History of Playing Cards

1300s Europe

• First record of physical deck of cards
• It is unknown how they got there! Theories include:
• Arabs brought cards over to Europe to trade
• Cards were invented during China's Tang dynasty, and the cards were brought to Europe via traders/Crusaders
• Cards were invented during the Mamluk era of Egypt
• Original Purpose: Cards were used to keep track of gambling (not to gamble themselves)
• Fun Fact: The earliest written record of cards in Europe describe banning the game! Cards were though to produce idleness and gambling.

1398 Germany

• First written record to "Block Printing" - using wooden templates to mass produce cards
• Cards become regularly traded objects
• Germany has a monopoly on playing cards!

1400s France

• France starts to mass produce their own cards
• France changes the suits to those used today: heart, diamond, club, spade
• They were the first to split the deck into red and black cards!
• Fun Fact: France's suit realignment to the heart, diamond, club, and spade was symbolic of biblical houses!
• Spades: King David
• Clubs: Alexander the Great
• Hearts: Charlemagne
• Diamond: Julius Caesar
• Symbolic of Jews, Greeks, Franks, and Romans

1400s Belgium

• Technology makes its way to Belgium: they start producing their own cards

1400s England

• Technology migrates to England, where they begin producing their own cards
• Fun Fact: British cards often have an elaborate Ace of Spades card because that is how they taxed the cards! Decks would be sold without this one ace, so in order to play games, one had to go to the tax office to pay the tax and collect your missing card.

1700s North America

• Colonizers began to bring cards to America
• Lewis L Cohen added corner indices
• Today, the United States Playing Card Company has a playing card dynasty!
• Fun Fact: The Indigenous Americans began to create their own playing cards, too

(more) Fun Facts

As playing cards made their way around Europe, different countries included different suites which correlate to cultural values. For example, Italy used the Sword, club, cup, and coin; Egypt used the goblet, gold coin, sword, and polo stick; Germany used the acorn, leaf, heart, and bell; France used the heart, diamond, club, and spade. While most western nations use the “traditional” heart, diamond, club, and spade, countries like Spain and Italy still use their countries’ historic suites!