game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
using
playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
s as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.
Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules vary by region, culture, and person.
Traditional card games are played with a ''deck'' or ''pack'' of
playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
s which are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the ''face'' and the ''back''. Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. The composition of a deck is known to each player. In some cases several decks are
shuffled
Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome.
__TOC__
Techniques
Overha ...
together to form a single ''pack'' or ''shoe''. Modern card games usually have bespoke decks, often with a vast amount of cards, and can include number or action cards. This type of game is generally regarded as part of the
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
hobby.
Games using playing cards exploit the fact that cards are individually identifiable from one side only, so that each player knows only the cards they hold and not those held by anyone else. For this reason card games are often characterized as games of chance or "imperfect information"—as distinct from games of strategy or
perfect information
In economics, perfect information (sometimes referred to as "no hidden information") is a feature of perfect competition. With perfect information in a market, all consumers and producers have complete and instantaneous knowledge of all market pr ...
, where the current position is fully visible to all players throughout the game. Many games that are not generally placed in the family of card games do in fact use cards for some aspect of their gameplay.
Some games that are placed in the card game genre involve a board. The distinction is that the gameplay of a card game chiefly depends on the use of the cards by players (the board is a guide for scorekeeping or for card placement), while
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
s (the principal non-card game genre to use cards) generally focus on the players' positions on the board, and use the cards for some secondary purpose.
Types
Trick-taking games
The object of a
trick-taking game
A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...
is based on the play of multiple rounds, or tricks, in each of which each player plays a single card from their hand, and based on the values of played cards one player wins or "takes" the trick. The specific object varies with each game and can include taking as many tricks as possible, taking as many scoring cards within the tricks won as possible, taking as few tricks (or as few penalty cards) as possible, taking a particular trick in the hand, or taking an exact number of tricks.
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
,
Whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play.
History
Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...
and
Spades
SPAdes (St. Petersburg genome assembler) is a genome assembly algorithm which was designed for single cell and multi-cells bacterial data sets. Therefore, it might not be suitable for large genomes projects.
SPAdes works with Ion Torrent, PacBio ...
, and the various
Tarot card games
Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...
, are popular examples.
Matching games
The object of a matching (or sometimes "melding") game is to acquire particular groups of matching cards before an opponent can do so. In
Rummy
Rummy is a group of matching-card games notable for similar gameplay based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build '' melds'' which can be either sets (three or four of a k ...
, this is done through drawing and discarding, and the groups are called melds.
Mahjong
Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
is a very similar game played with tiles instead of cards. Non-Rummy examples of match-type games generally fall into the "fishing" genre and include the children's games
Go Fish
Go Fish or Fish is a card game usually played by two to five players, although it can be played wi ...
and
Old Maid
An old maid is a spinster.
Old maid or Old Maid may also refer to:
Games
*Old maid (card game), a simple game popular around the world, existing in many variants
*, a German card game (variant of ) whose name translates as 'old maid'
Film
* '' ...
.
Shedding games
In a
shedding game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.
Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...
, players start with a hand of cards, and the object of the game is to be the first player to discard all cards from one's hand. Common shedding games include
Crazy Eights
Crazy Eights is a shedding-type card game for two to seven players and the best known American member of the Eights Group which also includes Pig and Spoons. The object of the game is to be the first player to discard all of their cards. The ga ...
(commercialized by
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
as Uno) and Daihinmin. Some matching-type games are also shedding-type games; some variants of Rummy such as
Paskahousu
Paskahousu (; "shit pants") is a Finnish card game. The object of the game is to play higher cards than the previously played cards, first to get replacement cards from the stock pile, and, after the stock pile has exhausted, to get rid of one's ...
,
Phase 10
Phase 10 is a card game created in 1982 by Kenneth Johnson and sold by Mattel, which purchased the rights from Fundex Games in 2010. Phase 10 is based on a variant of rummy known as contract rummy. It consists of a special deck equivalent to ...
,
Rummikub
''Rummikub'' () is a tile-based game for 2 to 4 players, combining elements of the card game rummy and mahjong. There are 106 tiles in the game, including 104 numbered tiles (valued 1 to 13 in four different colors, two copies of each) and two jo ...
, the bluffing game
I Doubt It
I, or i, is the ninth Letter (alphabet), letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in Engl ...
, and the children's games
Musta Maija
Musta Maija (; "Black Mary") is a Finnish card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.
Countless card games exist, including families of re ...
and
Old Maid
An old maid is a spinster.
