Playing cards - these are small pieces of special cardboard on which certain shapes, signs and numbers are depicted. They are very popular. They can be as cheap as possible and very expensive. They are used not only for playing, but also for decoration, as well as in other situations.
History of playing cards
Now it is difficult to say when cards for games first appeared. Of course, they were made from pieces of skin, shells, shells, clay tablets or pieces of stone. Homeland for maps is considered to be Asia. It is said that their inventors were the Chinese. At that time, they used paper plates, ivory forms, and pieces of wood on which various figures were depicted. Maps were mentioned as early as the 8th-11th centuries.
There were also maps in Japan and India. In Japan, they were made from mussel shells, which were then decorated with plants, ornaments and scenes from life. Here they were used to teach and develop creative personalities. People could not only play, but also lay out solitaire.
The first mention of maps in India dates back to 1527. Then Emperor Babur wrote about them in his diary, saying that he had given the deck to his close friend. In India, the cards were called "ganjifa". They were round and depicted Shiva, who has 4 hands. In them he holds a sword, a cup, a wand, and a coin. It is said that the image represented 4 Indian clans.
In ancient Persia, there were already maps that were more similar to modern ones. There were 48 cards and 4 suits. They already had a hierarchy similar to the current one: the first 10 had numbers, and the two senior ones had the vizier and the king.
Already in the 11th century, maps appeared in Egypt. They got there from Asia. They were used by Mamluks - local warriors. These cards were similar to those on the Tarot. They did not depict people, only abstract drawings.
In 1367, card games were banned in the city of Bern. So, they knew about their existence even then.
As early as 1418, the mass production of maps was launched in the cities of Nuremberg, Ulm and Augsburg. At the end of the 15th century, the appearance of the log was modernized and it began to look more modern. Egyptian suits were replaced by clubs, clubs, clubs, spades, kings, queens, knights, servants appeared.
Over time, the appearance of the cards became more and more modern. As we know them, they came to us from France in the 17th century. Then the deck received 36 cards. Maps came to France from Italy in the 15th century. Then there were 21 trump cards and they were called senior arcana. They were used until the 18th century as gambling rooms, and later they were modified into tarot cards.
Maps, in turn, arrived in Italy from the East in the 14th century. They were brought by the Crusaders.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the deck of French cards was already quite similar to the modern one. And in 1830, symmetrical drawings, rounded corners and small indexes in the corners of the cards were created.
Types of card decks
The well-known deck consists of 54 cards. They have 4 suits. The deck includes:
- junior cards from 2 to 10;
- jacks;
- ladies;
- kings;
- aces;
- 2 jokers.
There are also shortened decks. They have 36 cards, here the countdown starts with "6". And there are also 32 cards where the deck starts with "7".
Each game requires its own decks. And since the cards were very popular, many countries had their own types:
Italian-Spanish - has 50 cards. It starts with "1" and ends with "9". There is a king, a knight, a jack, a joker. Different parts of Italy used their logs. For example, 98 pieces in Florence, 78 in Venice, 62 in Bologna.
German - previously there were 48 cards in the deck. Now 32. Until the 16th century, the senior cards had a king and queen and a non-commissioned officer and chief officer. Later, aces came instead of the queen. Different colors represent different suits. There are green spades as well as yellow diamonds.
French - here the senior cards are jack, queen, king, ace. It is in this deck that the suits are marked only in black and red. The heroes of this deck of cards have always had their historical prototypes. For example, the King of Worms is Charlemagne. The king of spades was King David, and the king of clubs was Julius Caesar. The king of clubs was Alexander the Great. Among the ladies, the prototypes were Judith, Athena Pallas, Rachel, Argina.
Interesting facts about cards
There is quite a lot that is unusual related to playing cards. For example, it is known for certain that the deck symbolizes the year. After all, 4 suits are 4 seasons. The 13 cards in each suit are the 13 phases of the moon. 52 cards are 52 weeks of the year. If we add the value of all the cards in the deck, we get 364. And if we add the joker, it will be 365 - that's how many days there are in a year. If you add one more joker, then there will be 366 - the number of days of a leap year.
At the beginning of the 19th century in Canada, namely in the province of Quebec, cards were used as money and even had official seals on them.
If you have a deck of 52 cards, you can make 2.5 million poker hands from it.
In the American state of New Mexico, there is a law according to which, if candidates for any position have the same number of votes, they play cards. In 1998, the mayor of Estancia won this position after beating his opponent in poker.
There is a collector in China, Liu Fuchang. His collection includes 11,087 different decks of cards.
The oldest, rarest and most expensive is the deck of Tarot cards, which was produced in the Netherlands in the 15th century. It can be seen in the Metrolitan museum in New York.
In a casino, the deck of cards can change every 12 hours. If the game is very intense, then every hour. This is done so that experienced players cannot distinguish the cards during the game due to microdamage.
The history of maps is ancient, interesting and very symbolic. It is really unusual, because the game itself is already something unusual and special.
How to play cards? Rules of playing Trinka, fool read on azart-games.