
- BGG rank
- BGG #45
- BGG rating
- 8.0
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
- 2–5 players
- 20 min
- Complexity 2.1/5
- 2021

1806
Rules assistance for Tarock
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Tarock is a board game released in 1806 for 2–5 players and 30 minutes per game. Its main mechanics are Hand Management and Trick-taking.
Tarock is a general term for the many 2 to 5 player, point trick taking games of central Europe that use a 54-card Tarock deck. Common to these games is a round of bidding followed by a round of announcements indicating bonuses that will be attempted during the round of play, and doublings of the game, or any of the announced bonuses. The deck consists of 4 suits (usually clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds), and a permanent trump suit (Tarock) of 22 cards. There are variants of tarock for 2 to 5 players. Straw man tarock is a variant for 2 players where each players hand is augmented by cards dealt out into piles in front of him/her at the beginning of the game. Tapp tarock is a variant for 3 players that does away with the bid to 'call a king'. Königrufen is a variant for 4 active players (with 5 one player deals and sits out that round) who are dealt 12 cards and 6 for the talon, bidding indicates how many cards will be used from the talon with the remaining cards being split by the other players. The declarer calls a trump (XIX) or one of the kings to indicate a partner (the partner does not indicate this fact though), after which players can make bonus announcements and doublings. During the play, suit must be followed and trump must be played if you are out of the suit. Points are counted after each round and the declarer, generally, needs to take more than half in order to fulfill the contract.
Tarock supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Tarock is 30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
Tarock has a complexity rating of 3.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Tarock belongs to these categories: Card Game. Its main mechanics are Hand Management and Trick-taking. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The catalogue lists Tarock as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.