Schadenfreude Rules — tarot deck table reference

Tarot deck mapping

Use the four suits as the four colors. For the 48 suited number cards, treat the ranks this way:

K -3

Q -2

J -1

A–9 1–9

Fool / X wild 0 / 10

Wilds: The Fool is the wild 0. Major Arcana X / the tarot 10 is the wild 10. Set aside the four suited 10s and any extra tarot cards you are not using.

Setup

Players	Deck	Deal
5	All 48 suited ranks + 2 wilds	10 each
4	All 48 suited ranks + 2 wilds	12 each; set aside 2 undealt cards
3	K, A–8 in each suit + 2 wilds	12 each; set aside the 2 undealt cards

Everyone starts at 0 on the score track. Pick a lead player for the first trick.

3-player tarot cut

For 3 players, the original deck uses 38 cards. With this tarot mapping, use each suit’s:

K, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 plus the Fool and Major X wilds.

Set aside Q, J, 9, all suited 10s, and extra tarot court/major cards.

Playing a trick

Lead any card. The lead suit is the suit led. If the leader plays a wild, the lead suit becomes the first non-wild suit played.

Follow suit if able. If you have the lead suit, you must play it. A wild may be treated as any suit, so it can satisfy following suit. If you have no lead suit, play any card; you are not forced to spend a wild.

Only followers can win. Cards that did not follow suit cannot win the trick. Leave them on the table for scoring.

Second-highest wins. Among the cards that followed suit, the second-highest rank wins. If only one card followed, that card wins.

Winner leads next. The trick winner takes scoring cards, then leads the next trick.

What the winner takes

The trick winner adds these to their visible score pile:

the card they personally played, and
every card that failed to follow suit.

All other cards from the trick are discarded.

Wild card reminders

Wild 0 and wild 10 can follow any suit.
If a wild is led, wait for the first non-wild card to establish the suit everyone must follow.
Wilds have their printed values for scoring: 0 or 10.

Scoring applet

Track the score track between rounds. Card buttons are a quick score-pile helper: tap a value once to keep it, tap the same value again to cancel its pair. Lit buttons are the unmatched cards still in your score pile.

Players

Enter round totals, then apply the round.

Score piles: matching values cancel

Keep acquired cards face up in your score pile. When you acquire a card with a value you already have, discard one matching pair immediately.

If you take two Kings in a round, the two K values pair up and are discarded immediately — you keep zero Kings from that pair. If you would have three of the same value, discard two and keep one. Suits do not matter for cancellation — only the value matters.

End of a round

When all hands are empty, total each player’s score pile.
Move each marker by that total.
If a total would drop a player below 0, leave them at 0.
If nobody is over 40, shuffle everything and play another round.

After round 1, the player with the lowest score leads the next round. Break a low-score tie however the table wants.

Game end

As soon as any player’s score is over 40, the game ends.

Players over 40 are eliminated.
Among the remaining players, closest to 40 wins.
If the closest score is tied, those tied players do not win; check the next closest score.