Playing cards have been part of our culture for hundreds of years, so we can expect some great stories surrounding them. One of the most famous stories of all is the legendary tale of the Dead Man’s Hand. Gamblers are a rather superstitious lot, and we’ve all heard people talk about lucky dice and lucky cards. Many hands of playing cards have even acquired their own names, and perhaps none as famous as the Dead Man’s Hand: a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights.
So what is the story behind this apparently unlucky hand, which could be an omen of death? And which elements of this tale are history, and which are myth? I’ll tell you the story, and you can decide.
Wild Bill Hickok
First let me introduce you to the famous gunman and gambler that is at the center of our story: Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876). His real name was James Butler Hickok, but when you’re a famous gunman in the wild west, “James” doesn’t sound quite as impressive, so “Wild Bill” it was. Apparently, his long nose and large lips gave rise to the nickname “Duck Bill” in his youth, but the addition of a fierce moustache and a somewhat wild reputation eventually saw this moniker evolve into Wild Bill.
Wild Bill’s fame was well-deserved, because he was a celebrated veteran of the Civil War, and a respected lawman and gunfighter in the American West. He earned respect through his involvement in multiple shoot-outs, the iron hand by which he ruled the lawlessness of his day, and his skill as a professional gambler. The papers followed him closely, telling stories of his many gun fights and conquests.
His exploits were often sensationalized, mixing fiction with fact. So we’ll never know exactly how many men Wild Bill actually gunned down. Some journalists from his time claimed it was over a hundred, but a respected biographer suggests that the truth is closer to half a dozen. The numbers, exploits, and stories were often exaggerated by his contemporaries, and Wild Bill seems to have lent a helping hand to his growing legend by contributing some outlandish reports of his own about his achievements.
The Death Of Wild Bill
Let’s fast forward to 1876, when Wild Bill is almost 40 years old. By now he has earned a pretty penny from his gambling and from his other feats. But he is no longer quite the crack shot of his younger years, and his health is also starting to decline. Wild Bill joins a wagon train heading for South Dakota, and arrives at the town of Deadwood. There he entertains himself with one of his great loves at the local Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon No. 10: Poker.
A skilled player, Wild Bill rakes in the money as he has done so often throughout his life. On this occasion, one of the unfortunate losers is a drunken buffalo hunter named Jack McCall, whose losses are so big that he needs to rely on Wild Bill’s generosity to buy breakfast. McCall might just have considered this gesture as a grave insult, as the events of the next day would show.
The next day is August 2, 1876, and Wild Bill again heads to the saloon for some more poker. Only one seat is free at the poker table, and our hero repeatedly but unsuccessfully asks to switch seats with another player, since his preference is for a chair with his back to the wall, giving him a full view of the saloon and its entrance. So it is that Wild Bill is taken by surprise when Jack McCall steps into the saloon, yells “Damn you! Take that!”, and shoots him from behind at point-blank. Wild Bill is killed instantly, and falls from his seat, with his cards clutched in his hand: a pair of black Aces and a pair of black Eights.
McCall was initially acquitted, but was eventually tried for murder, and convicted and hanged the following year. But the story of Wild Bill’s final hand would live on. The poker game being played was a five-card stud, and there’s less certainty about the identity of the fifth card, but the other four were clearly described by a witness present at the scene as pairs of black Aces and Eights. And so began the legend of the Dead Man’s Hand.
The Dead Man’s Hand
Was Wild Bill really holding a pair of Aces and a pair of Eights? Some historians question the authenticity of the account. It has been suggested that the association between Wild Bill and this particular hand was only popularized some fifty years later, when a book about Hickok appeared. By then the story was already turning into legend, and the publication of this story certainly helped spread the legend. But it does appear that prior to the 1920s little was said about it. In fact, at one time in the 19th century the story of a Dead Man’s Hand was even reported to be connected with a completely different individual, and a completely different hand of cards. Now that we’re more than 140 years removed from the original event, it’s not likely that we’ll ever find out the truth!
Regardless of the historicity of Wild Bill’s actual hand at the time of his death, there’s no doubt that his story has become the stuff of legend. For the last hundred years, a hand with a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights has commonly been called the Dead Man’s Hand, and has been connected with Wild Bill Hickok’s death. This particular hand has become firmly entrenched in popular culture, with many references to it in countless novels, films, and even computer games.
Today there is a small casino called Saloon 10 located at the site where Wild Bill was killed. There you’ll find a historical exhibit of the Dead Man’s Hand, and signs that tell you about the story behind it. Wild Bill may be long dead, but his legend lives on, although in modern poker a pair of Aces and a pair of Eights is actually a decent combination, and is not exactly likely to get you killed!
The Dead Man’s Deck
As a special homage to this tale, the folks at Vanishing Inc Magic have produced a special deck of playing cards. It’s a limited edition deck geared to collectors, and commemorates the story of Wild Bill and his unfortunate demise. The tuck box has a plain and sober look with muted black and yellowed borders, that makes it appear to be an authentic relic from yesteryear.
Be ready for a surprise when taking the cards out of the box, because the entire deck literally has a hole that goes all the way through the very middle of all the cards, for a very fun novelty look. A round metal musket ball is inside the hole, to complete the dramatic effect. The cards look deliberately weathered and worn, while burn marks surround the bullet hole on both sides of each card. This isn’t a deck for the squeamish, because there are apparent smears of blood on the black Aces and Eights that constituted the legendary Dead Man’s Hand, while blood splatters also adorn several other cards.
The card backs are identical, so you can still use this as a regular deck if you wish. These have a one-way design, and careful observers will notice details connected to the tale of Wild Bill, such as references to his initials JBH, as well as to the cards of the Dead Man’s Hand. The design of the face cards employs a vintage style, while the artwork of the court cards follows the older French styled look rather than the classical Bicycle look that we’re used to today, including the use of indices on all four corners. Two extra cards are included, one with a photo of Wild Bill, and the other telling a short version of his story. The printing of the deck was done by Expert Playing Card Company, so the cards look great and handle smoothly.
This is a very original and fun deck that stands out from others in my collection due to the novelty value, and the great story behind it. You could certainly use it for a card trick that has a Wild West story line, and it might especially appeal to magicians that do gambling routines. People who have the book Scarne on Card Tricks should check out the trick “Wild Bill Hickock’s Hand” (p.298) which is a Henry Christ routine that uses the Dead Man’s Hand as the background and plot. Of course you could also use it for a game of Poker or for any other card game too. It’s also a great conversation piece and collector’s item. Just remember to keep your back to the wall!
Where to get it? The Dead Man’s Deck is available here.
About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards. This article first appeared on PlayingCardDecks.com here.
Because we are all familiar with the modern deck of playing cards, a standard deck of Bicycle rider back playing cards seems very “normal” and “traditional” to most of us. But to people of the past, a deck like this is anything but normal! The reality is that playing cards have undergone a radical transformation since their first beginnings several centuries ago. Our modern playing cards evolved into a deck of 52 cards with four suits in red and black and with two Jokers by making a journey that took hundreds of years and involved travelling through many countries. In fact, the most significant elements that shaped today’s deck were produced by the different cultures and countries that playing cards traveled through in order to get to the present day.
In this article, we will survey of the history of playing cards, emphasizing in particular the geographic influences that have determined what modern playing cards look like today. Our whirlwind historical tour will begin in the East, under a cloud of uncertainty about the precise origin of playing cards. But from there we will make our way to Europe, first to Italy and Spain, then east to Germany, back west to France, and across the channel to England. Finally, we will travel over the ocean to the United States, which is where most of our decks are produced today by USPCC in the form that we know them.
The East
The precise origin of playing cards continues to be the subject of debate among scholars, and even the best theories rely more on speculation than proof. There is clear historical evidence that playing cards began to appear in Europe in the late 1300s and early 1400s, but how did they get there? They seem to have come from somewhere in the East, and may have been imported to Europe by gypsies, crusaders, or traders. The common consensus appears to be that an early form of playing cards originated somewhere in Asia, but to be completely honest, we cannot be entirely sure. Paper is fragile and typically does not survive well across the ages, so solid historical evidence is lacking.
