In earlier times, you could find a different version of the Decktet by travelling for a day in any direction. Just as every village had its own standards for measuring weight, length, and volume, every village had its own Decktet. Often the differences were only in which suits combined at which ranks, but there was no possibility not tried and advocated by some local gamesman or soothsayer. In the southern county of Buttermarch, for example, they had a deck with only seven ranks.

Local variation has given way to rational standards, and it would now be hard to find a public house without a copy of the basic Decktet. Yet there is still disagreement as to whether and how the deck should be extended. Some games are improved by adding the Excuse card. The four Pawn cards cannot be used in the game of Terrapin but are central to the game of Magnate. The four Court cards are a curiosity found in some lake country decks and may be used instead of Pawns. The Excuse is eschewed for fortune telling, but one savant calls the Pawn opposition between the Watchman and the Light Keeper the "most profound" in the whole Decktet. &c.

As long as people still shuffle and deal it, the Decktet is a living thing-- and travellers should ask some questions before wagering on cards in the Buttermarch common house.