Tarot of the Year 2000
(Tarot de L'An 2000)
by Pino Zac
 
Contrary to what you might think, this deck, which sounds particularly timely right now, was not published in the midst of all this Y2K baloney.  This deck, published in 1981, has a cartoonish flair and seems to be more like an artist's vision of what life would be like in the year 2000.  The deck has a lot of visual interest and is vastly different from anything else I've seen.  And I've seen a lot of decks, so being different isn't as easy as you might think.  It's totally original.
 
The deck is styled after the cards of Tarock decks rather than traditional tarot.  Remember that tarock decks have the cards done in such a way that there are two images back to back on the face of the card, one reversed, so half the card is always correct whether the card comes up reversed or upright.  Arabic numerals appear in all four corners of the cards, and the Fool is unnumbered, with five pointed stars in the four corners where the numbers would be.  The Fool is represented here by a "rock star" and unlike the Major Arcana cards, the Fool is the same whether you look at him reversed or upright.  This is the type of Fool imagery (the tarock style, I mean) which led to the modern-day Joker in bridge and poker decks.
 
The Major Arcana cards are untitled in this deck, and have images on both ends of the cards, as described above.  These images are in full color and are comic strip art styled; in fact they remind me very strongly of the art from "Fred The Basset" or "The Born Loser" comic strips.  The art has a familiar feel to it which is nice.  A lot of the women pictured in the deck are at least partially nude.  Television antennae, gasoline cans, currency, cars and tv's seem to be recurring themes.  The images on the cards do not seem to me to be particularly intuitive of the meaning of the card; however, since Tarock decks derive from Marseille style decks rather than Waite decks, this is to be expected.  The reversed images *do* seem to indicate reversals of fortune in the same basic meaning as the upright images.  Other than the fact that they seem to be more on the down side of things, it is hard to distinguish upright from reversed in these cards.
 
The Minor Arcana cards are rendered in black and white, and look more like cartoon sketches than actual illustrations.  They are excellently done, also.  Cards are numbered 1 through 10 instead of Ace through 10.  Again following the lead of the Tarock deck, the suits are Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds and Spades.  Images here are *not* half and half, but seem to be sketched in *around* the suit items which are arranged playing-card style all over the card and then the sketching seems to have been filled in after that.  It makes them...... interesting.  Court cards are full color and are done in the half and half design; in the courts, the images are identical on both ends, like playing card courts.  Courts are untitled but have the initials R, D, C and V next to their suit items.  These would be abbreviations for the French Roi (King), Dame (Lady), Cavalier (Knight) and Valet (Page).
 
The cards themselves are slightly smaller than standard and handle and shuffle easily.  With its resemblance to Tarock decks, this seems more suited to game-playing than divination.  However, it comes with a little white booklet which is actually a foldout.  This booklet gives no meanings for the cards, rather it is a set of rules in French for playing the game of Tarot.  Oh, how I wish I could read it!  There is a block which assigns values numerically to the cards for the purpose of playing the game.  The cards are printed on standard tarot card stock and are thin and flexible for good playability.  Edges are buffed to a smooth finish.  Back design is reversible.... and intriguing.
 
I'd recommend this deck highly for anyone well-versed in the art of playing the game of Tarot, rather than the art of divination.  It's clearly meant for such pursuits as gaming.  It will make an excellent collectible since it is out of print for at least 15 years.  Beginners would probably be lost trying to use this, unless they are fluent in French.  It bears little to no resemblance to a traditional tarot.  The art is excellent.  You may want to get it just for that if nothing else.  Weird, but cute deck.
 
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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace
 
Tarot of the Year 2000 by Pino Zac, 1981
published by J. M. Simon -- Grimaud -- France Cartes