Old maid or Old Maid may also refer to:
Games
*Old maid (card game), a simple game popular around the world, existing in many variants
*, a German card game (variant of ) whose name translates as 'old maid'
Film
* '' ...
, fall into both categories.
Catch and collect games
The object of an accumulating game is to acquire all cards in the deck. Examples include most
War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
type games, and games involving slapping a discard pile such as
Slapjack
Slapjack, also known as Slaps, is a card game of the matching family, generally played among children. It can often be a child's first introduction to playing cards.
The game is a cross between Beggar-My-Neighbour and Egyptian Ratscrew and is al ...
.
Egyptian Ratscrew
Egyptian Ratscrew (ERS) at pagat.com. Retrieved 21 October 2020. or Slap is a modern American
Scopa
''Scopa'' (; literally "broom") is an Italian card game, and one of the three major national card games in Italy, the others being ''Briscola'' and ''Tresette''. It is also popular in Argentina and Brazil, brought in by Italian immigrants, mostly ...
is considered one of the national card games of Italy.
Cassino
Cassino () is a ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Southern Italy, at the southern end of the region of Lazio, the last city of the Latin Valley.
Cassino is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Gari and Liri rive ...
is the only fishing game to be widely played in English-speaking countries. Zwicker has been described as a "simpler and jollier version of Cassino", played in Germany.
Tablanet
Tablanette, Tablanet, Tabinet or Tablić is a popular fishing-style card game usually played by two players or two teams of two that is popular in a wide area of the Balkans. It is similar to the English game of Cassino.
History
The earliest kn ...
(tablić) is fishing-style game popular in
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
.
Comparing games
Comparing card games are those where hand values are compared to determine the winner, also known as "vying" or "showdown" games.
Poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
,
blackjack
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
baccarat
Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...
are examples of comparing card games. As seen, nearly all of these games are designed as gambling games.
Patience and solitaire games
Solitaire games are designed to be played by one player. Most games begin with a specific layout of cards, called a tableau, and the object is then either to construct a more elaborate final layout, or to clear the tableau and/or the draw pile or ''stock'' by moving all cards to one or more "discard" or "foundation" piles.
Drinking card games
Drinking card games are
drinking game
Drinking games are games which involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages and often enduring the subsequent intoxication resulting from them. Evidence of the existence of drinking games dates back to antiquity. Drinking games have been banned ...
s using cards, in which the object in playing the game is either to drink or to force others to drink. Many games are ordinary card games with the establishment of "drinking rules";
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
, for instance, is virtually identical to Daihinmin but with additional rules governing drinking. Poker can also be played using a number of drinks as the wager. Another game often played as a drinking game is
Toepen
Toepen (/ˈtupə(n)/) is a trick-taking Dutch card game for three to eight players, and is often played as a drinking game. Typically the number of players is 4.
Gameplay
Every player is dealt 4 cards from a 32 card deck. The cards are played one ...
, quite popular in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. Some card games are designed specifically to be played as drinking games.
Multi-genre games
Many card games borrow elements from more than one type. The most common combination is matching and shedding, as in some variants of Rummy,
Old Maid
An old maid is a spinster.
Old maid or Old Maid may also refer to:
Games
*Old maid (card game), a simple game popular around the world, existing in many variants
*, a German card game (variant of ) whose name translates as 'old maid'
Film
* '' ...
, and
Go Fish
Go Fish or Fish is a card game usually played by two to five players, although it can be played wi ...
. However, many multi-genre games involve different stages of play for each hand. The most common multi-stage combination is a "trick-and-meld" game, such as
Pinochle
Pinochle (), also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking, Ace-Ten card game typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by form ...
or
Belote
Belote () is a 32-card, trick-taking, Ace-Ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia (mainly Bitola), Bosnia and Herzegovina and als ...
. Other multi-stage, multi-genre games include
Poke
Poke may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Poke (''Ender's Game''), a fictional character
* Poke (game), a two-player card game
* Poke, a fictional bar owner in the television series '' Treme''
* The Poke, a British satirical website
Fo ...
Skitgubbe
''Skitgubbe'' (translated by David Parlett as "dirty old man, in the sense of unwashed rather than obscene") is a multi-genre card game that originated in Sweden. The game occurs in two phases. The first phase is a multi-player version of War, in ...
, and
Tichu
Tichu is a proprietary card game; primarily a shedding game that includes elements of Bridge, Daihinmin, and Poker played between two teams of two players each. Teams work to accumulate points; the first team to reach a predetermined score (usua ...
