Pirates

Tarot of the Pirates
Pietro Alligo & Bepi Vigna (Lo Scarebeo, 2007)

Review
Well it had to happen, didn't it? I wonder if there's a matching Tarot of the Ninjas out there somewhere.

All right, I've got to mention this: I personally love that the deck claims on the box to be "historically accurate", when the Chariot depicts a pirate clutching the makeshift reins of the two giant turtles (one under each foot, naturally) that are propelling him across the waves! I'm itching to know about the odd skeletal undead and the Kraken as well, though perhaps the artist got bored of historical textbooks and settled down to watch some recent Disney movies instead. And quite right too.

Unsurprisingly, the suits are slightly altered, despite retaining the same names- Cups might as well be renamed to Barrels, and Pentacles to Pieces of Eight- though a brief image search suggests the coins are a little different to the usual 8 reales coin used at the time. Wands have unofficially become Oars, and Swords are of course all Cutlasses.

There's a little nudity on display- mostly from the female pirates leaving their shirts open a little too far. Oh yes, as well as the usual doxies there are fierce pirate women making no bones about their sex or their ability to carve up unwary landlubbers.

I think the all-important trick here is not to take the deck too seriously. It's a fun little gimmick, and it's perfectly readable, especially since it sometimes treats us to a piratical pastiche of the Rider-Waite. Enthusiasts of both pirates and the tarot would probably quite enjoy this deck.