The queen of spades (Q) is one of 52
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 in a standard deck: 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 ...
of the
suit of spades (). In Old Maid and several games of the Hearts family, it serves as a single, undesirable card in the deck.
Roles by game
In the
Hearts family of card games, the queen of spades is usually considered an unlucky card; it is the eponym of the
Black Maria
Black Maria may refer to:
Art and literature
* Black Mariah (comics), a character in the Luke Cage comics series
* Black Maria, a character in the manga series ''One Piece''
* ''Black Maria'' (novel), a 1991 novel by Diana Wynne Jones
*''Blac ...
and
Black Lady
Black Lady is an American card game of the Hearts group for three to six players and the most popular of the group. It emerged in the early 20th century as an elaboration of Hearts and was initially also called Discard Hearts. It is named after ...
variants of Hearts. The player who ends up with the queen of spades after a match scores 13 points (points are to be avoided in this game). The exception is when the player receives this card with all 13 hearts, in which the player is said to have
shot the moon, and this player scores no points, while all opponents are scored 26 points.
In the game of
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
* ' ...
, while any card can technically be used for this purpose, the queen of spades is traditionally used as a card that has no match, thereby making it the "old maid" card.
In the
seven card stud
Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States, ...
poker variant known as "The Bitch", a face-up deal of the queen of spades results in the deal being abandoned, all cards being shuffled and a new deal starting with only those players who had not already folded when the queen of spades was dealt.
In
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 fo ...
, the queen of spades and the jack of diamonds combine for a unique two-card meld known as a "pinochle".
In
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 ...
, playing the Queen of Spades card means that the next player to play their turn has to first pick up 5 cards from the deck.
Card reading
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 Ancien ...
, the queen of spades is considered to be a sign of intelligence. It is representative of judgment that is practical, logical, and intellectual. It represents a woman who is creative and makes her plans ahead of time.
[ Translation of: In de kaart gekeken.]
See also
*
List of playing card nicknames This list of playing card nicknames shows the nicknames of playing cards in a standard 52-card deck, standard 52-card pack. Some are generic, some are specific to certain card games; others to specific patterns, for example, the coat cards, courts o ...
*
List of poker hand nicknames
This list of poker playing card nicknames has some nicknames for the playing cards in a 52-card deck, as used in poker.
Poker hand nicknames
The following sets of playing cards can be referred to by the corresponding names in card games that inc ...
*
Standard 52-card deck
The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. In English-speaking countries it is the only traditional pack used for playing cards; in many countries of the world, however, it is used ...
References
{{Playing cards, state=collapsed
Playing cards