Scanned this 400+ page motherfucker in! Sharing it via Pirate Bay. It's a pretty rare book and the available copies are all over $100. I got the local library to order it for me, then scanned it in. Perhaps you can convince the library to order a copy in your area as well. Or you can just grab this Torrent.
Book scans of:
"A History of Games Played With the Tarot Pack"
by Michael Dummett and John McLeod
It's all about the real history behind Tarot which has surprisingly little to do with all the mystical bullshit we attach to the cards these days. I've actually played the card game myself and it's pretty damn fun!
Here's the URL to the torrent:
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3913821/
dude, thanks! I can't even imagine how much work that would be... i only wish I wasn't at work or I'd DL that shit right now! totally when i get back home though. thaks for the effort!
Related question: what's a good place to buy tarot game decks? I know a bunch of shops which sell the arty farty sort which people use for fortune telling, but there are quite a few designs I've seen pictures of which seem more suited to games.
>>3
It's probably easiest to order something like that online.
sad but true - probably not likely to find one in a walmart! BTW, just DL'd it, thanks Anon. you are a trooper. god, i get annoyed and tired scanning in like 5 pages of anything, let alone 400+ pages scanned and cropped!
Well I wondered because in Tokyo I visited a game shop which had a huge number of different Tarot decks. At the time I didn't know it was a game, and now that I do I'm too far away to go there.
Most of the decks online are the arty farty sort too though. At least on the sites I usually find when I do the search. The local "specialty" game shop has nothing of the sort either, although they did have 13 spot cards for playing 500, which is elite in its own way.
Thanks Anon for this book! I have a Tarot pack that I bought at a whim because I like the art, now I finally has a use for it.
Sorry this post is so late getting to you, you probably aren't even checking it any more but I figured I'd reply with the information just in case anyone else you do still check it or if anyone else sees the posting and is wondering the same thing, because they are rather difficult to come by... Especially over here in the states (where I'm posting from at least).
The best site I've found overall has probably been http://www.tarobearslair.com they carry a wide variety of playing decks, as well as a small (very limited) selection of divination (aka spiritual) and oracle decks there as well. Their prices are also the most reasonable although the other site which I'm going to be mentioning is quite comparable in price.
I was also THRILLED to see that at tarobearslair.com they have regional playing cards including Piquet cards (just like our normal playing cards here in the states but without any numbers on them, just the pips). These cards are much more like the old English (and European in general) style playing cards which I've been looking for for quite some time now but have only been able to find low quality reproduction cards at overpriced rates. Maybe this is why I prefer them over the other site which I'll be giving in just a second, or maybe it's because they also have my preferred playing card deck there (tarot nouveau fine art series)and I can't seem to find it on the other site.
The other site is http://tarock.net/ They are great because they provide a plethora of information on the game and it's varieties as well as rules and variations in the rules from country to country, websites that you can play on, and downloads so that you can play right on your computer. In their store you won't find as wide of a variety of the standard decks, they do carry the basics, but if you are looking for specialty decks or collectors items... be prepared to drool. They have several decks there that I would absolutely love if I had the disposable income to be able to get.
I hope this information helps you out! And as for your comment about "the arty farty sort which people use for fortune telling" those decks can also be to play the tarocchino games with as well, so if you have the opportunity to pick one of those up at a cheap price or have a friend who is giving one away...don't think that its only use is divination. Even within the occult community tarot decks are used much more often for purposes other than divination than they are for "fortune telling", that's more of a misnomer that has been branded upon them by mainstream society... but I digress...
All the best. Blessings. Mana -HP-