Card Games History

Ever since the dawn of civilization, man has always been searching for something to entertain him, and different games and sports have been invented for the gratification of the human race. One of the oldest and perhaps the most popular entertainment man has invented is the playing cards. Because China is the oldest civilization in Asia, they began playing cards as early as the 10th century, and by then they were using paper dominoes to play on the manner of trading and shuffling.

It didn’t take too long for neighboring countries to catch on. The Muslims on that same continent were starting to play the same principles of the game. During this time playing cards had a picture that was hand drawn, or painted by hand, and these were works of art that only royalties and wealthy people in the society could afford. By the 1400s, Europeans began contributing to the evolution of the playing cards by creating innovative versions of it complete with carvings and wood, and thus the start of thriving entertainment begin in Europe.

The French simplified the looks of the playing cards; they are the ones who gave us the ensemble of the hearts, diamonds, club and the spade. Their role in this time created a straightforward look of the cards along with its games that made it flourish among the masses. The French re-invented playing cards, make them easy to manufacture, which made them affordable and simple.

It didn’t take too long for the Europeans and the Americans to recognize the French peoples’ contribution, and they too embraced the standard that became set in card playing and manufacturing.

Over the years innovations have been continuously improving the looks and the quality of cards and card playing. Americans also contributed some of the innovations we see today in modern card playing. The 1800s were the time when Americans were becoming fond of the cards; we see in the old western movies that the most popular entertainment among the cowboys in the wild west are playing cards. Deals, issues and controversies were being settled using a card games, and mavericks earned their living playing cards and winning gambles. Saloons, bars and taverns offered card playing as a form of entertainment along with whiskeys. American creativeness contributed innovations such as the rounded corners of the playing cards, the twin-headed image on the card, and the lacquer finish of the card for a crisper shuffling and safe coating, and even the “joker” that we find in our modern card today.

Businessman also find themselves on the growing popularity of the playing cards; they used to place printed advertisements on the back of the cards to sell their goods and services. During that era the leading manufacturer of playing cards was the company Russell and Morgan. And during that time, alongside the playing cards people are fond of the new invention of bicycles and unicycles. As they were starting out on their playing cards, they asked their staff for some suggestions on the brand name of the cards, and impromptu one of them suggests the name “bicycle,” being the fad in those days, from then on the suggested name has been passionately considered and thus, the brand “Bicycle” was born on 1887. And today the Bicycle is the most popular brand of playing cards in the world; its red and blue back color is identified with quality playing cards.

See also:

• Building Competitive Spirit with Cards

• Card Games as Learning Tools

• Card Games as Family Fun and Entertainment