.
Collectible card games (CCGs)
Collectible card games (CCG) are proprietary playing card games. CCGs are games of strategy between two or more players. Each player has their own deck constructed from a very large pool of unique cards in the commercial market. The cards have different effects, costs, and art. New card sets are released periodically and sold as starter decks or
booster pack
In collectible card games, digital collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection. A box of multiple booster packs is referred to as a b ...
s. Obtaining the different cards makes the game a collectible card game, and cards are sold or traded on the
secondary market
The secondary market, also called the aftermarket and follow on public offering, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the s ...
. ''
Magic: The Gathering
''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...
'', ''
Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of ...
'', and ''
Yu-Gi-Oh!
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...
'' are well-known collectible card games.
Living card games (LCGs)
Living card games (LCGs) are similar to collectible card games (CCGs), with their most distinguishing feature being a fixed distribution method, which breaks away from the traditional collectible card game format. While new cards for CCGs are usually sold in the form of starter decks or
booster pack
In collectible card games, digital collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection. A box of multiple booster packs is referred to as a b ...
s (the latter being often randomized), LCGs thrive on a model that requires players to acquire one core set in order to play the game, which players can further customize by acquiring extra sets or expansions featuring new content in the form of cards or scenarios. No randomization is involved in the process, thus players that get the same sets or expansions will get the exact same content. The term was popularized by
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions.
History
Fantasy Flight Publish ...
(FFG) and mainly applies to its products, however some tabletop gaming companies can be seen using a very similar model.
Casino or gambling card games
These games revolve around wagers of money. Though virtually any game in which there are winning and losing outcomes can be wagered on, these games are specifically designed to make the betting process a strategic part of the game. Some of these games involve players betting against each other, such as poker, while in others, like
blackjack
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
, players wager against the house.
Poker games
Poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
is a family of gambling games in which players bet into a pool, called the pot, the value of which changes as the game progresses that the value of the hand they carry will beat all others according to the
ranking system
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In order theory, mathematics, this is known as a Strict weak ordering ...
. Variants largely differ on how cards are dealt and the methods by which players can improve a hand. For many reasons, including its age and its popularity among Western militaries, it is one of the most universally known card games in existence.
Other card games
Many other card games have been designed and published on a commercial or amateur basis. In some cases, the game uses the standard 52-card deck, but the object is unique. In
Eleusis
Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest ...
, for example, players play single cards, and are told whether the play was legal or illegal, in an attempt to discover the underlying rules made up by the dealer.
Most of these games however typically use a specially made deck of cards designed specifically for the game (or variations of it). The decks are thus usually proprietary, but may be created by the game's players. Uno,
Phase 10
Phase 10 is a card game created in 1982 by Kenneth Johnson and sold by Mattel, which purchased the rights from Fundex Games in 2010. Phase 10 is based on a variant of rummy known as contract rummy. It consists of a special deck equivalent to ...
,
Set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
, and
1000 Blank White Cards
1000 Blank White Cards is a party game played with cards in which the deck is created as part of the game. Though it has been played by adults in organized groups worldwide, 1000 Blank White Cards is also described as well-suited for children in ...
are popular dedicated-deck card games; 1000 Blank White Cards is unique in that the cards for the game are designed by the players of the game while playing it; there is no commercially available deck advertised as such.
Simulation card games
A deck of either customised dedicated cards or a standard deck of playing cards with assigned meanings is used to simulate the actions of another activity, for example card football.
Fictional card games
Many games, including card games, are fabricated by
science fiction author
This is a list of noted science-fiction authors (in alphabetical order):
A
*Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960)
*Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954)
*Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926)
*Kōbō Abe (1924–1993)
* Robert Abernathy (1924–1990)
*Dan Abn ...
s and screenwriters to distance a culture depicted in the story from present-day Western culture. They are commonly used as filler to depict background activities in an atmosphere like a bar or rec room, but sometimes the drama revolves around the play of the game. Some of these games become real card games as the holder of the intellectual property develops and markets a suitable deck and ruleset for the game, while others lack sufficient descriptions of rules, or depend on cards or other hardware that are infeasible or physically impossible.
Typical structure of card games
Number and association of players
Any specific card game imposes restrictions on the number of players. The most significant dividing lines run between one-player games and two-player games, and between two-player games and multi-player games. Card games for one player are known as ''solitaire'' or ''patience'' card games. (See
list of solitaire card games
This is a list of patiences, which are card games that are also referred to as solitaires or as card solitaire.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only includes games that have met the usual Wikipedia requirements (e.g. notability). ...
