The little tarok glossary: from adut to valat

Tarok speaks its own language. This is the pocket interpreter: enough that you never have to ask "what is that?" at the wrong moment.

✦ 5 min read✦ Glossary

The entries keep their Slovenian names (that is how you will hear them at the table) and follow the Slovenian alphabet. Where usage differs between circles, we noted the most common form; every table, of course, is entitled to its own truth.

Adut (tarok): One of the 22 cards numbered I to XXI plus the škis. Trumps beat every suit card; among themselves, higher wins.
Berač: The game in which you promise not to take a single trick. The open berač is the same promise with your cards face up. More in the guide to the games.
Kaval: The cavalier: the court card between queen and jack, worth three points. A tarok speciality; ordinary decks do not have him.
Klop: The game with no winner, only losers: you dodge tricks, points are punishment. Played when everyone says "pass", and compulsory as the first hand of a session.
Kontra (in rekontra): The challenge that doubles the value of a game or an announcement. Rekontra doubles it again. Spoken calmly; lands like lightning.
Licitiranje: The auction at the start of a hand: whoever promises the most, plays. It goes around the table, and every bid must outbid the last.
Mond: Trump XXI, the second-strongest card. Only the škis beats it, and exactly that loss is punished. The name most likely comes from the French le monde, the World. The full story: Škis, mond, pagat.
Pagat: Trump I, the lowest trump with the greatest ambitions: pagat ultimo, winning the last trick with it, is one of the game's most expensive announcements.
Platelc: The homely name for a worthless card: an "empty" seven, eight and their kin. Winning tricks full of platelci is much ado about nothing.
Radelc: The circle every player receives after a klop and after the big games; until it is crossed out, it doubles the value of your declared game. The full story: The radelc.
Renons: An offence against the rules of play, such as not following suit when you could. The hand is annulled and the offender pays. Worse than losing.
Solo: The games you play alone against everyone: solo tri, dva and ena (with the talon) and solo brez (without it).
Škis: The card with the jester, and the game's highest trump: it beats even the mond. Together with the mond and the pagat it forms the trula.
Štih: One round of played cards, taken by its winner. The basic unit of tarok, and the word you will hear most tonight.
Talon: The six cards left face-down on the table at the deal. The declarer takes (part of) them and discards the same number; that is where the surprises hide.
Trula: The holy trinity: škis, mond and pagat. Each is worth five points; collecting all three earns a bonus.
Valat: The promise of every trick. Declared it is worth 500 points, silent 250. Winners enter legend; losers enter a radelc.