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Playing cards are the most essential part of any card game. When we play poker, rummy, or other card games, with a standard deck of cards containing cards of different suits, the origin of cards never strikes our minds. Do you know who invented playing cards, how did the suits come into the picture, how the cards were designed, and the complete history of playing cards?
All those intrigued by the rich history of card games and the origin of playing cards can find answers to their questions right here. Let’s take a look at what are playing cards and go through the history of playing cards
What are Playing Cards?
A playing card is a piece of card stock, thin cardboard, heavy paper, cotton-paper blend, plastic-coated paper or thin plastic, used for playing card games, cardistry, or magic tricks. A playing card’s front and back design usually has a smooth finish for easy handling. Playing cards are generally palm-sized and are sold in a set called a pack or a deck of cards.
Playing cards can be traditional, regional, or modern. French-suited cards are among the most common types of playing cards that come in a standard deck of 52 cards with an English pattern or Belgian-Genoese pattern. They are also available in varieties depending on their usage, such as in casinos, as promotional items, souvenirs, educational tools, artistic works, branded accessories, or for use by magicians.
With a wide variety of playing cards that exist in today’s world, isn’t it more fascinating to know the story of how all these cards that we take for granted were shaped by different cultures and countries?
History of Playing Cards
Earliest Playing Cards
While the origin of playing cards is highly-debated, it is believed that playing cards were invented in the 9th century in ancient China during the Tang Dynasty. The earliest reference to playing cards was in a 9th-century text called the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang, when a Chinese writer, Su E, described Princess Tong Cheng playing the leaf game. Card games involving alcohol also emerged during the Tang Dynasty, but the cards didn’t contain any numbers or suits and has only printed instructions.
One of the earliest card games where the rules were known was a trick-taking game called Madiao from the Ming Dynasty. This game was played with money cards that were divided into four suits on coins, a string of coins, myriads, and tens of myriads.
Also Read: Top 6 Trick-Taking Card Games Similar to Spades
Spread across Egypt
In the 11th century, playing cards began to spread across Asia and reached Egypt. The earliest cards (four fragments) in the world can be found in the Benaki Museum and Keir Collection. These playing cards were from the 12th and 13th centuries of the early Mamluk periods. The Mamluk court cards didn’t depict people but hand abstract designs or calligraphy with ranks on them.
Introduction in Europe
The earliest record of playing cards being introduced in Europe is in the 1300s, arising from a ban on card games in Bern, Switzerland, in 1367. As the merchants from Islamic Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt began exports, playing cards first appeared in Italy or Spain in the 1370s. A German monk, Johannes, mentioned in his manuscript dated 1377 the appearance of playing cards and card games in Europe. The early patterns of Italian and Spanish cards were derived from the Mamluk period and came in suits of coins, swords, cups, and polo sticks which can still be found in traditional Latin decks. Since polo wasn’t a sport in Europe, polo sticks were replaced with batons or cudgels. The popularity of playing cards kept growing throughout the 14th and 15th centuries with the introduction of four suits in European cards: Swords, Cups, Clubs, and Coins. These Latin Suits are can still be seen in Italian playing cards.
These cards, notably the Court Cards, were hand-painted masterpieces to be luxury goods for the affluent class. While the Italian playing cards included a King, Queen, and Prince (later called Jack), the Spanish playing cards didn’t include any Queens, 10s, 8s, or 9s for the national game called Ombre. Therefore, most Spanish decks had only 40 cards.
Card Design
The King, Queen, Knight, and Knave became common in a European pack of 56 cards by the 15th century. The French playing cards placed Ace as the highest card above the King after the French revolution.
In 1693, the card packs with Latin suits and corner and edge indices were designed for players to hold the cards together, spread out in a fan, with one hand. In 1864, the first French deck was printed by Samuel Hart, which featured the same innovation. The later innovation in card design that followed was the reversible court cards; however, the French government prohibited this design from printing.
Gradually, sharp corners were replaced with round corners to avoid revealing the cards’ value and wearing out. The British, American and French players preferred cards with blank backs before the mid-19th century. However, the wear and tear of cards and writing on the blank backs led to card backs being designed with pictures, advertising, etc.
