[Oudler]

What is a Tarot player? One who uses Tarot decks to play actual card games with them.
While Andrew Matzner's article is well written, factual and does note that Tarot was designed for a card game, I am disappointed that he fails to mention that Tarot is still being played today as a trick taking card game. The reader might be led to the false conclusion that the Tarot game is dead and the only use for Tarot cards these days is for divination practices.

I have no problems whatsoever with Tarot reading, but an article which treats the topic exclusively in terms of its uses in divination does contain a cultural bias. It is true that most Americans think of Tarot only as an object for divination, I do not think such a perception should continue, however, as it has some unfortunate cultural side effects. A number of authors on Tarot card games have had there works mistakenly categorized as "occult" or "paranormal" by those who have no other context in which to treat Tarot. The French people cannot use the name of one of their national card games in their web pages without attracting inappropriate Google ads for "psychic reading" services. The way most Americans view Tarot cards badly needs to be revised.