I’ve made jokes before about tarot cards and how they rate on the ‘Marchetti’ scale. It’s an anecdotal story about when I meet the tarot creator Ciro Marchetti. Set the wayback machine to 2007 or so, when RoseRed and I attended the Readers Studio for tarot illuminates and visionaries. At the time my deck du jour was a special edition of Ciro’s Legacy of the Divine tarot, and the cards of this deck were massive at nearly 3.6″x5.5″ format; bigger than nearly every other deck I had seen or used. I had joked with RoseRed and Anastasia on our way to the event, and knowing that we were going to meet and interview Ciro Marchetti at the con, that I looked forward to asking him why the special edition LotD was so big. Then I met the man, who towered over us, and shook his large hands, and realized I didn’t need to ask.
But the Marchetti scale is a real thing. It’s a relative measurement of the size of a deck’s cards compared to the LotD cards. So you all know what I mean, here’s how it works:
Below is a picture of the Diablo: The Sanctuary tarot I just acquired (4″ wide x 6″ tall), next to a card from the Legacy of the Divine (at 3.6″ x 5.5″), a card from the Trueblack (which I consider the ‘standard’ tarot card size at 2.75″ x 4.75″), and a 3×5″ notecard for reference. (sorry for the glare, the light only worked in one place to also allow seeing the lovely details in the Trueblack and the Diablo cards)

top: a 3×5″ index card for scale
For the math nerds, the ratio numbers work out like this:
- The ‘standard’ tarot card (the Trueblack) has a square area of 13.06″ Sq.In.
- The Legacy of the Divine has a square area of 19.8 Sq.In. (we’ll round up to 20 square for official measurement purposes.)
- and the Diablo: Sanctuary card has a square area of 24 sq.in!
If we divide the square area of any deck against the LotD ‘standard’ then we get its’ Marchetti scale:
- The Trueblack is 0.65 on the Marchetti scale.
- … and the Diablo is 1.2 on the Marchetti scale.
Yeah, I am that kind of geek. ;D
P.S. The Diablo isn’t the biggest tarot I’ve seen or used. Back when we were doing tarot readings at Renaissance Faires, Rosered and I had the “Giant Rider-Waite Smith” tarot deck, which was great for giving single card readings to passers by and luring potential clients in to get a full reading. Those cards were 3.75″ by 6.5″, so they’d be 1.22 on the Marchetti scale, just beating the Diablo tarot!