Educated guesses have made links to the cards, suits, and icons of 12th century and even older cards in China, India, Korea, Persia, or Egypt, which may have been introduced to Europe by Arabs. Some scholars believe that playing cards were invented in China during the Tang dynasty around the 9th century AD. There does seem to be evidence of some kinds of games involving playing cards (and drinking!) from this time onward, including cards with icons representing coins, which also appear as icons on playing cards later in Western Europe. If correct, it would place the origins of playing cards before 1000AD, and it would see them as originating alongside or even from tile games like dominoes and mahjong. Some have suggested that the playing cards first functioned as “play money” and represented the stakes used for other gambling games, and later became part of the games themselves. Others have proposed connections between playing cards and chess or dice games, but this is again speculative. It is very possible that playing cards made their way from China to Europe via Egypt in the Mamluk period, with decks from that era having goblets (cups), gold coins, swords, and polo-sticks, which represent the main interests of the Mamluk aristocracy, and bear parallels to the four suits seen in Italian playing cards from the 14th century.
But we cannot even be totally sure that playing cards did first appear in the East; and it may even be that the first ancestors of the modern deck of playing cards were first created in Europe after all, as an independent development. So let’s head to Europe, to the earliest confirmed reference to playing cards there, which we find in a Latin manuscript written by a German monk in a Swiss monastery.
Italy and Spain
In the manuscript dated 1377, our German monk friend Johannes from Switzerland mentions the appearance of playing cards and several different card games that could be played with them. In the 1400s playing cards often appear along with dice games in religious sermons as examples of gambling activities that are denounced, and there is clear evidence that a 52 card deck existed and was used in this time. The suit signs in the first European decks of the 14th century were swords, clubs, cups, and coins, and very likely had their origin in Italy, although some connect these with the cups, coins, swords, and polo-sticks found on Egyptian playing cards from the Mamluk period. At any rate these are still the four suits still found in Italian and Spanish playing cards today, and are sometimes referred to as the Latin suits.
The court cards from the late 14th century decks in Italy typically included a mounted king, a seated and crowned queen, plus a knave. The knave is a royal servant, although the character could also represent a “prince”, and would later be called a Jack to avoid confusion with the King. Spanish cards developed somewhat differently, the court cards being a king, knight, and knave, with no queens. The Spanish packs also didn’t have a 10, and with the absence of 8s and 9s in the national Spanish game of ombre, it resulted in a 40 card deck.
The first playing cards in European Italy were hand-painted and beautiful luxury items found only among the upper classes. But as card playing became more popular, and methods were developed to produce them more cheaply, playing cards became more widely available. It was only natural that this new product eventually spread west and north, and the next major development occurred as a result of their reception in Germany, and one historian has described their rapid spread as “an invasion of playing cards”, with soldiers also assisting their movement.
Germany
To establish themselves as a card-manufacturing nation in their own right, the Germans introduced their own suits to replace the Italian ones, and these new suits reflected their interest in rural life: acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells; the latter being hawk-bells and a reference to the popular rural pursuit of falconry. The queen was also eliminated from the Italian courts, and these instead consisted of a King and two knaves, an obermann (upper) and untermann (under). Meanwhile the Two replaced the Ace as the highest card, to create a 48 card deck.
Custom decks abounded, and suit symbols used in the novelty playing cards from this era include animals, kitchen utensils, and appliances, from frying pans to printers’ inkpads! The standard German suits of acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells were predominant, however, although in nearby Switzerland it was common to see a variation using flowers instead of leaves, and shields instead of hearts. The Germanic suits are still used in parts of Europe today, and are indebted to this period of history.
But the real contribution of Germany was their methods of printing playing cards. Using techniques of wood-cutting and engraving in wood and copper that were developed as a result of the demand for holy pictures and icons, printers were able to produce playing cards in larger quantities. This led to Germany gaining a dominant role in the playing card trade, even exporting decks to Western Europe, which had produced them in the first place! Eventually the new suit symbols adopted by Germany became even more common throughout Europe than the original Italian ones.
France
Meanwhile early in the 15th century, the French developed the icons for the four suits that we commonly use today, namely hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs, although they were called coeurs, piques, carreaux, and trefles respectively. It is possible that the clubs (trefles) derive from the acorns and the spades (pikes) from the leaves of the German playing cards, but they may also have been developed independently. The French also preferred a king, queen, and knave as their court cards.
But the real stroke of genius that the French came up with was to divide the four suits into two red and two black, with simplified and clearer symbols. This meant that playing cards could be produced with stencils, a hundred times more quickly than using the traditional techniques of wood-cutting and engraving. With improved processes in manufacturing paper, and the development of better printing processes, including Gutenberg’s printing press (1440), the slower and more costly traditional woodcut techniques previously done by hand were replaced with a much more efficient production. For sheer practical reasons, the Germans lost their earlier dominance in the playing card market, as the French decks and their suits spread all over Europe, giving us the designs as we know them today.
One interesting feature of the French dominance of playing cards in this time is the attention given to court cards. In the late 1500s French manufacturers began giving the court cards names from famous literary epics such as the Bible and other classics. It is from this era that the custom developed of associating specific court cards with famous names, the more well-known and commonly accepted ones for the Kings being King David (Spades), Alexander the Great (Clubs), Charlemagne (Hearts), and Julius Caesar (Diamonds), representing the four empires of Jews, Greeks, Franks, and Romans. Notable characters ascribed to the Queens include the Greek goddess Pallas Athena (Spades), Judith (Hearts), Jacob’s wife Rachel (Diamonds), and Argine (Clubs). The Knaves were commonly designated as La Hire (Hearts), Charlemagne’s knight Ogier (Spades), Hector the hero of Troy (Diamonds), and King Arthur’s knight Lancelot (Clubs).
The common postures, clothing, and accessories that we expect in a modern deck of playing cards today find their roots in characters like these, but we cannot be certain how these details originated, since there was much diversity of clothing, weapons, and accessories depicted in the French decks of this time. But eventually standardization began to happen, and this was accelerated in the 1700s when taxing on playing cards was introduced. With France divided into nine regions for this purpose, manufacturers within each region were ordered to use a standardized design unique to their region. But it was only when playing cards emigrated to England that a common design really began to dominate the playing card industry.
England
Our journey across the channel actually begins in Belgium, from where massive quantities of cards began to be exported to England, although soldiers from France may also have helped introduce playing cards to England. Due to heavy taxes in France, some influential card makers emigrated to Belgium, and several card factories and workshops began to appear there. Rouen in particular was an important center of the printing trade. Thousands of decks of Belgian made playing cards were exported to countries throughout Europe, including England. In view of this, it is no surprise that English card players have virtually always been using the French designs.
But playing cards did not pass through Europe without the English leaving their stamp on them. To begin with, they opted to use the names hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs to refer to the suits that the French had designated as coeurs, piques, carreaux, and trefles. We do not know why, but they based two of the suit names (spades and clubs) on the names of the Italian deck rather than directly translate the French terms piques (pikes) and trefles (clovers); one possible explanation is the Spanish suits were exported to England before French ones. The word diamond is also somewhat unexpected, given that the English word for carreau (wax-painted tiles used in churches) at the time was lozenge. Whatever the reasons, it is to usage in England that we owe the names that we use for the suits today.
It is also to the English that we owe the place of honour given to the Ace of Spades, which has its roots in taxation laws. The English government passed an Act that cards could not leave the factory until they had proof that the required tax on playing cards had been paid. This initially involved hand stamping the Ace of Spades – probably because it was the top card. But to prevent tax evasion, in 1828 it was decided that from now on the Ace of Spades had to be purchased from the Commissioners for Stamp Duties, and that it had to be specially printed along with the manufacturer’s name and the amount of duty paid. As a result, the Ace of Spades tended to have elaborate designs along with the manufacturer’s name. Only in 1862 were approved manufacturers finally allowed to print their own Ace of Spades, but the fate of the signature Ace of Spades had been decided, and the practice of an ornate Ace with the manufacturer’s name was often continued. As a result, to this day it is the one card in a deck that typically gets special treatment and elaborate designs.