.) Generally speaking, they are in many ways special and atypical, although some of them have given rise to two- or multi-player games such as
Spite and Malice
Spite and Malice, also known as Cat and Mouse or Screw Your Neighbor, is a traditional card game for two or more players. It is a reworking of the late 19th century Continental game Crapette and is a form of competitive solitaire, with a number o ...
.
In card games for two players, usually not all cards are distributed to the players, as they would otherwise have perfect information about the game state. Two-player games have always been immensely popular and include some of the most significant card games such as
piquet
Piquet (; ) is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game. David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but ...
,
bezique
Bezique () or Bésigue () is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players that came to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from Piquet,''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Philological Socie ...
klaberjass
Klaberjass () or Bela is a trick-taking Ace-Ten card game that is most popular in German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack.
As in other point-trick games of the King ...
cribbage
Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players.
Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbag ...
. Many multi-player games started as two-player games that were adapted to a greater number of players. For such adaptations a number of non-obvious choices must be made beginning with the choice of a game orientation.
One way of extending a two-player game to more players is by building two teams of equal size. A common case is four players in two fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise as in
whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play.
History
Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...
and
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...
. Partners sit opposite to each other and cannot see each other's hands. If communication between the partners is allowed at all, then it is usually restricted to a specific list of permitted signs and signals. 17th-century French partnership games such as
triomphe
Triomphe (French for triumph), once known as French Ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared ...
were special in that partners sat next to each other and were allowed to communicate freely so long as they did not exchange cards or play out of order.
Another way of extending a two-player game to more players is as a ''cut-throat'' game, in which all players fight on their own, and win or lose alone. Most cut-throat card games are ''round games'', i.e. they can be played by any number of players starting from two or three, so long as there are enough cards for all.
For some of the most interesting games such as
ombre
Ombre (, pronounced "omber") or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented."
Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-pe ...
,
tarot
The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...
and skat, the associations between players change from hand to hand. Ultimately players all play on their own, but for each hand, some game mechanism divides the players into two teams. Most typically these are ''solo games'', i.e. games in which one player becomes the soloist and has to achieve some objective against the others, who form a team and win or lose all their points jointly. But in games for more than three players, there may also be a mechanism that selects two players who then have to play against the others.
Direction of play
The players of a card game normally form a circle around a table or other space that can hold cards. The ''game orientation'' or ''direction of play'', which is only relevant for three or more players, can be either
clockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...
or
counterclockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...
. It is the direction in which various roles in the game proceed. (In
real-time card game
A real-time card game is a card game in which there are no turns and all players may act simultaneously (that is, in real-time).
The card game Set has a real-time element; in Set, the players are racing to identify patterns in the cards on the ta ...
s, there may be no need for a direction of play.) Most regions have a traditional direction of play, such as:
* Counterclockwise in most of Asia and in Latin America.
* Clockwise in North America and Australia.
Europe is roughly divided into a clockwise area in the north and a counterclockwise area in the south. The boundary runs between
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
(mostly),
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
(
clockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...
) and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
,
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
(counterclockwise).
Games that originate in a region with a strong preference are often initially played in the original direction, even in regions that prefer the opposite direction. For games that have official rules and are played in tournaments, the direction of play is often prescribed in those rules.
Determining who deals
Most games have some form of asymmetry between players. The roles of players are normally expressed in terms of the ''dealer'', i.e. the player whose task it is to shuffle the cards and distribute them to the players. Being the dealer can be a (minor or major) advantage or disadvantage, depending on the game. Therefore, after each played hand, the deal normally passes to the next player according to the game orientation.
As it can still be an advantage or disadvantage to be the first dealer, there are some standard methods for determining who is the first dealer. A common method is by cutting, which works as follows. One player shuffles the deck and places it on the table. Each player lifts a packet of cards from the top, reveals its bottom card, and returns it to the deck. The player who reveals the highest (or lowest) card becomes dealer. In the case of a tie, the process is repeated by the tied players. For some games such as whist this process of cutting is part of the official rules, and the hierarchy of cards for the purpose of cutting (which need not be the same as that used otherwise in the game) is also specified. But in general, any method can be used, such as tossing a coin in case of a two-player game, drawing cards until one player draws an ace, or rolling dice.
Hands, rounds and games
A ''hand'' is a unit of the game that begins with the dealer shuffling and dealing the cards as described below, and ends with the players scoring and the next dealer being determined. The set of cards that each player receives and holds in his or her hands is also known as that player's hand.
