Customer Reviews

Silicon Valley Tarot (Steve Jackson games)

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This is a pretty darned hysterical novelty, as well as a great overview of the Geek Life. This is not really a book, but a satirical deck of Tarot cards, with Silicon Valley-style updates. Like, instead of The Fool and the Wheel of Fortune, you get The Hacker and The IPO. The suits of cups, wands, swords, and pentacles have been replace by cubicles, networks, disks, and computer hosts. There is a companion guide of card interpretations, but mostly it's just an excuse for wacky commentaries on Silicon Valley and dot.com excess. There's also instructions for a game you can play called "ram" as well as how to do a straight Tarot reading -- but I wouldn't use this deck to see the future of anything other than a high-teck startup. Most of the people I know who have bought this deck have simply enjoyed turning over the cards and laughing along with the joke.

This is a great novelty/game for geeks, though managers and high-tech biz people will get a kick out of it, too -- and as the SV Tarot's web site says, "Cheaper than a consultant. Same Results." That pretty much sums it up.

This "tarot deck" actually started out as a kind of "in-joke" on the net, but it became a reality four years ago. And since then, who knows how many have used this deck as inspiration, or to answer their questions, or just use it as a cool card game at some "Silicon Valley party." Designed as a spoof of both Tarot and the Valley, anyone in the computer field will quickly recognize the "in-jokes" about "Silicon Valley life" you can find in the accompanying booklet.

The cards which are cleverly drawn do correspond to a traditional Tarot deck. There is a Major and Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana has 20 cards, like The Server, Stock Options, and the dreaded Spam! As for the Minor Arcana, instead of Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles, it instead consists of Disks, Hosts, Networks, and Cubicles. Archetypes include the Nerd, Marketer, Salesman, and CEO!

Will you find the answers here to whether or not your start-up will make it? Will you find the love of your dreams in marketing? Will people one day look to you with reverance as being "the guru?" Or will you be part of the (GASP!) layoff when your company downsizes? Who knows! Who cares!

A fun set of cards to have, whether you enjoy Tarot or not or if you want a glimpse into what "Silicon Valley life" is like. And like the package says, it's cheaper than a consultant!