01-025 Animal Tarot

01-025
Animal Tarot

I have seen so much false information of tarot floating around the internet.

Many new age followers, tarot card readers or sellers are actively preaching this as gospel truth on their websites or Facebook. They claimed that tarot has a long history that can be traced back to ancient Egypt. And people have been using tarot for divination since the middle age. Some even claimed that ordinary playing cards were evolved from tarot. These claims are nothing but simply fake.

A simple fact check on internet can find you the truth. Tarot was first found in the mid-15^th century, which is some 600 years ago. And they are evolved from playing cards, not the other way round. However, there exists a theory that playing cards were originated from Egypt. Historians can trace the origin back to around 11^th century AD. Yes, both tarots and playing cards are ancient, but there is still a far way to link them up with ancient Egypt. Cleopatra has never played any tarots.

And tarot is originally designed for playing card games. The history of using tarot decks for divination is quite recent. The practice only first appeared in mid-18^th century, which is less than 300 years in history. However, people started using normal playing cards for divination since the 15^th century. Some are still doing this nowadays and selling their specially made decks on Etsy.

Now, you should know how the merchandisers work out their theory. They took a bit of fact from here and there to construct their story. All they want is to try adding more “history” to tarot decks, making them look more decent and attractive so that they can make more money out of it. For sure, tarot has a long history, but not as long as what many people claim.

Animal Tarot

After introducing the Tarot Nouveau pattern of Bourgeois Tarot and the similar Industrie und Glück pattern which illustrates genre scenes of rural life with no themes, I am now going to show you a third pattern of French-suited tarot deck designated for playing games, the “Animal Tarot” or Adler Cego to be exact.

Since the 18^th century, card designers started to replace the pattern on Tarot de Marseille by different animals. Since then, the deck became popular in most part of the Europe, except in France. France kept using Tarot de Marseille for gaming until the 20^th century and then developed its own Tarot Nouveau pattern, which I have already written another post for that. Card players nowadays have already abandoned Tarot de Marseille for tarot card games. Tarot de Marseille is now produced solely for divinatory purpose.

Animal Tarot

Animal tarot was later superseded by Industrie und Glück in Europe but both patterns co-exist until today. Different animal tarot patterns were once produced but Adler Cego pattern is the only animal tarot pattern still in common use.

Tarot deck in Adler Cego pattern is being played in the Black Forest region of southwest Germany. It is in French suit. Like the Industrie und Glück pattern, it is now produced as a stripped deck with only 54 cards which include of 22 trumps, 16 face cards (images) and 16 pip cards (empty cards). Trump 1 shows the Kleiner Mann (based on Hans Wurst) while trump 2 has mythological hybrids. Trumps 3 to 21 depict real animals. The highest trump lacks the pink panels that the other trumps have on both ends of the cards depicting its rank in Arabic numerals. Instead, it shows a gleeman (wandering poet) and is called the Stieß or G'stieß (Fool). Despite the name (Adler means "eagle"), eagles do not appear in any of the cards.

As its name suggested, Adler Cego is for playing Cego. For sure, the deck can be used for playing other games if appropriate. The pattern is in public domain. At present, mass production is only available from ASS Altenburger.

How to tell the upright direction of the trumps?

I am showing the design of the deck below. Since the deck is double-figured like many modern day playing card decks, it is rather difficult to tell which side should be facing up and which side should be facing down. Luckily, I found a site that can shine some light upon me. 

The face cards of Adler Cego,

all lacking corner indices.

The trump set of Adler Cego

The pip cards, lacking corner indices

Is Adler Cego worth buying?

Technically, you can play all tarot games with a deck of Tarot Nouveau. Same as Industrie und Glück deck, Adler Cego produced nowadays has less cards. Games that require all 78 cards cannot be played with this deck.

But if you want to play Cego in a more “traditional” way, you would like to play with an Adler Cego deck. The cards are beautifully printed and not expensive at all. The patterns are very traditional. Owning a pack of Adler Cego is like having a piece of Bavarian history at home. I recommend that. 

General Information

Player	3 to 4
Playing Time	10 mins
Age	12+
Year Released	1839
Designer	(Public Domain)
Publisher	ASS Altenburger Spielkarten
Family	Trick-taking
Score	7.3 (Board Game Geek)

Specifications

Card size	63mm x 110mm
Deck size	54 cards
# of suits	5 – Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades & Trumps
Details	The deck is in traditional French suit. Pip cards are valued from 1 to 10, but the 5s through 10s in red suits and the 1s through 6s in the black suits are removed. The 4 face cards are V, C, D & R. Trumps consist of 21 cards. Trump 1 shows the Kleiner Mann (based on Hans Wurst) while trump 2 has mythological hybrids. Trumps 3 to 21 depict real animals. Fool card is the highest trump and shows a wandering poet. There are no Jokers.

Game Play

Where to buy?

Etsy.

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