The hand is over when the players have finished playing their hands. Most often this occurs when one player (or all) has no cards left. The player who sits after the dealer in the direction of play is known as
eldest hand
Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position.
Position
Games of Anglo-American origin
In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...
(or in two-player games as
elder hand
Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position.
Position
Games of Anglo-American origin
In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...
) or
forehand
The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racket across one's body with the hand moving palm-first. In tennis, except in the context of the phrase ''forehand volley ...
. A ''game round'' consists of as many hands as there are players. After each hand, the deal is passed on in the direction of play, i.e. the previous eldest hand becomes the new dealer. Normally players score points after each hand. A game may consist of a fixed number of rounds. Alternatively it can be played for a fixed number of points. In this case it is over with the hand in which a player reaches the target score.
Shuffling
Shuffling is the process of bringing the cards of a pack into a random order. There are a large number of techniques with various advantages and disadvantages. ''Riffle shuffling'' is a method in which the deck is divided into two roughly equal-sized halves that are bent and then released, so that the cards interlace. Repeating this process several times randomizes the deck well, but the method is harder to learn than some others and may damage the cards. The ''overhand shuffle'' and the ''Hindu shuffle'' are two techniques that work by taking batches of cards from the top of the deck and reassembling them in the opposite order. They are easier to learn but must be repeated more often. A method suitable for small children consists in spreading the cards on a large surface and moving them around before picking up the deck again. This is also the most common method for shuffling tiles such as dominoes.
For casino games that are played for large sums it is vital that the cards be properly randomized, but for many games this is less critical, and in fact player experience can suffer when the cards are shuffled too well. The official skat rules stipulate that the cards are ''shuffled well'', but according to a decision of the German skat court, a one-handed player should ask another player to do the shuffling, rather than use a
shuffling machine
A shuffling machine is a machine for randomly shuffling packs of playing cards.
Because standard shuffling techniques are seen as weak, and in order to avoid "inside jobs" where employees collaborate with gamblers by performing inadequate shuff ...
, as it would shuffle the cards ''too'' well. French
belote
Belote () is a 32-card, trick-taking, Ace-Ten game played primarily in France and certain European countries, namely Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia (mainly Bitola), Bosnia and Herzegovina and als ...
rules go so far as to prescribe that the deck never be shuffled between hands.
Deal
The dealer takes all of the cards in the pack, arranges them so that they are in a uniform stack, and
shuffle
Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome.
__TOC__
Techniques
Overha ...
s them. In strict play, the dealer then offers the deck to the previous player (in the sense of the game direction) for ''
cutting
Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force.
Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...
''. If the deal is clockwise, this is the player to the dealer's right; if counterclockwise, it is the player to the dealer's left. The invitation to cut is made by placing the pack, face downward, on the table near the player who is to cut: who then lifts the upper portion of the pack clear of the lower portion and places it alongside. (Normally the two portions have about equal size. Strict rules often indicate that each portion must contain a certain minimum number of cards, such as three or five.) The formerly lower portion is then replaced on top of the formerly upper portion. Instead of cutting, one may also knock on the deck to indicate that one trusts the dealer to have shuffled fairly.
The actual ''deal'' (distribution of cards) is done in the direction of play, beginning with eldest hand. The dealer holds the pack, face down, in one hand, and removes cards from the top of it with his or her other hand to distribute to the players, placing them face down on the table in front of the players to whom they are dealt. The cards may be dealt one at a time, or in batches of more than one card; and either the entire pack or a determined number of cards are dealt out. The undealt cards, if any, are left face down in the middle of the table, forming the ''stock'' (also called the talon, widow, skat or kitty depending on the game and region).
Throughout the shuffle, cut, and deal, the dealer should prevent the players from seeing the faces of any of the cards. The players should not try to see any of the faces. Should a player accidentally see a card, other than one's own, proper etiquette would be to admit this. It is also dishonest to try to see cards as they are dealt, or to take advantage of having seen a card. Should a card accidentally become exposed, (visible to all), any player can demand a redeal (all the cards are gathered up, and the shuffle, cut, and deal are repeated) or that the card be replaced randomly into the deck ("burning" it) and a replacement dealt from the top to the player who was to receive the revealed card.
