Teheuti said:
Philebus, I read on your site that "Minchiate was last recorded to have been played in Milan during the early 1930s and it is now considered a dead game."
I believe Tarot/Tarock was always much more wide-spread. Do you think its adoption of French suits and substitution of animals or local scenes instead of the original set of Il Trionfos, along with large numbers, helped to keep it current? What else separated Tarot from Minchiate?
Minchiate at least, was widespread - there is evidence (you'll need to search the History Forum here for Pinkerton) that the French version of the game was being played in mid 19th century New Orleans.
The later pattern of tarot may have played a role in maintaining the game. However, the larger numbers on the trumps were centred rather than indexed - so I'm not sure that would have had much impact on the game (only the French packs have moved the number - Austrio/Hungarian designs still keep it central). Also, only the French packs have indices at all, so again, this is not something that has had impact.
However, given the additional cost of printing the cards, the adoption of French suits must have made a big impact. Forty of the cards could now be produced with a stencil rather than hand cut and coloured wood blocks, this made production much cheaper! As for the old trumps, they simply weren't, taken as a whole, a familiar theme outside of Italy, while the new trumps were interesting and often relevant to their customers.
It may also have immunised the games from later myths, allowing the games to move out and then back into fashion without complications from occult beliefs - it may be no coincidence that the French game's meteoric rise only began after they adopted the new patern. It English speaking countries, where there is no remembered history of the games, the situation is harder - in my experience people will object or hesitate to playing games with anything recognized as tarot, French suits or not.
As for the fading of Minchiate, it could be for not better reason than changing fashion. Depending upon the economics of the time, the additional cost may also have played a role.