The artwork on English court cards appears to have been largely influenced by designs produced in Rouen, Belgium, which produced large amounts of playing cards for export. They include details such as kings with crowns, flowing robes, beards, and longish hair; queens holding flowers and sceptres; and knaves that are clean-shaven, wearing caps, and holding arrows, feathers or pikes. But whatever variety was present, slowly disappeared as a result of the industrious efforts of Briton Thomas de la Rue, who was able to reduce the prices of playing cards due to increased output and productivity. This mass production he accomplished in the 1860s gave him a position of dominance in the industry, and the smaller manufacturers with their independent designs eventually were swallowed up, leading to the more standardized designs as we know them today. De la Rue’s designs were first modernized by Reynolds in 1840, and then again by Charles Goodall in 1860, and it is this design that effectively still used today. It was also around this time that double-ended court cards became common (to avoid the need to turn the cards, thereby revealing to your opponent that you had court cards in your hand) and the existing full-length designs were adapted to make them double-ended.
United States
The Americans are late companions to our historical journey, because for a long time they simply relied on imports from England to meet the demand for playing cards. Due to the general public’s preference for goods of English origin, some American makers even printed the word “London” on their Ace of Spades, to ensure commercial success! From the earliest days of colonization there are even examples of native Americans making their own decks with original suit symbols and designs, evidently having learned card games from the new inhabitants.
Among American manufacturers, a leading name from the early 1800s is Lewis I. Cohen, who even spent four years in England, and began publishing playing cards in 1832. In 1835 he invented a machine for printing all four colours of the card faces at once, and his successful business eventually became a public company in 1871, under the name the New York Consolidated Card Company. This company was responsible for introducing and popularizing corner indices to the English pack, to make it easier for players to hold and recognize a poker hand by only fanning the cards slightly. Another printing company had already printed decks with indices in 1864 (Saladee’s Patent, printed by Samuel Hart), but it was the Consolidated Card Company that patented this design in 1875. First known as “squeezers”, decks with these indices were not immediately well received. A competing firm, Andrew Dougherty and Company initially began producing “triplicates”, offering an alternative that used miniature card faces on the opposite corners of the cards. But new territory had been won, and indices eventually became standard, and today it is hard to imagine playing cards without them.
One final innovation that we owe to the United States is the addition of the Jokers. The Joker was initially referred to as “the best bower”, which is terminology that originates in the popular trick-taking game of euchre, which was popular in the mid-19th century, and refers to the highest trump card. It is an innovation from around 1860 that designated a trump card that beat both the otherwise highest ranking right bower and left bower. The word euchre may even be an early ancestor of the word “Joker”. A variation of poker around 1875 is the first recorded instance of the Joker being used as a wild card.
Besides these changes, America has not contributed any permanent changes to the standard deck of cards, which by this time already enjoyed a long and storied history, and had become more and more standardized. However the United States has become important in producing playing cards. Besides the above mentioned companies, other well-known names of printers from the late 19th century include Samuel Hart and Co, and Russell and Morgan, the latter eventually becoming today’s industry giant: the United States Playing Card Company. American manufacturers have been printing special purpose packs and highly customized decks of playing cards throughout their history, but the USPCC’s Bicycle, Bee, and Tally Ho brands have become playing card icons of their own. The USPCC has absorbed many other playing card producers over more than a century of dominance, and they are considered an industry leader and printer of choice for many custom decks produced today.
The true history of playing cards is a long and fascinating journey, one that has been enmeshed with many romantic interpretations over time, not all of which have a historical basis. What will the future hold for the fate of the humble playing card, and what will be the lasting contribution of our own era be to the shape and content of a “standard” deck? Only time will tell, but meanwhile you can enjoy a modern deck today, knowing that it has striking similarities with the playing cards of 15th century Europe, and that playing cards have been an integral part of life and leisure across the globe for more than 600 years!
Where to get them:Do you want to pick up some historic looking cards? Start by looking at this contemporary 40 card Spanish deck. Some wonderful and accurate replicas of American decks from the late 19th century have been produced by Home Run Games with USPCC quality cards, and are all available here, including these: Hart’s Saladee’s Patent (1864), Triplicate No. 18 (1876), Mauger Centennial (1876), Murphy Varnish (1883), Tally Ho No 9 (1885). Alternatively, check out the entire range of vintage playing cards.
About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards. This article first appeared on PlayingCardDecks.com here.
This article is the next installment of a two-part series about how playing cards were used in different ways in previous centuries. Before our modern deck obtained its traditional look, playing card decks were often highly customized, and used for a variety of different purposes. The previous article covered how playing cards were used in more typical ways: for playing card games, for art, and for education. But the past has also witnessed playing cards being commonly used for other purposes, like the ones described here.
For Fortune Telling
Fortune telling, or cartomancy, has a long history and association with playing cards. While a traditional deck is rarely used for fortune telling today, the connection between playing cards and cartomancy continues, even though playing cards were used for playing games long before they were ever used for fortune telling. Especially in some cultures, there continues to be a close relationship between cards and fortune telling, which is why in the popular mind gypsies are associated with fortune telling cards.
Despite what some people think, the origin of our modern deck does not lie in the fortune telling Tarot deck. Tarot cards appear to have been a separate and later development from a standard deck of playing cards, and rather than pre-date the traditional deck, the 78 card Tarot deck actually came a century or two later. In fact, historical evidence suggests that the additional 22 cards common to a Tarot deck originated as trump cards for more advanced games, and at some point the addition of these cards to a standard deck led to a larger Tarot deck. This was first used for more complex trick-taking games, but later began to develop a life of its own in the hands of cartomancers and occultists.
The rise of divination eventually did see the use of playing cards for fortune telling and cartomancy, and the earliest known fortune-telling deck is by John Lenthall and dates from around the late 1600s. While the legitimacy of fortune telling will be dismissed by most modern secularists today, it cannot denied that it has made an important contribution to the history of playing cards and also had an impact on its artwork. This is particularly the case with the larger Tarot deck, which soon became a tool of choice for cartomancers, and is still commonly used as such today. Many Tarot decks were created with all the cards having colourful images that depicted all manner of disasters or good fortune. Many different Tarot decks exist, and these often feature wonderful artwork, and continue to be popular with collectors worldwide.
For Magic
As we’ve seen already, playing cards were first used only by the aristocracy that could afford them, and it was only with the arrival of mass production that playing cards found themselves in the hands of the general public. Along with this welcome development came a less welcome one: gambling. Gambling soon became a real problem, especially because this is what the lower class chiefly engaged in when playing card games. It’s for this reason that the church frequently and strongly denounced card playing. And along with gambling came another dark activity: cheating.
But what about if cheating techniques are used to create illusions which are designed purely to amuse and entertain? That’s effectively what magic is all about, and so playing cards became an obvious tool for magicians to use, using similar techniques used by crooked gamblers. Magic as a performing art has a much longer history, of course, and sleight of hand existed long before playing cards, whether it was intended to cheat or to entertain. But playing cards did lend themselves very naturally to magicians looking for ways to create illusions, especially because they were a familiar item for the masses who used them for playing card games.
18th century Italian magician Giovanni Giuseppe Pinetti is often credited as being a pioneer that paved the way for playing card magic. His charismatic popularity made him a popular entertainer, and he was one of the very first to include card tricks in his official theater performances, and he even entertained royalty. Prior to this, the only place you could expect to see card magic was on the streets or in private rooms, and it didn’t have any real respect or credibility. Many famous magicians followed in Pinetti’s footsteps, such as the 19th century icons Robert-Houdin and Hofzinser, the latter being considered by some to be a father of card magic. From this time onwards, magicians began to include card tricks in their repertoire more and more, and card magic became a growing art form. Names like Dai Vernon, Charles Bertram, and Erdnase, are well known to magicians today, but these magicians played an important role in popularizing and shaping card magic as we know it.
Today we are building on the work of these pioneers, and magic with playing cards is often one of the places that beginners now start their journey in magic. Almost everyone has a deck of cards and is familiar with them, so they are an ideal starting point, requiring no real investment. Magicians tend to use cards extensively for practicing and performing, and the production of playing cards for working magicians represents one of the biggest shares of the playing card market in our modern era.
