English pattern

English pattern

Card makers from Rouen began exporting to England around 1480. According to David Parlett, Latin-suited cards must have already been circulating in England since there is evidence of playing cards there from at least the 1450s and French suits were invented sometime after 1470. This would then explain why the English renamed French suits to the Latin ones with which they were familiar. Hence the clovers were called clubs and pikes were named after the swords (spade). The English started producing their own cards a century later. In 1628, the importation of foreign playing cards was banned to protect local manufacturers. English cardmakers produced lower-quality cards than their continental counterparts, leading to the loss of detail from the Rouennais pattern. The English pattern is the result of Charles Goodall and Son's reworking of the old Rouen pattern during the 19th century. The majority of decks sold in this pattern is the 52-card deck. One deck invented in the United States but more commonly found in Australia and New Zealand contains 11s, 12s, and red 13s to play the six-handed version of the Euchre variant 500. In the late nineteenth century, they were also used for variants of draw poker and royal cassino. Decks marketed for Canasta often have card point values printed on the cards.