Talis is a card game popular in
Faerûn. It is a trick-taking game with a deck of 78 cards, including four regular suits of 14 cards each and one trump suit of 22 cards.
Each regular suit has cards numbered 1 through 10 and four face cards: Knave, Knight, Queen, and King. The trump deck is not numbered, but contains 22 different face cards, the sequence of which is crucial to successful play.
When a player leads with a card, all other players must follow suit. If they cannot follow suit, they must play a trump card that is higher than any trump card already played.
If Talis is played with four players, each player is dealt a hand of 18 cards, and six cards make the "dog".
When Talis is played for money, the players place bids into the "pot" to win the "dog". The highest bidder adds the "dog" to his or her hand and immediately discards any six cards into his or her trick pile.
Points are scored for the cards in the tricks taken. The World, the Mage, the Fool, and the four Kings are worth 5 points. Queens are worth 4 points, Knights 3, and Knaves 2. All other cards are worth half a point.
If the taker of the "dog" scores the most points, he or she receives all the money in the "pot". Otherwise, all the other players divide the money in the pot evenly.
One trump card, the Fool, deserves special mention. It can be played at anytime, even if a player could otherwise follow suit. It can never win a hand, but it is ransomed back by the player who plays it with a half-point card from his or her own trick pile.