For Souvenirs
Playing cards have long served as an ideal souvenir, particularly when each individual card is used for a different picture. This turns a deck of cards into a mini photo album of 50+ individual works, making it perfect for depicting places or events. Souvenir decks started emerging in the 1890s, coinciding with the growing popularity of photography, which was at that time a very expensive undertaking. In contrast, a deck of souvenir playing cards allowed you to own a mini photo album of an exotic place or country you visited at a relatively low cost.
Special events have long provided a rich source of material for playing card artwork as well. Notable events such as various wars led to the production of commemorative decks of playing cards, to serve as memorials of the Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, and many others. Royal occasions and other special state events have been commemorated in a similar fashion. Royal coronations and weddings have often featured on playing cards; so too anniversary celebrations of important discoveries or conquests.
Current events have also been a catalyst for new decks of playing cards, the First World War being a prime example. Some of these decks were used for the purposes of propaganda, with decks in Germany printing court cards that gave places of honour to the Kaiser and other leaders, while war scenes were depicted on other cards. Meanwhile playing cards reflecting Allied sentiments were produced in the United States, some featuring court cards depicting generals, officers, and other ranks. During the Second World War, a pro Allied deck produced by Van Mierle Proost included Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and de Gaulle as Kings, while the Aces had outlines of Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the Kremlin.
But souvenir decks aren’t limited to events, with many decks created that depict colourful images of towns, countries, and cultures, geared to serve the tourist industry in particular. This, too, doesn’t exhaust the potential, since playing cards can depict almost any hobby or interest under the sun, and so we have seen the production of playing cards with images of anything from house-cats to antique furniture. Decks have been created to commemorate all kinds of unique interests, from ancient mythology to modern bull-fighting. A good example of this is a deck that was produced to honour the medical profession, featuring doctors, nurses, chemists, and research workers in hospital gowns, along with the expected equipment of stethoscopes and medicines.
The scope of souvenir and hobby decks is limited only by the imagination of the creators. Today’s custom playing card industry continues to benefit from this, and decks that celebrate popular films, celebrities, or sports, have a ready market. And virtually anywhere you travel, you’re bound to find a deck of cards with pictures that you can take home as a souvenir of the place you’ve visited.
Other Uses
This list by no means exhausts the many ways that playing cards have been used. For example, an important secondary usage of playing cards in previous centuries was as a source of writing paper. Early playing cards didn’t have artwork on the card backs, and were simply blank on the reverse side. Given that paper was often expensive to produce, this made a deck of playing cards a valuable source of paper. Individual cards became a very handy resource, and could be used for writing notes or lists, and were even used more formally as invitations, calling cards, coupons, or as a record of financial transactions, debts, or currency.
Playing cards no longer have blank card backs, so that particular secondary use has all but vanished. But today we are seeing new uses for playing cards emerge, the most notable one being for card flourishing. Cardistry is a thriving industry, and since cardists tend to wear out their decks even faster than magicians, and because of the importance of visual aesthetics, there’s a growing demand for colourful and creative designs.
The Standard Deck Today
Our historical overview demonstrates that playing cards have been used for a variety of uses across the ages besides playing cards, and so it comes as no surprise that in the past there has never really been a “standard” deck as we often imagine it today. Customized decks have existed for centuries, and there are many fine examples of playing cards created especially for the purpose or art or education. This means that the typical Bicycle style card deck as we usually think of it is in reality by no means “standard”.
Even today there’s actually a great variety of different types of decks used around the world, not just in terms of style, but also in size. Most of these are localized in their usage, but you will find places where 32 card decks are very common, or 48 card decks, and even 100+ card decks. In many cases, the size of the deck is closely connected with games that are popular in a specific region, and these games can’t even be played with a deck of a different size.
And not only is the size of a deck non-standard, but so is the artwork. Given the multiple uses for playing cards across the centuries, it was inevitable that there would be a diversity of artwork and styles. In that respect the modern custom playing card industry is hardly new, and customized playing cards have existed for centuries.
Yet despite all this rich variation throughout the history of playing cards, there does remain a commonly accepted “standard” for playing cards today. This standard is primarily based on the French suits that swept Europe and spread across the globe in previous centuries. Today’s court cards largely go back to printer Thomas de la Rue of London. Mr de la Rue was granted a patent for printing playing cards by letterpress and lithography in 1832, and subsequently took control of the playing card market due to his enormous success. With prices and taxes dropping, his production and sales increased significantly. Smaller designers that produced custom decks simply could not compete with him, and slowly disappeared, leaving de la Rue with a monopoly.
For better or for worse, it was the fact that de la Rue effectively cornered the market that led to cards becoming more or less standardized. In his book Playing Cards, Roger Tilley gives this very unflattering assessment of this development: “To add insult to injury, the very expressions of the cardboard court have been crystallized in commercialism. The kings’ looks have become those of company directors, strained and indicative of ulcers, while the queens and knaves have taken on the air of the attendant secretaries: the personal are pawky, and the company ones circumspect … Thomas de la Rue was without doubt a very great printer; yet that very genius proved calamitous to this small branch of the graphic arts … it might be said of Thomas de la Rue that he found a small quantity of marble and left a great quantity of brick.“
Certainly there have been attempts from time to time to create new designs that break with tradition, by designing and producing playing cards that are more easily recognized or with fresh or more contemporary patterns. But these have always failed to receive any serious degree of general acceptance. Of interest is the fact that the De La Rue Company itself promoted a competition in 1957 for new playing card imagery for the court cards to help celebrate the company’s 125th anniversary. But while the prize winning efforts of Jean Picart le Doux were beautiful, they were a commercial failure.
So it could be argued that the history of playing cards has become somewhat stale in the last era, since there have been no significant alterations to the “standard deck” of playing cards for a long time. The dominance of the USPCC has also led to the Bicycle rider-back design becoming somewhat iconic, and its success has also stifled other designs somewhat. Perhaps that is changing given the enormous success of the custom playing card industry, and the gradual acceptance of custom playing cards in the world of professional magic. But for now, at any rate, it seems that custom playing cards will continue to remain somewhat of a novelty rather than becoming a new standard. Even cardistry demands and encourages constant novelties, rather than the adoption of a new accepted standard.
A Lesson from the Past about the Present
We are fortunate to live in a new era of history, which has witnessed the explosion of custom playing cards, and also a growing acceptance of these by the general public. It remains to be seen what future generations will consider to be our contribution to the ongoing history of playing cards. I believe that the increasingly high standards of modern printing techniques, and the ability of the internet to connect creators and consumers, means that we are living in a time that is unprecedented. Highly imaginative and attractive playing cards are being produced, the likes of which have never been seen before. Perhaps today’s biggest contribution to the history of playing cards lies in new abilities to produce high quality decks, and to connect creators with backers and buyers, while ensuring that the entire enterprise remains affordable. The result is a marketplace flooded with new and exciting designs. Not only are we witnessing some very imaginative designs, but we are seeing incredible innovation in the area of tuck box designs, with the use of unprecedented techniques that allow boxes to be created with embossing, metallic foil and inks. The final product of the custom decks we can buy today is often a real work of art, and no wonder collectors love them.
Perhaps for now the lesson of history is this: to consider ourselves privileged for the luxuries we enjoy today. The future will undoubtedly look kindly on what our era has been producing. May we have a real eye of appreciation for the rich heritage that has produced this wealth, and respectfully tip our hat to those who have gone before us, and to the designers, printers, and middle men that help get these works of art into our hands and onto our game tables today.
About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards.
The Nintendo Company is a dominating force in consumer electronics, but what you may not know is it started out selling handpainted playing cards. Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai in the late 1800s, manufacturing Hanafuda, also known as flower cards.
The column on the far right represents the first month. Analyze from the bottom-up; the months are in order from right to left.
Used for gambling purposes and to play the Japanese Flower Game.
The 131-Year History
The Japanese government was against any Western influence, so in the early 17th century, they banned all playing cards and games that symbolized the culture. Yamauchi ended up successfully manufacturing the Japanese-inspired playing cards featured above. He worked around the restrictions by replacing the traditional Western-style suits, court figures and numbers with scenic nature landscapes. But the ban did not last forever. Once repealed on the cusp of the 1900s, Yamauchi established the Nintendo Playing Card Company. He continued to manufacture Hanafuda cards but added European-designed card products to the mix.
