You’re standing in a freezing hallway in Tanglewood. The breath is visible. Your flashlight is flickering. Then, you see it on the kitchen table—that brown leather pouch. Most players can’t help themselves. They grab it. They start drawing cards like they’re at a high-stakes poker game in Vegas. But in Phasmophobia, the house always wins, and usually, the house is a Revenant that just gained line-of-sight on your terrified character. Understanding tarot card meanings Phasmophobia isn't just about trivia; it’s literally the difference between a successful $800 payout and a $0 insurance check.
Tarot cards are one of the most volatile Cursed Possessions in the game. Unlike the Music Box or the Haunted Mirror, which have relatively predictable outcomes, the deck is a chaotic mess of RNG. There are ten possible cards. Each one has a specific spawn chance. Some will save your life. Others will end the round instantly.
The Instant Killers
Let’s talk about The Hanged Man. Honestly, it's the card everyone dreads. If you pull this, you die. No hunt, no grace period, no running to a locker. Your character just slumps over. It’s got a 1% spawn rate, which sounds low until you’re the one who pulls it during a Perfect Investigation run. It’s brutal.
Then there is The Devil. People get this confused with a hunt. It’s not. It triggers a Ghost Event. The ghost pops up right in your face, drains some sanity, and usually leaves you screaming into your mic. It’s a great way to get that "Escape a Ghost Event" objective, but if your sanity is already hovering near 0%, it’s a death sentence anyway.
Death is the one that actually starts a hunt. It’s a cursed hunt, too. That means it lasts longer and ignores the usual setup timer. If you’re playing on Professional or Nightmare and someone pulls Death, you’ve basically just signaled the dinner bell for whatever is lurking in the attic.
Sanity Savers and Soul Crushers
Sanity is the currency of Phasmophobia. Spend too much, and the ghost starts hunting. The Sun is the jackpot. It instantly refills your sanity to 100%. If you’re deep into a 15-minute investigation and everyone is shaking, a Sun card is a godsend. It glows yellow, and for a second, you feel invincible.
The Moon is the exact opposite. It’s a deep, haunting teal color. It drops your sanity to 0% immediately. Usually, if you pull The Moon, you need to find a hiding spot or pop a Sanity Medicine immediately. It’s a favorite for trolls who want to ruin a game, but it’s a nightmare for anyone trying to actually survive.
There is also The Wheel of Fortune. It’s the ultimate gamble. If it burns green, you get 25% sanity. If it burns red, you lose 25%. It’s basically a coin flip. Most veteran players use it when they’re bored, just to see if they can bait the ghost into doing something. It’s worth noting that the burn color is the only way to know what happened—sometimes in the chaos of a flickering light, you might miss it.
The Utility Cards
The Tower is sort of "meh" but can be useful. It forces a ghost interaction. Maybe it throws a cup. Maybe it touches a door. If you’re struggling to find the ghost room, The Tower can point you in the right direction. It doubles the ghost's activity for a short window.
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The Hermit is the shy cousin. It forces the ghost back into its room and keeps it there for a bit. It’s not a permanent fix, but it can give you enough time to set up a tripod or a Motion Sensor without getting hunted. It basically puts the ghost in a "time out."
Then we have The High Priestess. This is the one you want in a multiplayer game. If someone is already dead, pulling this card brings them back to life. They respawn at their corpse. If no one is dead, the next person who dies will instantly revive. It’s a safety net. It’s the only card that feels truly "kind" in a game designed to scare the pixels out of you.
The Rarest Pull in Phasmophobia
We have to talk about The Joker. You’ll see a card, it looks like something else—maybe it looks like The Sun or The High Priestess—and then it turns into a laughing jester. It does nothing. Literally nothing. It’s a prank. It usually shows up during a hunt to trick you into thinking you’ve been saved. If you pull a card during a hunt, it will always turn into The Joker. Kinetic Games, the developers, clearly have a dark sense of humor.
Strategic Risk Management
Using the deck isn't just about clicking. You have to be smart. If you have already identified the ghost and just need to leave, don't touch the cards. The risk-to-reward ratio is terrible at that point. However, if you're playing on a map like Sunny Meadows and you can't find the ghost to save your life, the cards are a viable tool to force interactions.
- Check your sanity first. If you’re at 80%, a Moon card ruins your game. If you’re at 10%, you might as well pull and hope for a Sun.
- Stand near a hiding spot. Don't pull cards in the middle of a hallway.
- Communicate. Tell your team you're pulling. There is nothing worse than being in the basement and having a teammate trigger a cursed hunt with the Death card while you’re trapped.
The game uses a weighted random number generator for the deck. You get ten cards per deck. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. You can't get more. You also can't take them out of the house. If you walk out the front door with the deck, it stays behind.
Making the Most of Tarot Card Meanings Phasmophobia
If you really want to master the tarot card meanings Phasmophobia, you need to watch the burn. Every card burns a specific color. Red is usually bad. Green or Yellow is usually good. White is neutral. This visual cue is faster than reading the text on the card, especially when your heart rate is 120 BPM because you heard a footstep behind you.
Realistically, the cards are a "fun" item. They aren't as reliable as the Thermometer or the EMF Reader. They are there to add spice. If you’re trying to climb the levels and earn money, use them sparingly. If you’re playing with friends and just want some chaos, pull them all until someone dies.
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To improve your survival rate, memorize the appearance of The Hanged Man and The Moon specifically. Recognizing the art instantly allows you to react—either by dropping the deck or sprinting for the nearest closet. Always ensure you have a smudge stick nearby before engaging with any cursed possession, especially the tarot cards. The smudge stick can buy you those precious few seconds if a Death card or a Joker-fied hunt begins. Focus on using the cards to complete secondary objectives like "Prevent a hunt with a Crucifix" by using The Devil to lower sanity and increase ghost aggression in a controlled manner.
Next Steps for Players:
- Practice in Training: You can find the Tarot Cards in the warehouse or during low-stakes amateur runs to get used to the animation timing.
- Monitor Sanity: Use the van's monitor to track exactly how much The Wheel of Fortune or The Moon affects your levels.
- Save the High Priestess: If you pull it early, leave the deck alone. Save that "extra life" for when the ghost actually gets aggressive.