The International Playing-Card Society (IPCS) is a non-profit organisation for those interested in

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, their design, and their history. While many of its members are collectors of playing cards, they also include historians of playing cards and their uses, particularly card games and their history. The IPCS is based in the United Kingdom, but has members worldwide, especially in Europe. It produces a quarterly journal ''

The Playing-Card ''The Playing-Card'' is a quarterly publication, publishing scholarly articles covering all aspects of playing cards and of the games played with them, produced by the International Playing-Card Society. ''The Playing-Cards articles are mostly in E ...

'', which publishes articles mostly in English but also in French, German, Italian and Spanish. It also publishes occasional monographs called "IPCS Papers", and issues pattern sheets which systematize types of standard playing-card design.

History

The IPCS was founded in 1972, as ''The Playing-Card Society'', with a journal titled ''The Journal of the Playing-Card Society''. In May 1980 the names of the society and the journal were changed, becoming ''The International Playing-Card Society'' and ''The Playing-Card''. A newsletter, which became known as ''Playing-Card World'', was formerly published as a supplement to the journal, running for 80 issues from 1975 to 1995.

Notable members

Notable members of the Society are or have included: *Sylvia Mann, collector of and writer on playing-cards, and IPCS founder member and its first president. *

Detlef Hoffmann Detlef is a given name of German origin. It is also spelled Detlev. People with this name Notable people with this name include: *Detlef Bothe (born 1957), East German sprint canoeist *Detlef Bothe (born 1965), German actor *Detlef Bruckhoff (bor ...

, German game historian *

Trevor Denning Trevor J. Denning (6 December 1923 – 23 October 2009) was an English artist, sculptor, writer, and art teacher who was influential in the Birmingham art community. Biography Denning was born in Moseley, Birmingham, studying painting and gra ...

, collector of

Spanish playing cards Spanish-suited playing cards or Spanish-suited cards have four suits, and a deck is usually made up of 40 or 48 cards (or even 50 by including two jokers). It is categorized as a Latin-suited deck and has strong similarities with the Italian- ...

Thierry Depaulis Thierry Depaulis (born 1949) is an independent historian of games and especially of playing cards, card games, and board games. He is President of the International Playing-Card Society, President of the association ''Le Vieux Papier'', a member of ...

, French game historian *

Michael Dummett Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett (27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011) was an English academic described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." He wa ...

, philosopher, and IPCS founder member and past president * John McLeod, card game researcher and manager of

pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been described ...

. *

Franco Pratesi Franco Pratesi (born 1940) is a retired professor of materials science and games researcher from Florence, Italy. He has contributed to the history of chess, draughts, playing cards (including Tarot games, Gemini-Minchiate) and Go. Pratesi spent ...

, Italian scientist and games researcher.

References

External links

The International Playing-Card Society
official web site. {{Authority control International learned societies International organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1972 Playing card organisations Card game websites