The king is a

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 ...

with a picture of a king displayed on it. The king is usually the highest-ranking

face card In a deck of playing cards, the term face card (US) or court card (British and US), and sometimes Royalty, is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person as opposed to the pip cards. They are also known as picture cards, or until the e ...

. In the French version of playing cards and

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, ...

decks, the king immediately outranks the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. In

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and

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- ...

, the king immediately outranks the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

. In

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and Swiss playing cards, the king immediately outranks the '' Ober''. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the

ace An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

is higher. Aces began outranking kings around 1500 with

Trappola Trappola is an early 16th-century Venetian trick-taking card game which spread to most parts of Central Europe and survived, in various forms and under various names like Trapulka, Bulka and Hundertspiel until perhaps the middle of the 20th centu ...

being the earliest known game in which the aces were highest in all four suits. In the

Ace-Ten family An Ace-Ten game is a type of card game, highly popular in Europe, in which the Aces and Tens are of particularly high value. Description Many of Europe's most popular card games feature the Ace-Ten scoring system, where the cards count as Ace = ...

of games 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 ...

and

schnapsen Schnapsen, Schnapser or Schnapsa is a trick-taking card game of the Bézique ( Ace-Ten) family that is very popular in Bavaria and in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and has become the national card game of Austria and Hungar ...

, both the ace and the 10 rank higher than the king.

History

The king card is the oldest and most universal court card. It most likely originated in Persian Ganjifeh where kings are depicted as seated on thrones and outranking the viceroy cards which are mounted on horses. Playing cards were transmitted to Italy and Spain via the

Mamluks 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'') i ...

and

Moors 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 ...

. The best preserved and most complete deck of Mamluk cards, the

Topkapı Topkapı ("cannonball gate"), sometimes spelled Topkapi outside of Turkey, is a Turkish word that may refer to: * Topkapı Palace, a museum in Istanbul, Turkey * Topkapı Scroll, a Timurid dynasty pattern scroll in the museum's collection * Topkap ...

pack, did not display human figures but just listed their rank most likely due to religious prohibition. It is not entirely sure if the Topkapı pack was representative of all Mamluk decks as it was a custom-made luxury item used for display. A fragment of what may be a seated king card was recovered in Egypt which may explain why the poses of court cards in Europe resemble those in Persia and India. Seated kings were generally common throughout Europe. During the 15th century, the Spanish started producing standing kings. The French originally used Spanish cards before developing their regional deck patterns. Many Spanish court designs were simply reused when the French invented their own suit-system around 1480. The English imported their cards from

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

until the early 17th century when foreign card imports were banned. The king of hearts is sometimes called the "suicide king" because he appears to be sticking his sword into his head. This is a result of centuries of bad copying by English card makers where the king's axe head has disappeared. Starting in the 15th century, French manufacturers assigned to each of the court cards names taken from history or mythology. This practice survives only in the Paris pattern which ousted all its rivals, including the Rouen pattern around 1780. The names for the kings in the Paris pattern (''portrait officiel'') are:Paris and Rouen pattern figures
at the

International Playing-Card Society The International Playing-Card Society (IPCS) is a non-profit organisation for those interested in playing cards, their design, and their history. While many of its members are collectors of playing cards, they also include historians of playing car ...

. Retrieved 25 February 2017. Most French-suited continental European patterns are descended from the Paris pattern but they have dropped the names associated with each card.

Example cards

Kings from

Russian playing cards Russian playing cards are cards that were used predominantly in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. Unlike Western games played with a standard French-suited 52-card pack, most Russian card games employ either 36-card packs (e.g. Durak) or 32- ...

: Image:Атласная колода король экстра трефы.jpg, King of Clubs (Russian pattern) Image:Атласная колода экстра король бубни.jpg, King of Diamonds (Russian pattern) Image:Атласная колода экстра король черви.jpg, King of Hearts (Russian pattern) Image:Атласная колода экстра король пики.jpg, King of Spades (Russian pattern) Image:Taroky honery.JPG,

Industrie und Glück ''Industrie und Glück'' (Early Modern German for "Diligence and Fortune") is a pattern of French suited playing cards used to play tarock. The name originates from an inscription found on the second trump card. This deck was developed during t ...

pattern Kings from

Italian playing cards Playing cards (''carte da gioco'') have been in Italy since the late 14th century. Until the mid 19th century, Italy was composed of many smaller independent states which led to the development of various regional patterns of playing cards; "Ital ...

: Image:Bergamo Deck - Wands - King.jpg, King of Clubs (Bergamo pattern) Image:Bergamo Deck - Coins - King.jpg, King of Coins (Bergamo pattern) Image:Bergamo Deck - Cups - King.jpg, King of Cups (Bergamo pattern) Image:Bergamo Deck - Swords - King.jpg, King of Swords (Bergamo pattern) Kings from

: Image:Aluette card deck - Grimaud - 1858-1890 - King of Clubs.jpg, King of Clubs (

Aluette Aluette or Vache ("Cow") is an old, plain trick-taking card game that is played on the west coast of France. It is played by two teams, usually of four people, but sometimes also of six. It is unusual in using a unique pack of 48 Spanish playing c ...

) Image:Aluette card deck - Grimaud - 1858-1890 - King of Coins.jpg, King of Coins (Aluette) Image:Aluette card deck - Grimaud - 1858-1890 - King of Cups.jpg, King of Cups (Aluette) Image:Aluette card deck - Grimaud - 1858-1890 - King of Swords.jpg, King of Swords (Aluette) Image:TuteFourKings.jpg, Catalan pattern Image:Reyes Tute.jpg, Castilian pattern Kings from

German playing cards German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suit (cards), suits of Acorns (suit), Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (s ...

: Image:Saxonian Deck - Acorns - King.jpg, King of Acorns (Saxon pattern) Image:Saxonian Deck - Bells - King.jpg, King of Bells (Saxon pattern) Image:Saxonian Deck - Hearts - King.jpg, King of Hearts (Saxon pattern) Image:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - King.jpg, King of Leaves (Saxon pattern)

In Unicode

The kings are included in the

Playing Cards 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 ...

: * * * *

References

{{Playing cards

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

History

Example cards

In Unicode

See also

References