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A Brief History of Playing Cards

Where Did Playing Cards Come From?

On almost every corner of the globe, the familiar deck of cards is an instantly recognizable symbol. Whether in a Las Vegas casino to a village card game in rural China, these laminated sheets of cardboard are the universal language of recreation. Yet the story of how these cards came to look the way they do is a rich, fascinating, and surprising story stretching back over a millennium, crossing Chinese, Middle Eastern, and European cultures, through the Islamic world before arriving at the modern casino tables we know today.

The Origin Story: Ancient China

The most supported historical consensus is that cards were born in ancient China around the 9th century AD. These ancient ’leaf’ cards were almost certainly printed from woodblocks and used as actual currency as well as game components. Because paper-making was a Chinese invention, only China could create on this type of entertainment technology for centuries.

• The Journey to Europe: The cards made their long journey westward through ancient trade networks. The design was changed and enriched by the Middle East through the 13th and 14th centuries. These Mamluk cards used suits of coins, cups, swords, and polo sticks. This four-suit structure was the direct, undeniable ancestor of the modern 52-card deck.
• Arrival in Europe: The deck landed in Europe in the late 14th century, via Moorish Spain and northern Italy. Early European cards were hand-painted luxury objects, affordable only to the very wealthy. The invention of the printing press in the 1450s made cards affordable for everyone by enabling cheap production, spreading them to the general population for the first time.

The Standard Deck We Know Today

As playing cards spread across Europe, changing the symbols and court cards. If you treasured this article and also you would like to collect more info pertaining to hellspin casino bonus generously visit the page. German suits were acorns and leaves. The Latin suits were cups, coins, swords, and clubs. The French, during the Renaissance, created the four suits that would go on to win out globally: the four suits of the modern deck.

To wrap up, the simple deck of cards that you hold in your hand is the product of over a thousand years of evolution from hand-painted luxury items in medieval Europe to the perfectly standardized modern deck. The deck has been present through medieval tournaments, royal courts, the invention of the casino, and the rise of Las Vegas. And most crucially, it continues to be the most versatile and beloved entertainment tool in the history of civilization.