When the deal is complete, all players pick up their cards, or "hand", and hold them in such a way that the faces can be seen by the holder of the cards but not the other players, or vice versa depending on the game. It is helpful to fan one's cards out so that if they have corner indices all their values can be seen at once. In most games, it is also useful to sort one's hand, rearranging the cards in a way appropriate to the game. For example, in a
trick-taking game
A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...
it may be easier to have all one's cards of the same suit together, whereas in a
rummy
Rummy is a group of matching-card games notable for similar gameplay based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build '' melds'' which can be either sets (three or four of a k ...
game one might sort them by rank or by potential combinations.
Rules
A new card game starts in a small way, either as someone's invention, or as a modification of an existing game. Those playing it may agree to change the rules as they wish. The rules that they agree on become the "house rules" under which they play the game. A set of house rules may be accepted as valid by a group of players wherever they play, as it may also be accepted as governing all play within a particular house, café, or club.
When a game becomes sufficiently popular, so that people often play it with strangers, there is a need for a generally accepted set of rules. This need is often met when a particular set of house rules becomes generally recognized. For example, when
Whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play.
History
Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...
became popular in 18th-century
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, players in the Portland Club agreed on a set of house rules for use on its premises. Players in some other clubs then agreed to follow the "Portland Club" rules, rather than go to the trouble of codifying and printing their own sets of rules. The Portland Club rules eventually became generally accepted throughout England and Western cultures.
There is nothing static or "official" about this process. For the majority of games, there is no one set of universal rules by which the game is played, and the most common ruleset is no more or less than that. Many widely played card games, such as
Canasta
Canasta (; Spanish for "basket") is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with tw ...
and
Pinochle
Pinochle (), also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking, Ace-Ten card game typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by form ...
, have no official regulating body. The most common ruleset is often determined by the most popular distribution of rulebooks for card games. Perhaps the original compilation of popular playing card games was collected by
Edmund Hoyle
Edmond Hoyle (167229 August 1769) was an English writer best known for his works on the rules and play of card games. The phrase "according to Hoyle" (meaning "strictly according to the rules") came into the language as a reflection of his gene ...
, a self-made authority on many popular parlor games. The U.S. Playing Card Company now owns the eponymous Hoyle brand, and publishes a series of rulebooks for various families of card games that have largely standardized the games' rules in countries and languages where the rulebooks are widely distributed. However, players are free to, and often do, invent "house rules" to supplement or even largely replace the "standard" rules.
If there is a sense in which a card game can have an "official" set of rules, it is when that card game has an "official" governing body. For example, the rules of tournament
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
are governed by the
World Bridge Federation
The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigiou ...
, and by local bodies in various countries such as the
American Contract Bridge League
The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain th ...
in the U.S., and the
English Bridge Union
The English Bridge Union or EBU is a player-funded organisation that promotes and organises the card game of duplicate bridge in England. It is based at offices in Aylesbury. The EBU is a member of the European Bridge League and thus affiliat ...
International Skat Players Association The International Skat Players Association (ISPA) is the worldwide umbrella organisation for all competition Skat players. The ISPA was founded in 1976 by Peter Brand and Martha Prickartz in Aachen, Germany.
It initially crossed swords with the wo ...
and, in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, by the ''Deutscher Skatverband'' which publishes the ''Skatordnung''. The rules of French tarot are governed by the Fédération Française de Tarot. The rules of
Poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
's variants are largely traditional, but enforced by the
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...
and the
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...
organizations which sponsor tournament play. Even in these cases, the rules must only be followed exactly at games sanctioned by these governing bodies; players in less formal settings are free to implement agreed-upon supplemental or substitute rules at will.
Rule infractions
An infraction is any action which is against the rules of the game, such as playing a card when it is not one's turn to play or the accidental exposure of a card, informally known as "bleeding."
In many official sets of rules for card games, the rules specifying the penalties for various infractions occupy more pages than the rules specifying how to play correctly. This is tedious but necessary for games that are played seriously. Players who intend to play a card game at a high level generally ensure before beginning that all agree on the penalties to be used. When playing privately, this will normally be a question of agreeing house rules. In a tournament, there will probably be a tournament director who will enforce the rules when required and arbitrate in cases of doubt.
If a player breaks the rules of a game deliberately, this is cheating. The rest of this section is therefore about accidental infractions, caused by ignorance, clumsiness, inattention, etc.
As the same game is played repeatedly among a group of players, precedents build up about how a particular infraction of the rules should be handled. For example, "Sheila just led a card when it wasn't her turn. Last week when Jo did that, we agreed ... etc." Sets of such precedents tend to become established among groups of players, and to be regarded as part of the house rules. Sets of house rules may become formalized, as described in the previous section. Therefore, for some games, there is a "proper" way of handling infractions of the rules. But for many games, without governing bodies, there is no standard way of handling infractions.
