Trull (cards)

In German, they were initially called matadors, a word borrowed from the game (with ordinary cards) of Ombre.

The games of the tarot (French) or tarock (German) family are distinguished mainly in that, in addition to the suit cards, their decks have a series of 21 classical, permanent trumps, most of which are numbered with Roman or Arabic numerals.

The following three cards form the Trull: Tarock I, the smallest trump, is traditionally called the Pagat.

The name is derived from the Italian bagatto, which has no other meaning, but is related to bagatelle which refers to "something... that is small and not important".

Its name is a false Germanization of the French le monde or Italian il mondo which mean "world" not "moon".

In the Black Forest Alemannic dialect used by players of Cego and Dreierles it is called and spelt "Mund".

The Fool (German: der Narr; Italian: il matto) is often compared to the Joker in more recent card games.

In the French Tarot variants, the Fool is traditionally played with a ritualized excuse, comparable to a tennis player who says "Sorry" after hitting the ball into the net.

In some Tarock games, such as the Rhaeto-Romanic Troccas, the trull has no meaning beyond its point value and sometimes no collective name.

The cards together are worth 91 points, so a majority would be 46, but a player only needs 41 to win the game if he has two bouts among his tricks and only 36 if he has all three.

The game is primarily aimed at the bonus associated with capturing the Moon i.e. to seize the opponent's trump XXI with the Skiz.

The pagát can be played as a bonus to win the last trick (ultimo), either announced in advance or taken "quietly" for half the points.

In the "illustrated" form of Hungarian Tarokk, which has many additional contracts, the trull cards acquired further roles.

The smallest trump - which has numerous regional names, such as der Kleine Mann (the Little Man), Pagat, Babberle, Geiß (goat) or Pfeif (pipe or whistle, also pejorative for "lame duck") - plays special roles.

In Dreierles, the Tarocks are known in the local dialect as Drucks and the Trull is the Droll or Drull and the bonus is the Drullrolle.