Tarock Weekly - Issue #1
Welcome to the first issue of Tarock Weekly, the one and only magazine in the whole of Gaia that can teach you how to become a master of Arcadian Tarock!
You'll find some copies of Tarock Weekly during your adventure – read them carefully as they contain exclusive tips for the Tarock player on the move and rumors on the location of some long-lost cards. With that out of the way, we'll use this introductory issue to cover the basics of the game and provide a couple of tips that will help you get started.
First of all, Arcadian Tarock is a collectible card game played by almost all NPCs you'll encounter during your adventure. To challenge them, equip your Tarock board and use the item button. Some NPCs will be available only at certain times, so try to play with them when they're idle and want to speak!
Once a game of Arcadian Tarock starts, you'll be asked to select five cards from your collection. Keep in mind that in Arcadian Tarock, you can see your opponent's hand – this information is crucial for some strategies we'll discuss in the following issues of Tarock Weekly. The opponent will select some cards too, and the match will start.
Arcadian Tarock is played on a 9x9 board. The initial player is selected randomly, tossing a coin. Remember that the starting player has a slight advantage as they will also place the last card, potentially flipping the situation at the end. Players take turns placing cards on the board one by one. The winner is the player that, once all 9 cards are placed, has the most cards on the board. So you might wonder, "How do I get more cards on the board?" By flipping the ones of your opponent and making them yours!
You need to know that when a card is placed on the board, it will automatically attack in the four main directions. Generally speaking, if the attacking card's Attack value is higher than a defending card's Defense value, that card will be defeated and flipped. Ties are resolved by tossing a coin.
Here's where it gets interesting: some cards have Special Directions. You can verify that by looking for big arrows on their sides. A Special Direction wins against all regular Attack and Defense values – no matter if they're higher than those on your card! So what happens if the other card has an opposing Special Direction? In that case, a coin is tossed, and your chances of winning the flip are 50% – there are exceptions to that rule related to cards' Special Abilities, but we will go over those in a future issue of Tarock Weekly.
To wrap it up, here are two tips to start winning:
Check if your card has a Special Direction you want to take advantage of. In that case, make sure you leave enough space on the board to play it when it really counts, for example, at the opposite end of the direction it's pointing to.
Sometimes, the most brilliant move is to place the strongest card last. Try it!
That's all for this first issue of Tarock Weekly, GG everyone!