How did the idea of a trump suit spread from tarot games to other European card games?

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The concept of a trump suit originated as a unique feature of the tarot game, which utilized a dedicated fifth suit of illustrated cards known as trionfi to "triumph" over other cards. While the earlier German game of karnöffel had previously experimented with assigning special powers to individual cards, the full realization of a trump suit was a distinct innovation of tarot.12

This invention proved so popular that it was adapted for standard 52-card decks by the end of the 15th century. Rather than using a separate set of illustrated cards, players adopted the simple device of randomly selecting one of the four standard suits to function as the trump suit. This transition led to the creation of the French game triomphe—and its English equivalent, triumph or trump—which served as the direct ancestor to modern trick-taking games such as whist and bridge.1