Also Read: Top card games of 2022 to include in your must-play list
Modern Playing Cards Deck Format
The modern playing cards are mainly grouped in three categories based on the suits in each deck – Latin, Germanic, and French. The suits in Spanish and Italian playing cards are closely related to the Latin suits. The French deck of 52-cards preserved the original Mamluk deck, excluding the new additions of jokers and tarot trump cards. The German suits are quite unique from the other suits. The main difference between Germanic and Latic decks is that the former decks drop the lower-valued pip cards while the latter drops the higher-valued cards.
Usually, there are indices printed on the upper-left and lower-right corners of most playing cards.
French-Suited Decks
It was in the 15th century that the French introduced the suit imagery in the history of playing cards. Moreover, they were the first to divide suits into red and black colours. Gradually, the French decks surpassed the German decks as the playing cards powerhouse in the world.
Today, the universally recognized deck that most card games such as Poker, Rummy, Solitaire, Call Break, etc., use is the French-suited deck, specifically the 52-card deck that includes 13 ranks of each suit with reversible face cards or court cards. The 52-cards commercial packs also include about one to six jokers.
The card company that develops the world’s most recognized and widely used playing cards, Bicycle Playing Cards, is USPCC. These cards are considered the industry leaders for playing cards.
Suits
The suits include Spades, Clubs, Hearts, and Diamonds. The Spades represent the word Sword (Old Spanish Spado), and Club is a translation of basto, which implies that the English used Spanish suits before French suits were introduced.
Ranks
The numbers 2 to 10 indicate the ranks on spot cards. Additionally, there are three court cards – Jack (J), Queen (Q), and King (K), which are notionally equal to the numbers 11, 12, and 13. In most cards, the number 1 is the Ace card marked as A.
Most dice games and other card games, such as trick-taking games, place the Ace card at the highest rank, above the King. In games that are based on numerical value, such as Cribbage, Blackjack, or 11, the Ace card counts as 1. Whereas, in rummy games or other games based on melding or arranging cards, the Ace may count as the highest card, lowest card, or even both.
Jokers
A standard pack of 52-cards also contains two or more additional cards that are jokers. A traditional court jester depicts jokers. Jokers were invented to serve as the highest trump in games such as Euchre. Many games use these jokers in different ways. For instance, in rummy games such as canasta, jokers are used as wild cards.
Also Read: The History, Role, and Tips to Use Joker in Card Games
Conclusion
The history of playing cards is expansive and intriguing, one that you would be reminded of every time you hold a pack of cards in hand to play one of your favourite card games. The development of playing cards hasn’t stopped yet as the design of printed decks will continue to evolve and fascinate people.
A postgraduate in accounting and finance, she embraced content writing as her full-time profession. She is a Gaming Writer but her endless desire to learn new things enables her to write about just anything that intrigues her. She enjoys learning in the process as she believes there is no end to gaining knowledge.
FAQs
What is the history of a deck of cards? ›
Playing cards first appeared in Europe in the 1370s, probably in Italy or Spain and certainly as imports or possessions of merchants from the Islamic Mamlūk dynasty centred in Egypt. Like their originals, the first European cards were hand-painted, making them luxury goods for the rich.
Who invented the modern deck of cards? ›PLAYING cards were invented by the Chinese before AD1000. They reached Europe around 1360, not directly from China but from the Mameluke empire of Egypt. The history of suitmarks demonstrates a fascinating interplay between words, shapes and concepts.
What is the oldest deck of playing cards? ›The oldest complete deck of playing cards known to the world is called the Cloisters Deck, named for the museum—the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval Cloisters location—in which it was identified and dated.
What are the 4 types of playing cards? ›Today's 52-card deck preserves the four original French suits of centuries ago: clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), and spades (♠).
What do decks of cards represent? ›Some say the deck of cards is based on the calendar. 52 cards represent 52 weeks in a year. Red and Black symbolize night and day. The four suits represent the four seasons; there are 13 cards in a suit to match the number of lunar cycles and 12 court cards that represent the 12 months of the year.
What is the real meaning of a deck of cards? ›A deck of cards has 52 cards, which are meant to represent the number of weeks per year. 13 lunar months are represented by the 13 cards in a single card suit. The sum of all the value numbers on the cards is 365. This is what the deck of cards meaning is in a nutshell.
