Two mystics agree to engage in a friendly duel, with the agreement that the one will earn a piece of important information from the other. Cast increasingly strong spells and use Major arcana wisely to seize victory and a prophecy.

Setup

• Played with a 78 card tarot deck
• Each player draws 7 cards
• Guest (non-owner of the deck) plays first

Rules of play

• Starting player may play any minor arcana card of any suit from their hand.
• Subsequent player must play a higher card of that suit, or any card of the stronger suit.
• Cups>Wands>Swords>Pentacles>Cups
• Water>Fire>Air>Earth>Water
• A Major arcana card may be played as a wild, and treated as the same rank, but the stronger suit, of the last card played.
• Fool immediately wins the duel, but is worth no points.
• The duel ends when a player yields, either by necessity or choice. She need not explain why.
• At the end of the duel, separate out all Major Arcana played in front of the winner. Each is worth 1 point. Discard the remaining cards.
• Each player alternates drawing cards until each has 7 in hand. The next duel begins.

Winning

• When either player is unable to draw up to 7 cards, the game ends. The player with the most Major Arcana cards is the winner.
• If there is a tie, the player with the highest-value Major Arcana card is the winner.
• The winner draws one card at random from those remaining in the other player’s hand. This card contains important information for the winner— the other player must discern and explain what it is.