Tarot Board


Larry, an avid chess player, and Kerri, who enjoyed telling fortunes with tarot cards, together invented a new game
that involved elements from both chess and tarot cards. Once they established all the rules, they told their friends Jerry and Mary about their new game and invited them to play a round. Always game for something new and exciting, Mary and Jerry accepted the invitation. Each of the four played against each other and picked one of the chess pieces from the set to use as a token. Appropriately enough, Larry and Jerry each picked one of the two kings from the chess set while Mary and Kerri each chose one of the two queens from the same set.
The object of the game was to drive all of the opponents off the board (actually four chessboards put together to form
a 16 x 16 grid) using the tarot cards as plays which required the player to move himself or any of the opponents a certain number of spaces in a certain direction. The direction and number of spaces depended on the card being played. Many of the cards required a move toward one of the four fringes that were just beyond each corner of the board. If a player were near a corner, he/she was vulnerable to elimination as some cards would drive him/her into the fringe outside the board. Some other cards drove players towards (and sometimes off) the edges instead of the corners. At the beginning of the game, each player occupied one of the four-centermost squares on the board with his/her token and drew three cards from the tarot card deck. Once that was done, one of the players took a turn by laying down any one of the three cards face-up and moved his token, as that card required. Then the same player laid down another card face-up and moved any one of the opponents, as that second card required. As for the third card, the player saved it for a later turn and drew two more cards from the deck to have three cards on his next turn. Each player took a turn in a similar manner until he/she was driven off the board and eliminated from the game. NOTE: When the deck was nearly depleted, it was reshuffled with the cards that were already played, making certain the deck never ran out of cards.
The information below describes the tarot cards and some highlights of the game. Using that information, can you
determine the correct number of spaces and direction each card requires?


1. The tarot card deck consisted of the Minor Arcana and Major Arcana cards. There were four different suits among the Minor Arcana cards: coins, cups, staffs, and swords. Each suit consisted of 14 cards, including the ace, page, knight, queen, and king. The other cards in each suit were consecutively numbered from 2 to 10. The Major Arcana cards did not have suits.

2. Larry almost eliminated Mary on one occasion by playing the Queen of Staffs—which required a one-space move toward the Fire fringe—when she was only one square away from the board corner just in front of the Fire fringe. Another staff card could have eliminated Mary by pushing her into the Fire fringe outside the board. Fortunately for Mary, her turn was next and she was able to play the World card on herself, which allowed her to move four spaces toward the center. She was also lucky enough at the time to hold a card that always required a three-space move toward the center.

3. Within any Minor Arcana suit, the ace and face cards (page, knight, queen, and king) all required a one-space move toward the same fringe. The others in the same suit required a one-space move in one of the following directions: north, east, south, and west. All of the numbered cards with the same suit forced a move in the same direction, but cards of each suit required a move in the different direction from cards of the three other suits. With the numbered cards of any one suit, the required direction was always to a side containing the fringe that the ace & face cards of the same suit forced a token to approach.

4. Kerri was in danger of being sucked into the Air fringe but managed to distance herself from it when she played the Page of Coins on herself, which required a one-space move toward the Earth fringe.

5. Jerry forced Larry one square east when he played the Seven of Swords on him. Kerri endangered Larry further by playing the Four of Staffs to make him move one square north. Larry, though, reversed their consecutive plays on him by laying down the King of Coins to move his token back where it was before Jerry laid down the Seven of Swords.

6. Jerry was nearly drawn into the Water fringe when Mary played the Moon card on him, but he undid that four-space move by playing the Devil card on himself, which required a four-space move toward the Fire fringe.

7. One of the four players was eliminated by being forced to move off the western edge of the board. The card that caused this elimination was not one of the coin cards.

8. Four Major Arcana cards were affected by a coin toss. They were the cards for Justice, Death, the Sun, and Judgement. Depending on the toss result and in no particular order, one of them required a three-space move either toward the center or the Fire fringe, another required a three-space move either toward the center or the northern edge, still another forced a three-space move either toward the east or west, and one more was the Justice card. The Death card had at least one coin toss outcome that caused it to force a move toward one of the edges.

9. These three cards each forced southward movements by different numbers of spaces: the Ten of Cups, the Chariot, and the one that required a three-space move to the south.

10. These four cards always forced northward movements, all by different numbers of spaces. They were as follows: the Star, the Two of Staffs, the one requiring a two-space move, and the Magician.

11. Kerri seemed safe being five spaces away from the corner in front of the Water fringe but was victimized by Larry and Mary. Consecutively, they played the Moon and the Empress cards on her (neither of which required a three-space move).

12. Mary was one square away from the corner in front of the Earth fringe and held the cards for Justice, Strength, and the Knight of Coins. Playing the Strength card would have caused Mary to eliminate herself, so she took her chances by playing the Justice card on herself. A coin toss resulting in heads would have sent her two spaces toward the Earth fringe, but luckily she got tails and thus moved herself two spaces toward the Air fringe instead.

13. Three Major Arcana cards required a move of at least two spaces toward the Fire fringe at least part of the time. The Hermit and the Wheel of Fortune cards were not among them.

14. Exactly six cards from the deck required the maximum move of four spaces, and one of them forced a move toward the Earth fringe. Exactly seven other cards required a three-space move, none of which was the Star card. The Fool card was not among the 13 cards mentioned here, but the Lovers card was.

15. The player using the white king from the chess set was sucked into the Air fringe (which was not outside the southern side of the board) when the player using the black queen played the Tower card. Prior to elimination, the white king was three spaces away from the corner in front of the Air fringe.

16. The Priestess and Hierophant cards each required the same number of spaces to move (which was greater than one) but in opposite directions. The Temperance card required a move in a direction perpendicular to the ones required by the Priestess and Hierophant cards. It also forced a bigger move than the Priestess card. The Sun card had something in common with at least two of the others mentioned in this clue.

17. The Emperor card required a two-space move toward the fringe beyond the southwestern corner of the board.

18. Three particularly useful cards were the ones always forcing a move of at least two spaces toward the center. None of these was the Hermit card.

19. On one turn, the player using the black king moved three spaces from the Earth fringe corner toward the center with the Hanged Man card, which actually required a move toward another fringe.

20. Of the final eight turns that alternated between the player using the black king and the other using the white queen, the first was taken by the one using the black king, and the last turn involved playing the Hierophant card on the opponent.

© 1997 d_d_tea@hotmail.com


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