Notes About Games

Cards, known as Saracen cards, were introduced to Europe in the second half of the 14th century. The people in more rural areas, having survived the “Black Death” were moving to the cities. Here they began a class of merchants and artisans who became middle class urbanities. Coming out of the dark ages with its superstition, ignorance and poverty, guilds and universities made a reappearance, scientific experimentation was once again allowed and thrived, and the populace now had time for leisure and play.

Books, cards, and prints were produced by hand during the early Renaissance period. Artists and scientists came together and became the moving force behind the spread of card games throughout Italy. Many illustrated card-manual manuscripts began to show up in a number of major cities including Viterbo near Rome in Italy, Paris and Barcelona by the late–th century. Traveling scholars and artists were responsible for card games gaining in popularity and becoming more widespread. Where once a single craftsman in early 15th century could satisfy the demand for cards in a city, by the mid 15th century, many shops worked full time to fulfill the need.

Card manuscripts were not loved by everyone. Indeed many were threatened by this foreign entertainment and saw it as a force to promote gambling and as an immoral and counter cultural product of the devil. At the time of the protestant Reformation, the cards were referred to as “Devil Pictures.”

No matter or because of this devilish image, card playing stood its ground. The English queen, Mary, Queen of Scots not only bet big, but bet on Sunday! The Compleat Gamester was published in London in the late 17th century, with descriptions of over a dozen types of card games and the winning strategies involved in their play. In Venice, specific types of facilities called casini allowed admittance of aristocrats and courtesans to indulge in games of cards. It was here that a game called primero was invented and spread throughout the continent to later morph into poker.

After a while, the game was played and enjoyed by women as well as men, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants as well as courtesans and aristocrats. The suits at the time from a popular Swedish deck were in order of rank: sun, king, queen, knight, dame, valet and maid. In Florence, cards were depicted as nude dames and dancers, with dancers being the lowest rank.

Interestingly, the number of cards in a deck at the time was not standard, consisting of 30-40 or 52 cards. The designs also varied considerably. The suits most preferred were symbolic of wealth, food, military security as well as popular sports of the court:, coins, cups, sabers and clubs. Some of the symbols familiar to us today were typical of those in France: in red, Coeurs (hearts) stood for the church, and correaux (a rectangular floor tile) was a sign of the merchant class; in black, piques (spear and arrow heads) represented state authority, and trefles (trefoil clover leaf) denoted farmers. Somewhere along the line, a brave artisan exchanged the vice-royals symbol with queens.

After a period of time, the deck of cards that we know today took form. 52 cards with- ranks comprising 4 distinct suits. The suits include Spades, Diamonds, Hearts, and Clubs with the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack counting for ten and the rest of the cards, 2 through 10, being counted at their face value.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Fortune Rakeback as well as True Rakeback.