build up in rank and also in number of cards played; players may play the same number as the player before them or more (but not fewer). A player who cannot play or chooses not to play may pass by saying “Lunadi.” Whenever anyone plays an archetype card or set, she may then immediately play anything out of her hand, and play continues to the left; the same thing occurs if all players pass back to her. When a player goes out, the player to her left may play anything.

So, let’s say the first player plays a single 1. The next player plays a 3, and the next player then plays two 4’s. The following player could play any pair (or triple or more) of 5’s or higher, or could pass. When the round ends, by archetype cards being played or a play being passed all the way around, then the play starts over with any cards. (I’m afraid I’m not explaining this very clearly; feel free to ask for clarifications.)

Equipment Needed

• One or more full decks
• Works well for any number of players, just figure one deck for every four or fraction above four)

Goal

• To get all the cards.

Deal the cards counterclockwise (again, it doesn’t matter if one player gets more cards than another); the players square the cards and leave them face down. Play starts with the dealer and moves to the right.

All cards are played from the face down decks by flipping over the top card. Numbers are nulls, and there’s no significance to one number over another. However, the crown cards and the archetypes (collectively called the High Deck) change the rules slightly.

When a player flips over a High card, the next player gets a certain number of cards to turn over a High card herself or the first player gets all the cards on the table (and adds them, face down, to her hand). Then the first player resumes play. If the next player does draw a High card, then the next player after him must do the same thing until someone doesn’t; the last successful player gets all the cards.

So, for example, Esmerelda plays the Mists from her hand. The next player, Stefan, has three cards in which to play another High card, or Esmerelda gets the cards on the table.

That’s it. When a player has no cards, he’s out, and when one player has all the cards, she wins! (This one’s usually pretty quick.)

Variation

Some tribes play that if two cards played one after the other match, any player who slaps the pile before the next card is played gets the pile and starts again. Slaps override even High card plays, and any High cards of the same rank (on the chart above) are considered to “match.” Some groups even let new players enter in mid-game by “slapping in.”

Example: Stefan plays the Donjon. Esmerelda plays the Beast. Normally, the next player would have to play one card and hope for a High card, but Stefan sees the match and slaps the pile, getting the cards.

Equipment Needed

• One crown Deck
• One Low Deck (suits) (For especially large games, a second Low Deck may be added)
• Coins or chips

Goal

• To win money by having either the highest or lowest hand.

Cut for dealer; archetypes are high, 1’s low, crown cards are nils. Dealer shuffles and then deals four cards to each player, starting to his left and moving clockwise. (There is an ante.) The player to the dealer’s left bets first and may bet any amount up to the ante or may check by saying “Lunadi.” Raises are uncommon but possible; you may not raise by an amount more than the ante in the first round. Folds are also uncommon early on; a player signifies a fold by saying “Dya-yahg.”

After everyone has bet or checked, the player to the dealer’s left may draw one or two cards or may stand pat. The dealer gives that player the number of cards discarded plus one, to bring the hand up to five cards. Every discard must be matched by a second ante into the pot, so a player who discards two cards must also contribute a double ante. (This is not a game for the poor; however, stakes tend to be quite low, and it’s equally common to play for fun, or to use the chips as markers for a winner’s prize.) Then there is a second round of betting; raises may be up to a double ante with no limit. Players call by saying “Koorah,” and when all players have called or folded, the hands are exposed. High and low hands split the pot.

Scoring the Hands

The archetype cards may be high or low in their suit. Crown cards are nulls and do not contribute to scoring (but see below). For example, a player who has 3-6-6-CC has a pair of sixes, nothing more. The hands rank as follows, high to low:

• The Vistana: Five crown cards automatically take the whole pot (or split with any other player lucky enough to get five crown cards).
• Tasque: Five connected cards of the same suit (they may wrap around). 2-3-4-5-6 of glyphs or 9-A-1-2-3 of stars would be tasques. Two tasques are compared starting with the highest cards on down.
• Vardo: Three cards of one rank and two of another (a full house).
• Tetran: Four cards of the same rank; the fifth card may be anything, even a null (but nulls rank below all other cards).
• Caravan: Five connected cards of different suits. Comparison is as for tasques.
• Lunaset: Five cards, all of different suits (in other words, one star, one glyph, one coin, one sword, and one crown).
• Petit Caravan: Four connected cards of different suits and a null (a “four-straight”).
• Tribe: Five cards of the same suit.
• Family: Four cards of the same suit and a null.
• Marriage with Children: Two pairs.
• Triskan: Three cards of the same rank.
• Marriage: Two cards of the same rank.
• Giorgio: Anything that doesn’t fit the above.

In multi-deck games, it is traditional to allow hands with two identical cards to beat others, so a marriage with two sixes of swords would beat a marriage of a six of coins and a six of glyphs.

Variation

Sometimes, for spice, it is agreed that the archetypes will be wild cards. (In this case, there are only four archetypes, even if multiple low decks are used.) Archetypes may be used to match in suit but not rank or rank but not suit. For example, a player has the archetype of swords, the six of glyphs, the six of swords, and the seven of glyphs before the draw; he may consider his archetype to be a six of coins or stars, but not glyphs or swords. He may also consider it to be a glyph but need not specify which one until the hands are exposed. Archetypes may not be used for nulls.

Equipment Needed

• One low deck (1-A in each suit)
• Kidlets (use a second low deck for four or more)

Goal

• Dump your hand.

Deal six cards to each player. Turn over the top card. Dealer goes first, and may match the top card in rank or suit (or both, in a multi-deck game). If dealer cannot play, she must draw from the face-down cards until she can.

Sixes are the “giorgios,” and may be used as any suit. You may not play one giorgio on top of another.