On top of the tech consoles like the Nintendo Switch and Mario video games, Nintendo still creates playing cards to pay tribute to its roots.
Our Story
No matter what industry you’re in, redefining your products to keep up with the times is perfectly practical. In 1999, Shuffled Ink’s first product was the Super Deck, which came with a map and a deck of cards that included discounts and coupons for attractions, dinner shows, restaurants, shopping and golf & recreation. We marketed this product to Orlando hotels until 2006 when we reconstructed the company’s vision and became a custom game manufacturer. Today, we produce top-quality custom printed playing cards, customized card and board games, personalized tarot and flash cards and more! While Nintendo’s reach is on a larger scale than our family-owned company, the principle remains. Innovation is key.
Create Your Own
The playing card decks we all know and love are custom products, so who’s to say that you can’t create an iconic deck that’s similar to the Hanafuda cards? At Shuffled Ink, we have a vast amount of resources available. Not only is our graphics team by your side throughout the entire design process, but your artwork and colors will remain in its original form when printed onto our well-crafted card stock. Feeling inspired yet? Request a quote and get started on your special card project today!
● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk
● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk
● Make Your Own Custom Card Games at: ShuffledInk
I love games. And I love playing cards. So it won’t come as a surprise that I also love playing traditional card games. These can be a great way to spend time with family and friends, in a relaxed and casual setting. Especially if you own a custom deck of playing cards, it can be a wonderful way to enjoy the artwork and graphic design of a lovely deck at the same time – especially one that you’ve printed yourself with Shuffled Ink!
But what if nobody else is around, or when you’re looking to kill some time when you’re on your own? That’s where solitaire card games come to the rescue. Especially in times of quarantine, solitaire card games are a great activity to enjoy, whether on the screen or with an actual deck. We all have moments where we’re alone and need something to keep us amused, and solitaire card games can provide hours of enjoyment. And they’ll provide something for all kinds of moments, with some coming down to pure luck, while many excellent ones require genuine skill, and can be a very rewarding challenge to play.
There are plenty of other reasons to enjoy solitaire games with a traditional deck of cards today, especially in view of the ease in which you can play them, such as a good online site where you can play them for free on your web browser. This makes them easier to learn and play than ever before. Especially given the incredible variety of solitaire card games in existence, it also allows you to explore a wide range of different games with leisure. Solitaire cards games are a great way to fill time, and you can play as long or short as you like. And they can be as relaxing as you like, or as challenging as you like. They’re certainly incredibly satisfying, and even rather addictive. So let’s learn a thing or two more about them, and whet your appetite to give them a go yourself!
When Did Solitaire Games Start?
As it turns out, playing solitaire games with a traditional deck of playing cards places us in a fine tradition with a long history – long before they ever came to your personal computer – because people have been enjoying them for over two hundred years already. Germany is a likely place of their origin, and there’s a recorded mention of them already in the late 18th century. But their popularity especially bloomed in France in the early 19th century, and that’s when some of the best solitaire games were devised. It is also in these French roots that the alternative name “patience” appears to originate, along with other common solitaire terms like “tableau”. From France they eventually spread to English speaking countries, much like playing cards themselves did centuries before, and eventually solitaire card games became a popular international phenomenon enjoyed around the world. Even Napoleon is said to have whiled away many hours playing solitaire while in exile on St Helena. When you’re playing a solitaire card game today, you’re sharing in activity that has been enjoyed by many generations before you, and many of the great solitaire card games available are time tested and proven classics.
But while solitaire card games have been around for a long time, the development of the personal computer was a real catalyst in popularizing them with modern audiences. Microsoft Windows has long had the practice of distributing a game of Solitaire with their operating systems, much to the relief of bored sales assistants and office workers around the globe. That single handedly turned solitaire one of the world’s most popular activities to do on a computer. Ever since the release of Windows 3.0 in 1990, Klondike Solitaire has been a staple on most personal computers, and it has now given hours of amusement to billions of people around the world for three decades. Countless people still turn to it for their quick five minute fix, which will of course be repeated many times over! Today Microsoft’s solitaire package has grown to include Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and TriPeaks, making these the most familiar forms of the game for the average person.
Besides computer software, today there are also many websites where you can play a variety of different solitaire games online. Digital implementations like this allow us to play solitaire more quickly and easily, without all the hassles of set-up, shuffling, dealing, and moving columns of actual cards, making it even easier to fill a few spare moments. Besides simplifying the book-keeping elements of the game, they’ve also enabled versions of the game to be played that would be more difficult to do in person, like one suit Spider, where multiple sets of the same suit are used.
The result of the digital revolution means that solitaire card games are booming like never before, and even people who don’t even own a physical deck of cards can spend countless hours enjoying different forms of these classic games. With a long history steeped in tradition, the computer age has injected solitaire card games with new energy and new possibilities, and there’s never been a better time to explore what these games have to offer.
How do Solitaire Games Work?
There are an incredible amount of different solitaire games in existence, and they comprise an enormous family of games in their own right. But many of them do follow a somewhat similar pattern. This usually involves laying out cards on a tableau or layout, with the goal of moving them to foundations, where you build up each suit in sequence from Ace through King. This is accomplished with the help of turning up undealt cards from the stock, and by building and transferring columns of cards within the tableau that match in value, suit, or colour. That’s a game of solitaire in a nutshell. But these games do have their own unique terminology, and this can best be understood by explaining how a typical game works, so let’s dive into a little more detail.
First you create an initial array of cards by dealing them in an initial tableau as prescribed by the rules of that particular game. In some games the cards dealt to the tableau are all face-up, creating an open game. In a closed game some cards are dealt face-down, so you have incomplete information at the start of the game. These cards only become revealed when cards blocking them have been moved, making them available to be turned face up or moved. Face-up cards in the tableau are usually placed in an overlapping configuration or cascade, so that you can see their indices, and so you can plan accordingly. Depending on the game, the arrangement can be in overlapping rows, or overlapping columns.
Your primary aim is to get cards onto the foundations, which in most solitaire games must begin with an Ace. Once you’ve placed an Ace, you can build up that foundation by placing further cards from that suit in sequential order. Your ultimate objective is to successfully build all the cards onto these foundations, in which case you have won the game. In solitaire card games, the standard sequence goes from Ace as the lowest ranked card to King as the highest ranked card. Usually you can only build from Ace through King, but some variations allow wrapping of a sequence so that an Ace can continue from a King, which is also called building around the corner.
To achieve the goal of playing all the cards to the foundations, you must manipulate the cards within the tableau, in order to get access to the cards you need, and to uncover face-down cards. This happens by transferring face-up cards, either individually or in columns, from different areas of the tableau, assuming these cards are free to be moved and are not blocked by others on top of them. Building cards in this way usually happens in ascending or descending order of rank, and is a key element of good game-play. Usually if the aim is to build up cards in ascending sequence to the foundations, then cards in the tableau may be built down in descending sequence, often in alternating colour. If you create a vacancy in the tableau by removing all the cards of a pile there, you can strategically use this space to manipulate the tableau to your advantage by starting a new column of cards there.
Often the entire deck isn’t dealt out at the start of game, and the rest of the cards are considered the stock, which you bring into play by dealing them face-up into a separate pile called the waste (sometimes called talon, although confusingly in modern usage this term is often used instead to refer to the stock). These are often dealt one at a time, but in some games, like the extremely popular Klondike, there are variations where you deal them three at a time. In some variations you can only go through the stock once, while other solitaire games may allow a certain number of redeals, or even an unlimited number.
Not all games of solitaire can be successfully completed, but this is not necessarily the fault of the player. Sometimes a random deal will be theoretically unsolvable, and part of the challenge and fun of solitaire is to see whether or not you can achieve a win with a hand that you’ve been dealt. But you can’t just blame the deal, because poor choices can lose a game in which you might have achieved a much better result with optimal play. You definitely learn to improve your play, and strategic choices will usually be rewarded!
