philebus
I stumbled upon this the other day, it is a short article from the New York Times from 1887 that makes mention of the games being played in the States. The writer's expert seems, as Mr Pinkerton (http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=88767&highlight=minchiate) a little unfamiliar with the games, despite his claims. I can only speculate as to which game he was playing but there were certainly very good ones around then!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstra...3A25755C2A9609C94669FD7CF&scp=9&sq=tarot&st=p
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstra...3A25755C2A9609C94669FD7CF&scp=9&sq=tarot&st=p