How many types of cards are in a deck? ›A standard deck of cards has four suites: hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds. Each suite has thirteen cards: ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen and king. Thus the entire deck has 52 cards total.
How many deck cards are there? ›Deck of Cards Questions - There are 52 cards in a standard deck of cards - There are 4 of each card (4 Aces, 4 Kings, 4 Queens, etc.)
What is the most famous card in a deck? ›The Ace of Spades (also known as the Spadille and Death Card) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries.
How old is the oldest card game? ›The oldest surviving reference to the card game in world history is from the 9th century China, when the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang, written by Tang-dynasty writer Su E, described Princess Tongchang (daughter of Emperor Yizong of Tang) playing the "leaf game" with members of the Wei clan (the family of the ...
Why are cards red and black? ›
Modern-Day Playing Cards inked in Red and Black
The other prominent reason for using black and red inks is that these two colours do not fade away when exposed to sunlight. While the black ink was made by mixing soot with linseed oil, red ink was made using cinnabar with linseed oil.
A standard 52-card deck comprises 13 ranks in each of the four French suits: clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥) and spades (♠). Each suit includes three court cards (face cards), King, Queen and Jack, with reversible (double-headed) images. Each suit also includes ten numeral cards or pip cards, from one to ten.
What is a deck of cards called? ›The set is called a pack or deck and is divided into four suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades.
What is the J card called? ›The jack, traditionally the lowest face card, has often been promoted to a higher or the highest position in the traditional ranking of cards, where the ace or king generally occupied the first rank.
Why do decks of cards have jokers? ›They are either replacements for lost or damaged cards in a deck. The game of Euchre uses as the highest trump. They are often wild cards, which allows representing other existing cards. The term “Joker's Wild” originates from this.
Why do we have 52 cards? ›The most common theory is that the 52 cards represent 52 weeks in a year. The four colors represent the four seasons. The 13 cards in a suit represent the thirteen weeks in each season, Four suits times 13 cards in a suite equals 52.
Why do decks of cards have holes in them? ›Many casinos, particularly those in Las Vegas alter the decks of cards they sell to tourists – either by punching holes through the middle of cards or trimming their edges – to prevent cheaters from returning to the game tables after buying the cards and then slipping the favorable cards into their hands when playing.
Why is there a jack in a deck of cards? ›Originally, in England, the court cards were called king, queen and knave, with knave being the now-defunct term for a male servant. Card game books still referred to the knave in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century.
How many Kings are in a deck? ›The four kings on a modern deck of playing each have a distinct appearance.
What is the most common card game? ›Overall, Spades claims the title of the most popular card game in the U.S., with 11 states boasting it. Close behind are Texas Hold 'Em, War, Spoons, and Old Maid, each claiming victory in four or more states. There are 14 more card games that round out the list of favorites around the country.
What is the lowest card in a deck? ›
There are 52 cards in a deck, divided into four suits of 13 ranks each. The suits are all of equal value - no suit is higher than any other suit. In Poker, the Ace is the highest card and the 2 card (Deuce) is the lowest.
Does a 52 card deck have jokers? ›13. There are 52 cards in a deck of playing cards (54 if counting the two Jokers). 14. A box of playing cards also includes two jokers.
Which card color is highest? ›Alternating colors: diamonds (lowest), followed by clubs, hearts, and spades (highest).
Why is an ace called an ace? ›Simple Origins. The word 'ace' comes from the Latin or Old French word 'as', meaning 'a single unit'. It was used commonly in the Roman Empire, as the name for a small coin that weighed about 11 grams, and later in many popular games throughout Europe, where it represented the lowest score or value possible.
What card has the most value? ›1. Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps SGC 9.5 ($12,600,000) Pictured above is the first trading card to sell for eight figures. Mickey Mantle's 1952 Topps rookie card has cemented itself as a pivotal piece of Americana.
What is the oldest magic card? ›Magic: The Gathering Limited Edition is the first Magic: The Gathering card set. It premiered in a limited release at Origins Game Fair in 1993, with a general release that August. The initial print run of 2.6 million cards sold out quickly, and a new printing run was released in October 1993.
How old is the joker card? ›Cards labelled "Joker" began appearing around the late 1860s, with some depicting clowns and jesters.
