"Gegeben Monsieur and Madame four peters, two forms, value eight and a
half moutons, where with to buy a pack of cards" - so reads an entry
dated May 14, 1379 in the account books of Joanna, Duchess of Brabant.
It takes a while to familiarize a novice's awkward fingers with what
must be one of the most popular and widely known (through film and
fiction if not through real life) modern
Online Casino and high-tech casino
games. And in the giddy atmosphere of first live games one may never
realize that the glossy polygons - an as yet unruly freak-show of royal
Siamese twins - have not in fact always been as they seem to have always
been since forever, since you first saw a dog-eared pack on your
grandma's table.
The very first playing cards seem to have originated in Central Asia.
The first known reference to cards is a 10th or 11th century record of
paper dominoes, printed to represent all of the 21 combinations of a
pair of dice, used in other games in China. The earliest found artifacts
come from 9th century China. Scholars associate the first straight-sheet
paper cards with the first use of straight writing paper as opposed to
paper rolls (being one of the many ancient Chinese inventions so obvious
now to any sane modern) and with the earliest book printing.
Playing cards in quite modern form were likely introduced into Europe by
Egyptian Mamelukes in the late 14th century. The typical Mameluke deck
had 52 cards, four suits (polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups), and
three court cards which depicted abstracted design rather than persons.
At the time, cards were hand-made and only wealthy Europeans could
afford them. But the technique of applying woodcuts (used till then to
decorate fabric) to paper was introduced around 1400 and mass production
followed suit. In the period between 1418 and 1450 there are records of
professional card makers. Nowadays, card production is one of the most
flourishing world-wide industries.
The number and style of suits in 15th century playing cards varied: some
decks had five suits, and hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns were the
standard suits in Germany, still used today in Southern Germany for a
distinctive set of card games. From my own childhood, besides the now
standard deck, I remember the German suits which I much preferred
because of their relative pictorial richness, particularly the golden
nut and greenish cupule of the acorn suit: perhaps a gift imported into
Asia, Kazakhstan from German relatives.
If the kings were the highest card in the suit in early games, by the
14th century the "Ace" (stemming from the Latin for the lowest unit of
currency, as) began to acquire the ability to turn highest card, leaving
the Two as lowest. This was an especially popular mode during the French
Revolution when it was vital that the lower classes rise above royalty.
A revolutionary would likewise disdain to play cards with Kings and
Queens, preferring the innovative design of Liberties, Equalities, and
Fraternities, but the classic design returned with the coming of
Napoleon to power.
A reversible
beste casino double image in court cards was introduced in the 19th
century. The earliest of such designs was American, though the invention
is attributed to a French card maker of the late 18th century whose idea
was prohibited by the French government. The purpose was to prevent
players from reversing their court cards during a session, thus in part
revealing their hands to even not the most observant of gegner.
