Where Did Playing Cards Come From?

The earliest cards that we have evidence for are the paper dominoes of 10th century China. These paper dominoes had suits of coins and strings of coins that are still recognized by Mah Jong players today as circles and sticks.

Four-suited (cups, swords, circles, and sticks) decks of cards came to Europe from Islamic countries. They did include court cards but without human figures. Pictures of 15th century Islamic cards look like Persian rugs and have names like "king of coins" or "three of polo sticks."

By 1370 Europeans had added courtly human figures to the court cards. These cards were hand painted and only the very wealthy could afford them. In the 14th century woodcuts made the printing of playing cards possible and they began to be mass produced.

Different areas of Europe developed their own suits that are still in play today. The Adriatic Italian card suits are: coins, cups, swords, and batons. Instead of batons, Spanish and Mediterranean Italian cards have cudgels(clubs). The old German cards offered suits in hearts, leaves, acorns, and round hawkbells. The Swiss cards had suits of shields and roses instead of hearts and leaves. None of them had any queens. The French gave us the flat colors and the suits of heart, diamonds, clubs, and spades that we are familiar with today.

It was the Americans that improved cards with double-ended cards, indexes (identifying marks in the borders or corners), added varnish to the cards and rounded the corners to make them more durable. We added the Joker too.

Hand 'n Foot is a card game that uses five decks of cards and expands on the court-theme of regular cards. They have a Lord, a Lady, and a Villian as an important part of the game. The website http://www.handnfootgame.com will tell you how you can purchase a set today.