Description
– Launched Oct 2022 on Kickstarter, 210 supporters contributed €14,761 or approx S$21,359, out of €7,000 goal, to bring this project to life.
– Check out the YouTube review by VJose32
The Genoese Tarot – Deluxe Edition is the gilded, luxury-packaged, and limited edition of the Genoese Tarot, printed by Cartamundi with cold foil on the faces and back.
The design marries the elegance of the traditional Genoese 40-card deck with the vivid imagery of the iconic Marseilles tarot and comprises 88 fully custom playing cards: 3 jokers, 1 fool, 21 trumps, 56 suit cards, 6 rule cards, and an additional trump called l’invexendon or “butterfingers”, allowing to play many fun games.
Visit sbiro.eu and learn more about traditional Ligurian card games you can play with the Genoese Tarot!
Designed based upon ideas and research from Jean Maillard
Tarot. That’s for fortune-telling, right? Not quite!
Invented in Northern Italy in the 15th century, the tarot pack is an extended version of the regular deck of cards. Rather than for fortune-telling, it was originally designed for playing a very special kind of card games – and that’s how it’s still being used in several European countries.
This project brings you a set of tarot cards which are a contemporary tribute to this ancient heritage. The design marries the elegance of the traditional Genoese 40-card deck with the vivid imagery of the iconic Marseilles tarot. While the cards are rich in iconography and historical references, we took great care in ensuring that the deck would be very ergonomic for its main intended purpose: playing tarot card games.
Quick Overview
88 bridge-sized playing cards, including 2 jokers, 1 fool, 21 trumps, and 56 suit cards (A-10, jack, cavalier, queen and king in each of the four French suits)
Fully custom faces, back design, pips, aces, and jokers
Printed by Cartamundi on a superluxe board with standard playing card varnish
Metallic ink on the faces and back (cold foil as a stretch-goal -> unlocked)
2 editions: Classic and Deluxe (gilded)
Shipment estimated to begin in June 2023 (fulfillment by Gambler’s Warehouse and Fulfillment Deallez)
Court Cards
Tarot decks are – historically and conceptually – extended versions of regular decks. Court cards are often the most complex and ornate parts of a standard deck, so we knew that our kings, queens and jacks would be providing the foundation upon which the rest of the deck would be built.
We chose to base our work on the Genoese pattern of cards. This elegant style of cards belongs to the Belgian-Genoese family of card patterns, and is the second most used style in the world after the Anglo-American pattern. The city of Genoa and the surrounding region of Liguria were for many years the largest producers of tarot decks in Italy, so the choice of the Genoese pattern felt historically right too.
Looking closely at the illustrations, you will find multiple layers of meaning and discreet tributes to historical references.
Genoese Tarot, Genovesi Modiano, Portrait de Paris
The Genoese pattern is reversible, meaning that court cards are two-headed and can be viewed from either orientation. This was not always the case, however – the pattern’s ancestor, the French portrait officiel, used to have full standing jacks, queens and kings, accompanied by many endearing details. Many of these elements – such as the small dog climbing up the leg of the jack of spades, or the fan held by the queen of clubs – were lost when the deck was made reversible. With our Genoese Tarot, we have decided to restore some of these original details, while maintaining the reversibility of the cards that is essential for serious card play.
We add the original Genoese names to all cards. They are particularly interesting due to the fact that this region of Italy, despite having used French suits for centuries, still refers to them using the names of the Latin suits. On the cards you will therefore find the words coppe (cups) for hearts, dinæ (coins) for diamonds, etc. We add corner indices to all cards in order to make them more ergonomic. The letterforms have in several cases been optimised for ease of recognition through extensive playtesting.
Genoese Tarot, Tarot des fleurs, Tarot Arnoult
One of the peculiarities of tarot decks is the presence of four court figures rather than the usual three. The additional figure of the knight – or cavalier – is added to all four suits and ranks between the jack and the queen.
The standard Genoese 40-card deck lacks cavaliers. In order to design them in a way that would fit with the base deck, we spent a lot of time studying period costumes and other historically related card designs. The resulting figures blend in nicely with the other courts, and observant players will notice that they match the postures of the cavaliers found in the Tarot de Marseille.
Numerical Cards and Aces
The pip cards have the traditional clean design of French-suited decks.
