Halloween

The Halloween Tarot
Karin Lee & Kipling West (U.S. Games, Inc, 1996)

Review
It's such a cute little deck!

Normally gimmick decks make me roll my eyes, but this p[articular deck has been adapted into the idea of an American child's Halloween. It's been adapted with genuine intelligence and charm.

Cups are Ghosts, Pentacles are Pumpkins, Swords are Bats and Wands are Imps. They're not the most obvious translations in most cases, but the cards are close enough to the Rider-Waite that you can eventually figure them out. Throughout a lot of the deck, both Major and Minor are graced with the sight of a green moon, both full and crescent, smiling kindly down on the proceedings. And on every single is an impish black cat, often easy to spot but from time to time a bit more a challenge.

It's a sweet little game, and that sums up the whole deck nicely- it's oddly sweet. The subject matter isn't anywhere as horrific as it could have been- everyone is surprisingly cheerful, there are lots of sweets and treats on display, there's no gore and only a certain amount of suggestive dimpling on the Devil's victims to indicate nudity. In fact, an older child would probably really like this as a Samhain present. Not that adults wouldn't get anything out of it- anyone with a liking for Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff's work will raise a smile at some of the Majors.

There are many worse things in life than a gimmick deck, and this a particularly well done gimmick deck.