How long has the 52 card deck been around? ›In the 1400s playing cards often appear along with dice games in religious sermons as examples of gambling activities that are denounced, and there is clear evidence that a 52 card deck existed and was used in this time.
Why do cards have a cut out? ›Purpose. The practice of cutting is primarily a method of reducing the likelihood of someone cheating by manipulating the order of cards to gain advantage. Even if the dealer (or the shuffler, if he is not the dealer) does not plan on cheating, cutting will prevent suspicions, thus many rules require it.
What determines card color? ›What Parts of the Card Are Considered for Color Identity? A card's color identity is determined by the mana symbols within its casting cost, its color indicator, and its rules text.
What are 21 cards called? ›
A hand counting 21 on the first two cards (an ace and a 10 or face card) is called a natural or a blackjack.
What do the 4 suits of cards represent? ›The four suits in playing cards, clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades, collectively represent the four elements (wind, fire, water, and earth), the seasons, and cardinal directions. They represent the struggle of opposing forces for victory in life.
What is 4 of the same card called? ›Four cards of the same rank - such as four queens. The fifth card can be anything. This combination is sometimes known as "quads", and in some parts of Europe it is called a "poker", though this term for it is unknown in English.
What does K mean in cards? ›The A stands for ace, the J for jack, the Q for queen, and the K for king. The jack, queen, and king are often referred to as face cards. In many card games, a player has a number of cards, and this is referred to as his hand.
Who is the Queen of Diamonds? ›Within a decade, Canada was producing sixteen per cent of the world's supply of gem-quality stones by volume, and Eira was known as the Queen of Diamonds.
What are king queen Jack in cards called? ›The Face Cards (King, Queen & Jack) are referred to as the “Court”. 52 cards represents the 52 weeks in a year.
Why do playing cards have 52 cards? ›The most common theory is that the 52 cards represent 52 weeks in a year. The four colors represent the four seasons. The 13 cards in a suit represent the thirteen weeks in each season, Four suits times 13 cards in a suite equals 52.
Why do deck of cards have holes in them? ›Many casinos, particularly those in Las Vegas alter the decks of cards they sell to tourists – either by punching holes through the middle of cards or trimming their edges – to prevent cheaters from returning to the game tables after buying the cards and then slipping the favorable cards into their hands when playing.
When did the 52 card deck originate? ›The earliest cards of the English pattern date to around 1516.
What are the 13 types of cards? ›A standard deck of cards has four suites: hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds. Each suite has thirteen cards: ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen and king. Thus the entire deck has 52 cards total.
Why are there 13 cards in a suit? ›
The four suits — hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds — represent the four seasons. Meanwhile, the 13 cards in each suit represent the 13 phases of the lunar cycle.
Is joker higher than ace? ›Object of the Game
When the two jokers are used, they are the highest-ranking trump cards. The spade suit is comprised of 15 cards: the Big Joker (Full-Color Joker) outranks the Little Joker (One-Color Joker), which outranks the ace of spades.
In playing cards: Ranks. …the numeral 1 is designated ace and marked A accordingly. In games based on the superiority of one rank over another, such as most trick-taking games, the ace counts highest, outranking even the king. In games based on numerical value, the ace normally counts 1, as in cribbage, or 11,…
What is it called when you mix a deck of cards? ›Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games.
Why do casinos cut their cards? ›The practice of cutting is primarily a method of reducing the likelihood of someone cheating by manipulating the order of cards to gain advantage. Even if the dealer (or the shuffler, if he is not the dealer) does not plan on cheating, cutting will prevent suspicions, thus many rules require it.
Why do casinos throw away cards? ›For example, if you visit during a busy time, a deck can last as little as one hour before being switched for a fresh pack. But why are cards retired in the first place? That's to stop any distinguishing marks, such as bends and scuffs, giving the game away to players looking to gain an advantage.
What is the oldest card ever? ›The oldest surviving cards in the world are four fragments found in the Keir Collection and one in the Benaki Museum. They are dated to the 12th and 13th centuries (late Fatimid, Ayyubid, and early Mamluk periods).
What are 52 deck of cards called? ›A "standard" deck of playing cards consists of 52 Cards in each of the 4 suits of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. Each suit contains 13 cards: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King. Modern decks also usually include two Jokers.