[Artemisia] Paging Baron Niccolo

[Bruce Padget]

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Jerry Shaeffer <jerryshaef at yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
> Pardon the spelling of your name, I am but an unletter poor landless Euro
> trash.  However, I desperately seek your help, with sacred knowledge that
> ONLY you can provide.


Flattery will get you everywhere, Your Excellency.  I fear knowledge unique
to me is more likely to be scared than sacred.  Perhaps scarred.  At any
rate...


> The Tables game called "Queen's Game?", that you taught us.  Unfortunately,
> in my zeal to teach others, I gave away EVERY copy of the rules that I had.
> My encrouching feeblemindedness has caused me to forget how to play this
> game.  Could you please assist me in remember the rules?


The best written reconstruction of Queen's Game (aka Dublets) is
at:http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-recon-dublets.html
Master Justin du Coeur likes to use gambler's slang (and I approve), but it
can confuse.  Ace, duce, trea, kater, cinque, and sice in the reconstruction
are simply one through six, used both in numbering the points on the board
and the dice..


> Also, desperately looking for period card decks, and ESP. 40 card Italian
> decks in a period style.  I would like also to find a fairly easy to read
> Tarot deck that doesn't look TOO occulty for the mundanes in a public demo.
> If you know of a decent dealer or place I could purchase these item, you
> would be my Champion, Saviour, and Generally All Around Top Drawer Kind of
> Guy.


Best way I've found to get a decent Latin-pattern deck is to get a Tarot
deck and strip it as needed.  The commercially available 40-card decks I've
seen look awful, with the exception of the out-of-print Punto deck by the
(possibly) defunct Avid Press.  The patterns that work and look best are
Visconti-Sforza and Tarot of Marseille.  Visconti-Sforza is actually period,
and very flashy.  Marseille is a little OOP, but basically looks right, it's
a lot cheaper, and it holds up to play better.  In a pinch, the "Medieval
Scappini" deck is passable, but it's definitely second-tier.

Where to buy:

Visconti-Sforza -- Barnes and Noble, Borders, better-stocked new-agey
bookstores, and historicgames.com.  For any of these, grab a copy when they
have it, as they don't stay in stock.  I've paid from $22 to $30 for this
one.  (The $30 deck came with a handy book about how to read the cards.  I
think it's propping the corner of a wobbly end table.)

Marseille -- Marketed as "Tarot of Marseille," "Tarot Espanol," and "Tarot
Classico."  You'll find it at the same places, and it's much more likely to
be in stock.  Oddly enough, I've often found this one at the Boise Stage
Stop truck stop, about 15 miles east of Boise on I 84.  I used to buy out
their stock every time I drove through.  This one has run me from $9 to
$12.   Borders has a $12.95 boxed set that includes a nice Marseille deck,
and I've seen it remaindered at Borders Express for $3.99.

historicgames.com is the only place I've found that routinely stocks period
German decks, worth collecting just for the artwork.   Tattershall and
historicgames.com are the only folks I've seen regularly stock period French
decks, with the same suits and ranks familiar from a poker deck.

Regards,
Niccolo
bapadget at gmail.com