Cards

oblong bits of pasteboard used in playing various games. A pack of ordinary playing cards consists of four suits of thirteen cards each, or fifty-two cards in all. The suits are marked with hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades respectively. Each suit contains a king, queen, knave, and ten cards ranging from a ten spot down to a one spot known as an ace. The cards rank in the order named, though in some games exceptions are made. In whist, for instance, ace is the highest. In euchre the knaves or jacks, as they are also called, outrank. In most games a particular suit is called trumps, in which case any card of that suit outranks even a king or an ace of any other suit. In many games a fifty-third card, called a joker, is added. The joker is always a trump and is the highest card in the pack.

Cards are thought to be of eastern origin. They made their way westward along the lines of caravan travel, and may have been introduced into Europe by the Saracens. The modern figures on cards are said to have been invented in France fifty years before the discovery of America. The four suits stood for four ranks in society. Hearts is an English corruption of a French word meaning choirmen or clergy; spades is likewise a corruption of a Spanish word signifying the sword. They represent the soldiers; clubs, the clover leaf, is the suit of the peasantry; and diamonds represent the square tiles or caps of the merchants. These names are by no means universal. The suits in an Italian and Spanish deck of cards were known as cups, swords, money, and clubs. The German suits were hearts, leaves, bells, and acorns. The Hindus played with geese, birds, camels, and horses.

Some games of cards, as poker and hearts, may be played by a circle. The different games of whist are played by four persons. Two may play at cribbage, penuchle, and bezique. Solitaire, in all its forms, is a game to be played alone.

See Games