In many circumstances, there is no need for special rules dealing with what happens after an infraction. As a general principle, the person who broke a rule should not benefit from it, and the other players should not lose by it. An exception to this may be made in games with fixed partnerships, in which it may be felt that the partner(s) of the person who broke a rule should also not benefit. The penalty for an accidental infraction should be as mild as reasonable, consistent with there being a possible benefit to the person responsible.
Playing cards
The oldest surviving reference to the card game in world history is from the 9th century
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
Tang-dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
Tongchang
Tongchang County is a ''kun'', or county, in the northeast of the far western North Pyŏngan province, North Korea. It borders Pyŏktong and Chagang's Usi county to the north, Unsan and Songwŏn (in Chagang province) to the east, Thaechŏn to ...
(daughter of
Emperor Yizong of Tang
Emperor Yizong of Tang (December 28, 833 – August 15, 873), né Li Wen, later changed to Li Cui (), was an emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 859 to 873. Yizong was the eldest son of Emperor Xuanzong. After Emperor Xuanzo ...
) playing the " leaf game" with members of the Wei clan (the family of the princess's husband) in 868 .Temple, Robert K.G. (2007). ''The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention'' (3rd edition). London: André Deutsch, pp. 130–131. .Zhou, Songfang. "On the Story of Late Tang Poet Li He", ''Journal of the Graduates Sun Yat-sen University'', 1997, Vol. 18, No. 3:31–35Needham, Joseph and
Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin
Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (; 11 January 19109 April 2015), also known as T.H. Tsien, was a Chinese-American bibliographer, librarian, and sinologist who served as a professor of Chinese literature and library science at the University of Chicago, and wa ...
. (1985). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing''. Cambridge University Press., reprinted Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.(1986), Page 131 The
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
statesman and historian
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu (; 1007 – 1072 CE), courtesy name Yongshu, also known by his art names Zuiweng () and Liu Yi Jushi (), was a Chinese historian, calligrapher, epigrapher, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty. He was a renowned writer a ...
has noted that paper playing cards arose in connection to an earlier development in the book format from scrolls to pages.
Playing cards first appeared in Europe in the last quarter of the 14th century.* The earliest European references speak of a
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
or
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or se ...
game called ''naib'', and in fact an almost complete
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
Egyptian deck of 52 cards in a distinct oriental design has survived from around the same time, with the four suits ''swords'', ''polo sticks'', ''cups'' and ''coins'' and the ranks ''king'', ''governor'', ''second governor'', and ''ten'' to ''one''.
The 1430s in Italy saw the invention of the
tarot deck
The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...
, a full Latin-suited deck augmented by suitless cards with painted motifs that played a special role as
trumps
A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically, an entire suit is nominated as a ''trump suit''; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms ''tru ...
.
Tarot card games
Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...
are still played with (subsets of) these decks in parts of Central Europe. A full tarot deck contains 14 cards in each suit; low cards labeled 1–10, and court cards (jack), (cavalier/knight), (queen), and (king), plus the fool or excuse card, and 21 trump cards. In the 18th century the card images of the traditional Italian tarot decks became popular in
cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Huson, Paul (2004). ''Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient R ...
and evolved into "esoteric" decks used primarily for the purpose; today most tarot decks sold in North America are the occult type, and are closely associated with fortune telling. In Europe, "playing tarot" decks remain popular for games, and have evolved since the 18th century to use regional suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs in France; leaves, hearts, bells and acorns in Germany) as well as other familiar aspects of the English-pattern pack such as corner card indices and "stamped" card symbols for non-court cards. Decks differ regionally based on the number of cards needed to play the games; the French tarot consists of the "full" 78 cards, while Germanic, Spanish and Italian Tarot variants remove certain values (usually low suited cards) from the deck, creating a deck with as few as 32 cards.
The French suits were introduced around 1480 and, in France, mostly replaced the earlier Latin suits of ''swords'', ''clubs'', ''cups'' and ''coins''. (which are still common in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries as well as in some northern regions of Italy) The suit symbols, being very simple and single-color, could be stamped onto the playing cards to create a deck, thus only requiring special full-color card art for the court cards. This drastically simplifies the production of a deck of cards versus the traditional Italian deck, which used unique full-color art for each card in the deck. The French suits became popular in English playing cards in the 16th century (despite historic animosity between France and England), and from there were introduced to British colonies including North America. The rise of Western culture has led to the near-universal popularity and availability of French-suited playing cards even in areas with their own regional card art.
