Nevertheless, have you ever wondered how such a popular game came to be? Especially how they came up with the symbols that we see on the cards in the first place? Even the earliest card games are now being actively promoted by USA online casinos. Yes, you may know that cards are a staple of various games like poker or blackjack, but playing cards have a richer and more varied history than most people can imagine. They have traveled through the occultists, the magicians, the drunkards losing everything on a poker table, the usual. Cards have also been through espionage missions, statistical probability models, and sometimes as currency too! Unlike roulette and blackjack, the modern game of cards cannot be clearly traced to a certain background, for it has always been shrouded in conjecture and obscurity – similar to porcelain, chinoiserie, and gunpowder. However, one thing is absolutely clear that modern playing cards have an ancient origin.
Do Playing Cards Have Chinese or Arabian Roots?
The answer is yes, and probably. Scrolls excavated from the Tang Dynasty illustrate a game played with paper tiles (although we can say it looks more like dominos rather than cards), which is considered to be the oldest documentation about playing cards. European literature, however, refers to something called the “Game of Saracen” in the later 14th Century. This is where things get interesting-it traces the game’s origin to Arabia, not China. It is also said that the Arabians brought clairvoyant cards from the Indian subcontinent. This hypothesis could almost be true, as there are many documents about card games in Indian mythology.
Card Symbolism
For a novice, there are four basic symbols on a card: Each of these cards has 10 cards with a numerical sequence, as well as a king, a queen, a jack, and an ace. The images of the cards bear minuscule resemblance to whatever they stand for, but the primary factor behind printing them on cards was nothing but ease. They were easy to print, and with the Printing Revolution, they began appearing everywhere. The four suits were also easier to copy, rather than extravagant motifs if we talk of pricey hand-drawn cards. However, they all had a variation of some sort of symbolism rooted in (a) Geography and/or (b) Culture. It is interesting to note that all of these motifs correspond to the four major trends of sixteenth-century Europe, namely:
Symbolism Distinctions
The fascinating fact is that modern face cards are those played by European concubines.
Final Thoughts
Cards have been such an integral part of our civilization that we have an innate tendency to take it for granted. However, a small peek into the history of these cards and motifs reveals such interesting factors that absolutely cannot be ignored. The excitement of learning the history of card games is similar to the ones you get when reading about the slot machines’ appearance in the gambling arena. We hope this article gives you enough material to talk about in your next card game.