Resources for Playing Solitaire
How to learn
Most solitaire card games are easy to learn, and you’ll find plenty of places online that provide lengthy lists of the different solitaire card games that exist, along with rules for each. As always, a good place to start your journey is Wikipedia, which has a page offering a list of common favourites. There are many websites set up by dedicated solitaire enthusiasts, some of whom have created software to help play the game on your mobile device or personal computer. These software programs typically go far beyond the two or three versions that Microsoft Windows has available, and offer you one hundred or more different ways to play. Many of these also serve as a resource, like BVS Solitaire Collection, and besides the software they have created for Windows, Mac, and iOS, they also host comprehensive rules. The Solitaire Game Rules page will help teach you Klondike, the most well known solitaire game, and introduce some variations.
In former times, the only way to learn how to play solitaire was by having the good fortune to be taught it in person by someone you know, or by wading your way through a pile of written words in a book. I remember trying that latter method as a teenager, and often giving up in frustration, as I tried to make sense of the words and turn them into an arrangement of cards on the table, as part of an unsuccessful attempt to figure out the rules. Nowadays it is so much easier to learn how to play solitaire, by simply playing it with a digital implementation that automatically enforces the rules and teaches you how to play. This makes it much more realistic to try new forms of solitaire, and I highly recommend this as the best way to learn, and to enjoy playing.
Where to play
There are several websites that offer solitaire card games, and enable you to play for free straight from your web browser. My personal site of choice recently has been Solitaired, which I can recommend. It has over 250 different solitaire variations, is ad-free, and I’ve found the gameplay smooth and straight-forward. Other sites to try include World Of Solitaire, Classic Solitaire, and Solitaire Network, which also offer an extensive number of different solitaire games, supply rules for each, and provide free online play.
If you’re looking to explore the wonderful wide world of solitaire games beyond the limited menu provided by Microsoft, another alternative is to get some dedicated software for your personal computer or mobile device. Recommended commercial options for Windows include BVS Solitaire Collection, as well as SolSuite 2020 and Pretty Good Solitaire. The Python Solitaire Game Collection doesn’t have as slick graphics, but it’s completely free, has an extensive collection of games, and there is also a companion Android app that is also free.
There are many free apps available for iPad and iPhone, but these tend to be supported by ads, which can become a little annoying. Of the free apps available, I’ve had good success with Solebon Solitaire (Solebon), Solitaire City (Digital Smoke), Full Deck Solitaire (GRL Games), Solitaire Suite (Rikki Games), and 250+ Solitaires (Alxanosoft), all of which get you started with a very strong selection of the most popular solitaire games. The commercially produced apps tend to offer more games or polished features, and I suggest the following as the better ones: BVS Solitaire Collection (BVS Development), Solebon Pro (Solebon), Pretty Good Solitaire (Thomas Warfield), Solitaire Forever II (Solitaire Forever), and Hardwood Solitaire IV (Silver Creek Entertainment). If you’re looking for a smaller collection of favourites to start with, try Solitaire Till Dawn (Semicolon), Astraware Solitaire (Astraware) or Solitaire Deluxe 2 (Mobile Deluxe), all of which are free and offer around a dozen or two popular favourites for free.
Naturally once you’re familiar with the rules of a particular solitaire game that you really enjoy, then you can grab your favourite custom deck of playing cards, and use that! There are miniature decks available for this purpose, but I think you’ll get most satisfaction if you play with an attractive poker-sized deck. You will often need a decent amount of space to work with, and I highly recommend playing with a quality deck of playing cards to make your shuffling and dealing more pleasing on both a practical and an aesthetic level. If you need suggestions for a modern high quality deck, I suggest checking out the selection of Theory11 decks at PCD here.
What to play
It’s important to realize that not all solitaire games are like the classics familiar from Microsoft Windows, such as Klondike and Spider. You should make an effort to explore the diverse range of solitaire games available, and even if you think you don’t like Solitaire card games, it could just because you didn’t like the one or two forms of the game you have tried until now. To get you started in your search, here’s a list of some of the more popular solitaire games, arranged in different categories according to type:
● Adding & Pairing: Golf, Monte Carlo, Pyramid, TriPeaks
● Builders: Baker’s Dozen, Beleaguered Castle, Canfield, Forty Thieves, FreeCell, Klondike, La Belle Lucie (Lovely Lucy), Scorpion, Spider, Yukon
● Non-builders: Accordion, Aces Up, Calculation, Clock Patience, Cribbage Solitaire, Gaps (Montana), Grandfather’s Clock
● Others: Miss Milligan, Osmosis, Sir Tommy, Sultan (Emperor), Windmill
I also highly recommend Bowling Solitaire by genius game designer Sid Sackson. It is entirely unlike all the other solitaire games mentioned, but is an incredibly thematic and clever game.
Recommendation
So what are you waiting for? There’s never been a better time in history to explore the fun and variety of solitaire card games, especially with the help of a digital assistant who can help teach you some different games and manage the book-keeping and administration elements of the game for you. And especially if you’re stuck at home as a result of quarantine or other restrictions, this might just be the thing you need to help keep you busy and amused.
So fire up that solitaire software or website, or whip out a deck of cards, and fill a few minutes with a satisfying challenge!
About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards. This article first appeared on PlayingCardDecks.com here.
● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk
● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk
● Make Your Own Custom Card Games at: ShuffledInk
Playing cards have occupied an important role in our culture for hundreds of years. Their significance is in the first place connected to their primary use as as tool for playing card games, which is the primary factor that popularized them rapidly and led to their spread throughout Europe in the 15th century. Even today card games are one of the main ways that playing cards are enjoyed, especially in a social and casual context in the home.
But playing cards shouldn’t just be associated with games for children, because they have come to mean much more than that, and have wormed their way into many aspects of human life and existence. There are many people who make their livelihood with a deck of playing cards in their hand, like casino workers and card magicians. In our modern era, Poker gets regular air time on TV sport channels. Gambling games have been popular for centuries, fueling lives of luxury as well as spawning lives of crime, and many a fortune has been lost or won over the turn of a playing card. Playing cards are also closely associated with fortune telling and sometimes even the supernatural.
As a result of all this, playing cards have become firmly embedded in our culture and way of life. So it comes as no surprise that playing cards have influenced our English language. Common expressions like “lost in the shuffle”, “have an ace up your sleeve”, “follow suit” and many others all owe their origin to playing cards (read more about this in my article The Impact of Playing Cards on the English language).
But playing cards also have established a presence in many art forms. Many paintings and works of art depict people holding cards or playing card games. Many a song has been written about poker, gambling, and even about specific playing cards, or used them as metaphors for romance and for love gained or lost.
Given how entrenched card games and playing cards have become in our lives, we can also expect them to appear in another form of art: the novel. And sure enough, there are some fine books where playing cards aren’t just a prop or part of the supporting cast, but are one of chief elements. Perhaps the most well known example of this is Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. But in this article, we’ll introduce you to a much lesser known and yet superb example of a clever novel that features playing cards as central characters. In my previous article I considered playing cards about novels, so now it’s time to look at a novel about playing cards, with reference to Jostein Gaarder’s clever book, The Solitaire Mystery.
The Book
Jostein Gaarder first caught my attention with his award-winning novel Sophie’s World, which was an international best-seller, with millions of copies sold around the world, in multiple languages. That story is geared to young adults, and promises to provide an overview of the history of philosophy in the form of a novel. It received high praise for what it achieves, although it has its share of critics as well. In fact, I’ll let you in a personal secret with this honest confession: I really wanted to like this book, but personally I found it rather tough going and struggled to finish it. It didn’t quite live up to what I’d hoped for, because I found it too dry, and it read more like a philosophy text-book than a story. But it did confirm the respected credentials of the author as a credible voice on the subject of philosophy. And I’m always prepared to give someone a second chance.
So when I discovered the book The Solitaire Mystery by the same author, his name was already familiar to me. Perhaps more importantly, the artwork on the front cover of the copy I came across immediately caught my attention. “Solitaire, as in the card game? Playing cards on the cover?” As a playing card enthusiast, I was instantly intrigued by the title, the artwork, the concept, and the blurb on the back.
