Hoi Polloi Tarot

Published January 27, 2026 • Updated February 24, 2026

The Hoi Polloi Tarot is a mainstream Rider-Waite-Smith clone published by Reiss Games Inc. Its name borrows a Greek phrase meaning “the common people”, signalling the deck’s mass-market audience.

Above: Box front for the Hoi Polloi Tarot, titled simply The Tarot. See inside the box

The Hoi Polloi Tarot is a bold and brightly coloured, pop-art style tarot deck first published in 1972. It is one of the earliest clones of the Rider Waite Smith tarot, and has become a highly sought after collectible, because of its funky '70s counter culture vibe and relative rarity, only being in print for about a decade.

It was marketed by Reiss Games Inc., a toy and game publishing company founded in 1971 by Robert "Bob" Reiss. They specialised in classic games such as standard playing cards, chess and backgammon. When they decided to market a Tarot deck, rather than produce it for an esotericly inclined minority, they aimed it at the general public. Hence the name Hoi Polloi, which appears on the back of all the cards, and yet the title on the box is just 'The Tarot'. The example shown here, dated 1973, is the second of three different packaging designs the deck was presented in, and measures a clunky 345 x 150mm!

The artwork is deemed to have been created by Jason Peterson, who is credited with 'graphics' on the reverse of the box (See back of box ). The cards are actually a simplified re-working of Pamela Colman Smith's classic illustrations, and yet it is interesting that the RWS ordering of Strength and Justice was returned to the traditional positions of Justice at #8 and Strength at #11.

The reverse panel text presents Tarot as an accessible, non-specialist pastime: “And you don’t have to be a psychic to interpret the Tarot!” It frames the pack as a guide to self-interpretation (“Who are you? … What do you want?”) supported by a 16-page booklet explaining card meanings, suggested layouts (including the “Portrait Spread” and “Prediction Spread”), and methods for arranging the cards. It also promotes the pack’s use in general play, proposing bridge, rummy and poker, and advertising additional rules for original Tarot games and two solitaire variations. (See back of box detail.)

The user guide not only provides card meanings and layout instructions for reading the cards, but gives rules for two solo patience games, and suggests that by removing the Major Arcana and Page cards, the deck could also be used to play any standard card game. (See inside the box )

For further discussion about this deck and the Reiss Games company The Rise and Fall of the Hoi Polloi Tarot.

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By Adam West-Watson

Australia • Member since September 01, 2014

I have been fascinated by playing cards ever since I can remember, and still have several of the card games I had as a child. And although I had accumulated quite a number of packs of various sorts over the years, it wasn't until I was in my 50s that I began collecting in earnest. My tastes are quite varied, and my collection of 800 or so decks includes:- children's games, standard and non-standard playing cards, adult games, fortune telling and oracle cards, tarot cards, and even cigarette cards.