The seven of diamonds has a subtle ornament on one of the pips, paying quiet homage to il settebello, the card that plays a special role in the quintessential Italian game of Scopa and its many variants (such as the lively Genoese variant Cirulla).
The ace of hearts contains a representation of a griffin prevailing over an eagle and a fox – a historical allegory of the Most Serene Republic of Genoa triumphing over its enemies, echoing the old motto Griphus ut has angit, sic hostes Janua frangit (as the griffin strangles these foes, so Genoa crushes her enemies).
Jokers
The two Jokers, one red and one black, depict a bust of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and endings as well as an ancient symbol of the city since Medieval times. At the base of the card is a symbol representing iānua, the two-doored passageway, not only a cognate with Janus but also another traditional symbol of the city.
Trumps and Fool
The main distinguishing feature of a tarot deck is, of course, the additional 22 cards known as triumphs or trumps. In order to design them we looked at dozens of historical and contemporary tarot decks, chief amongst them the iconic Tarot de Marseille which used to be produced en masse by the playing card manufacturers of the Republic of Genoa. Other important references have been several hand-made decks from the 15th century.
Our trumps use the same clean and modern style that characterises the rest of the deck. Like all other cards in the Genoese Tarot, we maintain the diagonal division that is typical of the Genoese pattern. The trumps are easily distinguished during play by the large metallic corner indices, reminiscent of the Tarot Nouveau, and by the introduction of the colour blue, which is not present in other cards.
Tarot Gaudais, Della Rocca, Genoese Tarot
Every trump card has been carefully designed to highlight – and in some cases restore – the symbolism that is found in the oldest historical references. The well known card representing the Wheel of Fortune, pictured above, serves as a good example.
The two sides are not exactly mirror-like: on one side we find a figure at the top of its fortune, on the other we have a figure dogged by misfortune. In doing so, we have restored the symbolism that is completely lost in decks such as the Tarot de Marseille.
In addition, we introduce in all of our trumps subtle differences which do away with the rigid symmetry of the court and pip cards, allowing us to tell a richer story.
Our Fool is clearly reminiscent of the Marseilles and Piedmontese traditions. It depicts a carefree figure carrying a bindle while being chased by animals – the traditional dog on one side and a cat on the other (a reference to a historical tarot deck by a Genoese manufacturer).
Back Design
The card backs are inspired by the traditional Genoese laggioin, the colourful ornamental glazed tiles that decorate the staircases and interiors of many local palaces, inspired by traditional Iberian and Islamic art.
Elettra’s sketches inspired by “Azulejos e laggioni” by L. Pessa and P. Ramagli.
Rule Cards
Our Genoese Tarot deck includes six cards containing “cheat sheets” to help you remember the rules to some of our favourite card games. These include classics such as Piquet, Scopone and various tarot games. Do you struggle to remember how to compute scores in French Tarot? The rule cards are here to help you!
We are extremely grateful to John McLeod for his help in reviewing these rule cards, as well as for his work on pagat.com, an invaluable resource for all card players.
Tuck Boxes
Printed by Boschiero & Newton
The classic tuck box will be printed on high-quality paper stock with green and metallic gold inks, matching the colours of the cards. Features include a special transparent coating which will increase the resistance of the packaging item.
The tuck box of the Deluxe Edition will be printed on uncoated paper with bronze and gold hot foil. A detailed illustration covers the entire surface of the tuck and shows the city of Genoa as depicted in the late 15th century.
About the Authors
Elettra Deganello
I am an Italian graphic designer and illustrator in love with playing cards. You can visit my website to see some of my works and read more about me. As for social media, Instagram is the one I update the most. Check it out if you want to keep up with news about upcoming decks and products.
Special acknowledgement goes to Jean Maillard: the Genoese Tarot wouldn’t exist without his ideas, passion, and meticulous research.
Not only Jean gave a beating heart to this deck, but he also renewed my interest and motivation in creating playing cards.
Jean Maillard
Jean was born in the city of Genoa and is half French and half Italian. He grew up playing a large variety of card games including Cirulla, Belote, Briscola and French Tarot. An avid sailor and mountaineer, some of his favourite memories with playing cards involve making friends with strangers over a game of Briscola and a bottle of grappa in various mountain huts in the Alps and on Mediterranean beaches.
Playing cards photographed by Richard Arturo
Tuck boxes photographed by You Chen
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