Fortunately, unlike its more well-known sibling Sophie’s World, this book is much less didactic and dry. Instead, it is a convincing and entertaining story that is actually readable, rather than being pure philosophy. Best of all, it’s brilliant because of how the entire story is structured around a deck of playing cards, and how they are a central feature of this book. If you are a playing card enthusiast, you will almost certainly will love this novel, and you should definitely check it out. Let me share some more about it to whet your appetite.
The Story
The main story describes a twelve year boy, Hans Thomas, and his father, who are on a trip to Greece (the homeland of philosophy) on a quest to find the boy’s mother. In the process Hans Thomas finds a book, which is described in the story as “the sticky bun book”, because he literally finds it inside a `sticky bun’ given to him by an old baker. We now get large excerpts from the sticky-bun book, which tells the story of another baker long ago, who was shipwrecked on an island, and where an entire deck of playing cards comes to life as real characters. Together with the old story-teller from the sticky-bun book, we meet a host of playing card characters, and find ourselves immersed in their magical world. There are several intertwined stories with characters from different times, and slowly their connections become apparent – hence the accurate description of the book as a “mystery”, as we slowly get to unpuzzle how the characters are connected. Fortunately Gaarder has structured the novel in a way that we don’t easily get confused about who is who.
The idea of playing cards coming to life may remind you somewhat like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, but this is actually much more clever. Gaarder uses the concept of playing cards that have come to life to raise many philosophical questions about reality and the purpose of our lives here on planet earth. Because the playing cards start off purely in the mind of the old baker, who amuses himself after being shipwrecked on an island. He first plays solitaire with real cards, but when these disintegrate, he makes it a mental exercise, and imagines the playing cards as real people. But when his imagination brings them into the world around him, are they actually real or not? Hans concludes about the sticky bun book: “I had read about the world’s greatest card trick ever. To conjure up a whole pack of cards would be pretty impressive in itself, but to turn all fifty-two playing cards into real people bursting with life was magic on a totally different level.” (p.158)
The philosophy never gets too heavy, because it remains a good story first of all. Yet Gaarder uses his story to raise philosophical questions, without having these weigh so heavily that the story itself bogs down. You’ll learn about things like the Socrates and the Delphic Oracle, and you’ll also learn that the most important part of wisdom is to ask questions. This novel encourages us to be “Jokers” who think seriously about our place on the planet, and consider the important questions of life such as: Who are you? and Where do we come from?
But there’s much more to the playing card component of this novel: the book is divided into 53 chapters, each one named after a different playing card, including one for the Joker, who is a key character in the story. So chapter 1 is entitled “Ace of Spades”, chapter 2 is entitled “Two of Spades”, and so on. The patterns and relationships of the playing cards within a deck becomes an important structural and thematic device. There are also sections of the story that deal with the remarkable way how how a deck corresponds to a calendar, with 52 cards corresponding to the weeks of a year, and various many other patterns that can be found within a deck. Hans Thomas’ father is even a collector of playing cards! As you can see, there is an enormous amount of content that the playing card enthusiast will pick up on and appreciate!
Collecting Playing Cards
To whet your appetite to seek out this book, I’ve collected some of my favourite excerpts for your reading pleasure, which relate specifically to playing cards. (NB: If necessary, you can click on the images to see these excerpts in larger size).
Let’s start with a delightful passage where Hans Thomas describes his father’s own hobby: he collects playing cards, specifically Jokers. “Lots of people collect different things like stones, coins, stamps, and butterflies. Dad also had a passion for collecting. He collected Jokers.” (p.62)
I’ll let Gaarder tell the rest of this story:
Much of this will strike a chord with collectors! There certainly are people who do this in the real world. In fact the current world record holder is Tony De Santis of Italy who has 8,520 different ones (see another of my articles for more such world records). But its not just his Dad who collects cards, but so does Hans Thomas:
“There was an unwritten law; when Dad bought a pack of cards, he kept the Joker – never more than one – and gave the rest of the cards to me … In this way, I’d collected nearly a hundred packs of cards.”
The passage continues by hinting at the significance of the Joker, and also shares how Hans Thomas’ father acts in compassion by often giving away the rest of the decks for other children to enjoy.
The Deck as a Calendar of 52 Weeks
There is also a fantastic section about how playing cards represent an entire calendar of 52 weeks, and four seasons. I’ve covered this previously in my article Interesting Facts About Playing Cards, and it was a delight to see a novel explain this at length!
“The cards also came to play an important part in the calendar we follow here on the island … The year has fifty-two weeks, so each week is represented by one of the cards in the pack.” (p.194)
Hans Thomas, it turns out, was born on February 29th in a leap year, which means he was born on a Joker Day.
But the connections between the calendar and a deck of cards run even deeper than that. “Every week has its own card, every month has its own number from ace to king, and every season has one of the four suits. You should take out a patent for that, Hans Thomas. As far as I know, to this day a proper bridge-calendar hasn’t been invented.”
The Deck as a Calendar of 365 Days
And what about the little known fact that the values of an entire deck add up exactly to 364 – plus one for the Joker making 365 – exactly equal to the days of the year? There’s a great section that covers that, and it all has importance for the plot and the structure of the book. Hans Thomas’ father explains:
“If you add all the symbols in a suit together, he continued, you get ninety-one. Ace is one, king is thirteen, queen is twelve – and so on. Yes, you definitely get ninety-one.” (p.201)
And for four suits this means a total of 364: “Exactly! There are 364 symbols in a pack of cards – plus the Joker. But then there are some years which have two Joker Days. Maybe that’s why there are two Jokers in a pack, Hans Thomas. This can’t be coincidence.”
Solitare
In keeping with the title of the book, and the theme, the closing pages of the book even provide instructions about how to play the classic Solitaire game.
A Philosophy of Life
After reading this story, you’ll never look at a deck of playing cards in the same way, and you’ll imagine each playing card as a character. And hopefully you’ll never look at life in the same way either either.
“It was a mystery to me how people on earth could simply roam around the world without asking questions, over and over again, about who they were and where they came from. How could life on this planet be something you either turned your back on or took for granted?” (p.136)
The mystery of the playing cards challenges us to think about our lives, just as it challenged Hans Thomas.
“It was strange that we human beings are so clever in so many ways – we explore space and the composition of atoms – but we don’t have a better understanding of what we are.” (p.141)
The final sentence in the book leaves us with this excellent thought:
“I am positive there is still a Joker roaming around the world … He will look deep into our eyes and ask, Who are you? Where do we come from?” (p.319)
Other Novels
Are there more examples of novels that strongly feature playing cards? There are certainly plenty of stories that revolve around poker or gambling (Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey), bridge (Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie), card games (Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King) or around performers of card magic (Bluff by Michael Kardos), but that’s not quite what we have in mind. Nor are books about Tarot cards (Last Call by Tim Powers), although these lend themselves well to stories about the supernatural.
Perhaps the most obvious example of another novel about playing cards is Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, which I will cover in my next article. It’s a whimsical story in a surreal setting where playing cards are also depicted as characters. This classic book has also inspired other novels which build on Lewis Carroll’s playing card characters, such as Heartless by Marissa Meyer, which is effectively a prequel to Alice in Wonderland, and tells the story about the Queen of Hearts as a single girl who is pursued by the unmarried King of Hearts, and who finds herself secretly in love with the mysterious court Joker named Jest.
Jostein Gaarder’s The Solitaire Mystery is a fine work, that shows how important playing cards have become to us. They aren’t just part of our lives, but we can even use them to make us reflect about what life is really about.
About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards. This article first appeared on PlayingCardDecks.com here.
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For thousands of years, we have linked playing cards to card tricks, games, gambling and art, but there are also card decks that reflect history.
All cultures and societies have their respective innovations, conflicts and hierarchical structures. And during experiences of greatness and despair, some artists depicted historic moments in time and legendary figures onto playing cards.
South Sea Bubble Playing Cards
In 1720, Thomas Carington Bowles created the satirical South Sea Bubble playing cards. Unlike the smooth card stock that we use today, these cards were printed on copper plates. The cards below depict the South Sea stock market’s fleeting boom and ultimate destructive collapse, which led France into an economic crisis. Click on the image to see close-ups of each card.