The hand ends when one player goes out or no one can play and there are no cards left to draw. Each player with cards left adds the number of cards to his score; when one player goes over 25 the game is over and the lowest score wins. Giorgios count as two cards.

Variation I

Each player adds the sum of the card values, and the game goes until one player has over 100 points. Archetype cards count as 10 and giorgios count as 15 (ouch!).

Variation II

When a deuce is played, the next player must either match the deuce with another deuce or draw two cards and forfeit her turn. If two deuces are played together, then the next player must draw four, and so on. In this version the deuces are called the Donnolas (the weasels). Some people combine this with a rule where the archetype of stars, here called the Strega (the witch) forces the next player to draw three cards.

Equipment Needed

• One full Tarokka deck (use a second full deck for six or more adults)

Goal

• Get the most crown cards and/or be the first to go out.

Deal six cards to each player. Every player immediately pulls out any crown cards he has in his hand and puts them in front of him. Then deal again, giving each player enough cards to bring him back up to six. Repeat until all players have six low cards in their hands.

Play begins as above. However, if a player is drawing from the deck and draws a crown card, he immediately puts it in front of him and play passes to his left. The hand is over when all the crown cards have been played or one player has gone out.

Scoring

Each player receives one point for each crown card in front of him; if a player went out, he receives a five-point bonus. Play continues to 50 points.

Equipment Needed

• Cards (see below)
• Up to ten observant youngsters

Goal

• Get four of a kind.

This one’s easy. Take a deck of cards and remove sets of four for each player. (If you have eight players, take the 1-8 of each suit out.) Shuffle the cards and deal four to each player. Then, every player discards one to her left and picks up the card from her right. (This won’t work if your players won’t sit in a circle, so make them.) This continues until one player has four of a kind, at which point she just starts passing the card immediately from right to left. She also has to touch her chin with her forefinger. Everyone who notices her do this has to do it as well, until only one person does NOT notice. And when he finally gets the clue, everyone shouts “Sciocco!” at him and the game starts over.

Variation

Put enough objects (spoons, for instance) in the middle of the circle for all the players except one. Instead of touching the chin, the players have to sneak the objects out of the circle. Otherwise, it’s identical.

Equipment Needed

• One low deck, including archetypes
• Three to seven players

This game lasts for several rounds, depending on the number of players. Three players can play for 13 rounds, four for ten, five for eight, six for six, and seven for five. Start off by dealing one card to each player, and then turn over the next card. Whatever suit that card is becomes trump; a card in the trump suit is always higher than any card in another suit.

The players bid on how many tricks (sets of cards) they think they can take. (Obviously, for round one, that’s either one or zero, called Pass or Lunadi.) The players have to take exactly that number or tricks to score points. (It is traditional for the dealer, at the end of the bidding, to say either “sotto,” if the total bid is less than the total number of tricks possible, “sopra” if too many tricks were bid, or “esatto” if the total bid equals the number of tricks.) Players who do not take what they have bid release their frustration by yelling “Concime!” unless there are adults about, in which case they just sit and grumble.

After the bidding, the first player leads and the other players must follow suit if able. If unable to follow suit, a player may play any card. If a player does make his bid precisely, he gets ten points plus the amount of his bid unless he bid Lunadi, in which case he gets 5 points plus the number of cards in his hand. Then the cards are shuffled and one more card is dealt to every player than the previous hand. On the final hand, there is no trump card. After that hand, the player with the highest total score wins.

Equipment Needed

• Five players
• One full deck of cards

Cut for the dealer; high card deals. Shuffle the cards thoroughly. Deal the cards, starting to the dealer’s left and moving left, in sets of 3, 2, 2, and 3 cards to each player. After each round of dealing, put one card into a sixth hand called the Vedova (widow). At the end of the deal, each player should have ten cards and the vedova will have four; these four cards will not be used.

Play consists of five rounds, over and over until one person scores 100 points and thus loses. In each round, a different suit is the “penalty suit,” as explained in a moment. Also, in each round, players pass two cards to another player as indicated below.

Play begins with the player to the dealer’s left. He may lead any suit but the penalty suit (or a special crown card). (If a crown card is led, that player is considered to have won the trick unless one of the four special cards, listed below, is played—the first player to play one of those to a trick where a crown card is led wins the trick.) A player who does not have a card in the suit led may play any card. Once a penalty-suit card has been played to a trick, the penalty suit (or special crown card) may be led.

At the end of the ten tricks, players look through the tricks they have taken and count the number of penalty cards; this number is added to their score. (A player who takes no tricks is given a -5 bonus.) There are four special crown cards that can affect this score, however:

(Note that these four cards do not count as crown cards during the “anima” round.)

If a player takes all ten penalty-suit cards and the Darklord, he is said to have a Paatern. A player with a paatern may either subtract 20 points from his score or add 20 points to the other four players’ scores—unless that player has also taken another special card. The Hangman doubles this to 40 points, the Innocent negates even the paatern, and the Artifact reverses the paatern, so that the player may either add 20 points to his score or subtract 20 points from everyone else’s. (Or 40, if the player is unlucky enough to get both the Artifact and the Hangman.)

Should a player collect all ten penalty cards and all four special crown cards, he is said to have completed the Paatern Grosse and his score immediately reverts to zero. (Of course, if he had a negative score to begin with, this isn’t such a good thing.)

After the hand, the cards are reshuffled—carefully!— and the deal passes to the right. The player with the fewest points when one player goes over 100 points wins the game.

Games of Cinque Elementi can go very quickly, if one player is very lucky, or can take quite a while, when no player has been lucky. This is a favorite of slightly older children; for younger children, some of the rules may be relaxed, and sometimes the crown deck and vedova are omitted and the game is a four-player game rather than a five-player game.