In Japan, a distinct 48-card
hanafuda
are a style of Japanese playing cards. They are typically smaller than Western playing cards, only , but thicker and stiffer. On the face of each card is a depiction of plants, ''tanzaku'' (短冊), animals, birds, or man-made objects. One single ...
deck is popular. It is derived from 16th-century Portuguese decks, after undergoing a long evolution driven by laws enacted by the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
attempting to ban the use of playing cards
The best-known deck internationally is the English pattern of the 52-card French deck, also called the International or Anglo-American pattern, used for such games as
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
and
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...
. It contains one card for each unique combination of thirteen ''ranks'' and the four French '' suits'' ''spades'', ''hearts'', ''diamonds'', and ''clubs''. The ranks (from highest to lowest in bridge and poker) are ''ace'', ''king'', ''queen'', ''jack'' (or ''knave''), and the numbers from ''ten'' down to ''two'' (or ''deuce''). The trump cards and ''knight'' cards from the French playing tarot are not included.
Originally the term ''knave'' was more common than "jack"; the card had been called a jack as part of the terminology of All-Fours since the 17th century, but the word was considered vulgar. (Note the exclamation by Estella in
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
's novel ''
Great Expectations
''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
'': "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!") However, because the card abbreviation for knave ("Kn") was so close to that of the king, it was very easy to confuse them, especially after suits and rankings were moved to the corners of the card in order to enable people to fan them in one hand and still see all the values. (The earliest known deck to place suits and rankings in the corner of the card is from 1693, but these cards did not become common until after 1864 when Hart reintroduced them along with the knave-to-jack change.) However, books of card games published in the third quarter of the 19th century evidently still referred to the "knave", and the term with this definition is still recognized in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
In the 17th century, a French, five-trick, gambling game called
Bête
Bête, la Bête (french: Jeu de la Bête), Beste or la Beste (''Jeu de la Beste''), originally known as Homme or l'Homme (''Jeu de l'Homme''), was an old, French, trick-taking card game, usually for three to five players. It was a derivative of Tr ...
became popular and spread to Germany, where it was called La Bete and England where it was named Beast. It was a derivative of
Triomphe
Triomphe (French for triumph), once known as French Ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared ...
and was the first card game in history to introduce the concept of bidding.
Chinese handmade mother-of-pearl gaming counters were used in scoring and bidding of card games in the West during the approximate period of 1700–1840. The gaming counters would bear an engraving such as a coat of arms or a monogram to identify a family or individual. Many of the gaming counters also depict Chinese scenes, flowers or animals.
Queen Charlotte
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...
, wife of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, is one prominent British individual who is known to have played with the Chinese gaming counters. Card games such as
Ombre
Ombre (, pronounced "omber") or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented."
Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-pe ...
,
Quadrille
The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six '' contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodie ...
and
Pope Joan
Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) was, according to legend, a woman who reigned as pope for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. The s ...
were popular at the time and required counters for scoring. The production of counters declined after
Whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play.
History
Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...
, with its different scoring method, became the most popular card game in the West.
Based on the association of card games and gambling,
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...
banned card games on October 17, 1750.Dublin Gazette (1750). ''The Dublin Gazette'' (Number 26). Dublin: Richard James and John Butler, 1750. Context: "In the Edict lately published against all Games on the Cards, it is enacted, that the Penalty on Delinquents shall be a Fine of 500 Crowns ; but if any Persons of high Rank or Distinction are convicted of suffering or promoting Gaming of that Kind in their house, they shall incur the Pope's Indignation, and be liable to such arbitrary Punishment as to his'Holiness shall seem meet."
See also
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Game of chance
A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, or numbered balls drawn from a ...
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Game of skill
A game of skill or game of wits is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than chance.
Alternatively, a game of chance is one where its outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device, such a ...
Henry Jones (writer)
Henry Jones (2 November 1831 – 10 February 1899) was an English writer under the name "Cavendish", an authority on whist and other card games, tennis and other lawn games.
Biography
Henry Jones was born in London, the eldest son of surgeon Hen ...
who wrote under the pseudonym "Cavendish"
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John Scarne
John Scarne (; March 4, 1903 – July 7, 1985) was an American magician and author who was particularly adept at playing card manipulation. He became known as an expert on cards and other games, and authored a number of popular books on cards, ...
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Dice game
Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device.
The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice:
Collectible dice games
Patterned after the su ...