Nostradamus - Les tarots d'Atari - DXF 54013

Depuis l’Egypte des Pharaons, en passant par l’ancienne Chine, jusqu’au mystérieux Empire Maya, la cartomancie règne en maître parmis les arts divinatoires.
Les premiers jeux de tarot font leur apparition au Moyen Age en France, en Italie, et en Allemagne.
Autrefois réservée aux mages et aux devins, la cartomancie est maintenant à la portée de tous.
Nostradamus-Les tarots d’Atari vous permettrons, grâce à ne méthode simple, d’essayer de soulever le voile impénétrable qui recouvre l’avenir.

Wether in Pharaonic Egypt ancient China or the Maya Empire, carthomency has halways rated first among divinatery Arts.
The first tarots game appeared in the Middle-Ages in France, in Italy and Germany.
Althrough carthomency was once practised only by soothsayers and fortune-tellers, it is now within everybody’s reach.
Thanks to a simple method Nostradamus, Atari’s Tarot will enable you to try and unveil the mysteries of the future.

« Ce logiciel ne peut être vendu sans le jeu Tarot des centuries (c) Héron Maîtres Cartiers Boéchat 1984 »

Developer : Scénario original Gérard NACH, conception graphique (graphic conception) A.GUITET, réalisation (Director) Denis FRIEDMAN.
Date : 1985 according to box, booklet and game.
Distributed by : Atarisoft – ATARI Corp. – Made in France
Dump : Download – Source Atarinside – .Pro format (with protection log).
Notes :
On the backside of the box you can read : « Ce logiciel ne peut être vendu sans le jeu Tarot des centuries (c) Héron Maîtres Cartiers Boéchat 1984″ (« This software can not be sold without the Tarot game of centuries (c) Heron Masters Cards Creators Boéchat 1984 »)
but on the first screen of the game you can read : « D’après les TAROTS des CENTURIES (c) 1983 HERON maitres cartiers BOECHAT« . (« According to the TAROTS of the CENTURIES (c) 1983 HERON masters cards creators BOECHAT ».).
So 1983 or 1984? Anyway, the Atari game was sold in June 1985 according to the advertising in French magazines.
The last question to answer is : Were the cards sold with the game or was it the game that was sold with the cards (in card stores) ?

The box and the booklet are translated in english but the game is french only 😯

The original card game contains 77 cards and a booklet but the game only use 22 of them (see the pictures). You can still find the cards on auctions sites if you’re lucky.

I know it’s a cardboard box and not a plastic case like the other games in this website but it was produced in France just like « Caméléon » and « L’énigme du triangle » so it deserves an exception 🙂

Director : Denis Friedman was Software Manager at Atari France between 1983 and 1985 then « Head of Third Party Software » at Atari Corp. for a year. He also managed Broderbund Europe, Sony Psygnosis and other famous companies before producing movies like « Kaena » – The first french animated 3D movie (according to his Viadeo Profile and his Linkedin profile).
At Atari France (aka ATARISOFT), he did also « Caméléon » and « L’énigme du triangle » – this last one is really rare and hard to find, if you have a good copy to sell, drop me an email 😉 .

You can also read this interview (in french) or this one (english).

Other translations : 
How to run : Load .PRO in your emulator, boot with option key and wait. Enable Disk SIO Patch if you don’t want to wait.
Price :
250 F  (SVM N°18 P44-45 – June 1985)
250 F  (SVM N°19 P120 – July/August 1985)