Grosstarock (German: 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[1] but spread rapidly into Austria and northwards as far as the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

[3] This form of Tarot game was introduced into Germany from France around 1720,[a] its initial terminology and mode of play being typically French.

The original game - which may be referred to as classical Taroc (Tarocspiel or Taroc-Spiel) - was a simple, three-hander with no bidding but several card combinations, as can be seen from descriptions in the 1750s.

[5] The next development of the game is first described in the 1783 edition of Das neue Königliche l'Hombre which, for the first time, records a feature whereby a player taking no tricks is able to score all the points.

[6] Dummett sees this as the distinguishing mark of the game he calls Grosstarock and believes that this name was not introduced until the mid-19th century.

The first rules were published in 1786, and by 1840 they already included features that are peculiar to the Danish variant, such as separate pots for the King and Pagat ultimo.

The Danes also retained the anticlockwise mode of play and adopted a very wide range of declarations, although some authors counselled against having too many.

[17] The modern Danish game is played in a form that Martin argues is close to the original German Grosstarock.

[5] The Danes produced their own Tarok cards from the mid-18th century, initially based on the Bavarian Animal Tarot pattern and later to Jacob Holmblad's own design, but manufacture of all Danish Tarok cards had ceased by 1939,[18] so nowadays they use imported French Tarot Nouveau packs.

They were followed by the earliest animal tarots utilizing Lyonnais face cards, made around 1740 in Strasbourg and also in Germany up to the early 19th century.

[20][21][22][23] The Bavarian animal tarot was designed by Andreas Benedict Göbl of Munich, Bavaria around 1765.

However, a facsimile of a Russian derivative of the 78-card Bavarian Animal Tarot pattern (Russisches Tiertarock) is available from Piatnik.

As a result, Danish Tarok players today use French Tarot Nouveau cards.

In all cases the packs comprise the following cards: Note that, in some rules, all suits were ranked in their natural order with Aces low.

[19] The aim in every case is to score points by capturing counting cards in tricks and to earn bonuses through declarations and certain accomplishments during the play.

[2] The earliest rules in German for a Tarock game were published in 1754 in Regeln bey dem Taroc-Spiele.

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.

Scoring works as follows: Dummett describes Grosstarock rules in Ten Tarot Games, based on a number of sources.

At the start of the game, each player antes 20 points into each pot and lots are drawn to decide the first dealer.

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.

Players must follow suit or trump if unable (here the Scies may be counted as a Tarok but does not win the trick).