The Jack of Hearts in this card collection indicates one of many unfortunate financial situations; this one is based on a distraught South Sea woman who has now lost a large quantity of her riches.
The caption reads: A South Sea Lady having much improv’d, Her Fortune proudly slighted him the Lov’d, But South Sea falling, sunk her Fortune low, She would have had him then, but he cry’d no.
Playing Card Casino
The first legal casino house surfaced in 1638 Venice: The Ridotto. This enabled others to follow suit. During the 17th century, Louis XIV’s finance minister, Cardinal Mazarin, sought to provide revenue for the royal family, so he transformed the Palace of Versailles into a card-playing casino. The cards below feature French soldiers holding detailed playing card flags toward the sky, most likely to praise and glorify this newfound entertainment source.
Both government-controlled and underground casinos created a vast production of card materials. Soon after the introduction of gaming houses, Great Britain began charging a tax on card manufacturing. This led to the infamous Stamp Act of 1765. The tax implementation created strict rules on any forged printed materials like stamps and cards, resulting in felony charges, and in many cases, death.
Stamp Act Excerpts, Playing Card Provisions:And for and upon every pack of playing cards, and all dice, which shall be sold or used within the said colonies and plantations, the several stamp duties following (that is to say)For every pack of such cards, the sum of one shilling.And for every pair of such dice, the sum of ten shillings.
WWII Map Decks
During World War II, prisoners of war used playing card decks to escape from German prison camps. The United States Playing Card Company created card decks that helped at least 32 individuals escape and prompted more than 300 attempts. Once applied with water, the POW would peel back each card to find escape routes. The Escape Map cards will forever illustrate hope and perseverance during a time where danger and uncertainty were prevalent.
The Ace of Spades: Death Cards
Card suits and symbols were printed on more than just decks. During the mid-20th century, the 101st Airborne Division painted the Ace of Spades emblem on their combat helmets for good luck. But in Vietnamese culture, this card symbolizes death, humiliation and suffering.
Two U.S. lieutenants decided to take advantage of this superstition by shipping only Ace of Spades decks to Southeast Asia where they scattered them across villages and the jungle. This caused many Viet Cong fighters to flee at the sight of the Death Cards. Even today, the Ace of Spades depicts psychological warfare used during the Vietnam War.
Legendary Figures on the Court Cards
KINGS
Recognizing court cards (King, Queen and Jack) as prominent figures developed long after the establishment of the modern deck. So, in a way, while this “fact” has been debunked, the association is still true.
For a period of time, and depending on the country, particular famous figures were assigned to a court card. For example, French and British decks identified their court cards with these four monarchs: Charles VII of France, the Biblical figure David, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.
You may have noticed slight variations on face cards: Positioning of swords and hands, medieval attire and crown designs. This is no coincidence.
The Suicide King: The King of Hearts features an oddly positioned sword that is piercing the side of his head. Never noticed? Pull out your own deck of cards and look. This is the only King who appears to be stabbing himself in the head with a sword. While the King of Hearts has varied in design throughout the years, there is always one consistency: The act of suicide or harm.
QUEENS
Queen playing cards have many face versions but the most common four figures are Pallas, Judith, Rachel and Argine.
The Breakdown:
Queen of Spades: Pallas or Athena; the goddess of strategic war, courage and inspiration in Greek mythology.
Queen of Hearts: Judith; a Biblical figure and heroine
Queen of Diamonds: Rachel; the wife of Biblical figure Jacob
Queen of Clubs: Argine; anagram of Latin name Regina, which means Queen
JACKS
The Jack face card was previously called a Knave, which means male servant. Eventually, they realized that it did not make sense to have two Ks (with the King and Knave) or even a Kn since the first initial is present on the face cards. But even the new term Jack had its flaws. It was originally used in a demeaning manner, aimed toward lower-class people.
Jack of Spades: Hector, a Trojan Prince
Jack of Hearts: La Hire; member of Charles VII’s court and comrade to Joan of Arc)
Jack of Diamonds: Ogier, one of Charlemagne’s Knights
Jack of Clubs: Judah Maccabee, or Lancelot
COVID-19 Pandemic Depicted on Playing Cards
One day, people will be curious about the historic moments we once experienced – both the good and bad. For example, the Coronavirus pandemic has created an entirely new world for us, where we social distance, wear masks and work from home. Undoubtedly there will be recollections and statistics written in history books but playing cards will also be used to tell stories about the past. We created a collection of COVID-19 Playing Cards with the intention of providing helpful virus tips, suggestions, statistics and more. Like the South Sea Bubble cards, these decks will be great for future generations to discover and interpret historical events.
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Pandemic outbreaks are constant threads in human history. These worldwide infectious diseases date back to as early as 165 CE when the Antonine Plague struck the Roman Empire. A curious observation that has recently circulated the internet is the roughly 100-year disease pattern: 1720 Plague; 1817 Cholera; 1918 Spanish Influenza; 2019 Coronavirus.
It’s difficult to call these repetitions a simple coincidence, but we won’t go into deep conspiracy theories today. Instead, here’s a list of the various card games, playing card designs and board games created during such unprecedented times.
1720: Bubble Playing Cards
The Great Plague of Marseille hit Western Europe in 1720, taking the lives of nearly 100,000 people in France. While England feared the disease would spread to their own country due to the constant use of Marseille’s ports, they were also dealing with the repercussions of the South Sea Bubble. The South Sea stock market collapsed less than a year after it started to boom.
The playing cards featured below satirize the devastating financial crash, detailing both counterfeit and authentic investment trades that ultimately led to the demise of many fortunes. Created and designed by Thomas Carington Bowles, the cards placed both a comical tone on a devastating financial time and helped to subside worries about the disease’s spread.
1817: Durak Card Game
Reports of Cholera can date back to 5th century B.C., but it wasn’t until 1817 that the first Cholera pandemic occurred. Over the course of six years, this disease hit India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Japan and parts of European territories like Russia.
The card game Durak became popular in Russia during the 19th century. Its exact origin is unclear, but it can be assumed that this game allowed for a decent distraction while Cholera spread throughout Russia. There are numerous sources that label it as the most popular and well-known card game in Russia. Durak’s objective is to avoid being the last player holding cards and requires a 36-card deck.
Durak consists of two types of players: attackers and defenders. A player who leads with the lowest trump card is the first attacker. The player who sits to the left of the attacker is referred to as the first defender. Once a player places a playing card into the middle, an attack is put into place. Defenders will counter this attack by placing a higher-ranking card of the same suit into the middle. Now, if the attacker placed a non-trump suited card into the middle, then a defender simply must play any trump card to beat the card played.
If the defender succeeds, then the attacker can try again by playing a card that shares the rank of the previous card played. Once the first attack/defend ends, the player to the left of the attacker makes their move.
https://youtu.be/3JagmUmUJOc
1918: Uncle Wiggily Board Game
Spanish Influenza caused a global pandemic that killed nearly 50 million people. Some of the authoritative measures taken during this 20th-century pandemic mirror our own methods against the Coronavirus. This included quarantining those who were ill, closing schools and enforcing the value of handwashing and wearing masks.
Playing card games and board games with one’s family increased in popularity during the 20th century. Two years prior to the outbreak, Milton Bradley Co., an American board game manufacturer, transformed the famous novel, “Uncle Wiggily’s Adventures” by Howard Garis, into a board game. The game’s popularity matched that of the novels’, allowing for the series to come to life in a visually appealing manner. While the game has undergone many changes since its publication, it has reigned in popularity for over a century while also having survived the deadliest pandemic in history.
2019: Our Clients’ Card Designs
For the past seven weeks or so, we have been living in an unfamiliar world. Reality hit home when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named COVID-19 a pandemic.
We encourage both our clients and prospective clients to continue working on their customized game designs. This is the perfect opportunity to take your mind off of the current situation. Consider creating a playing card project that brings enjoyment and entertainment. Here are some incredible products that we have printed for our clients during COVID-19:
We at Shuffled Ink hope that you are staying safe during this pandemic. Our manufacturing facility is fully operational and ready to assist you! Stay safe, and we will get through this together!
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In a previous article we shared some of our favourite playing cards that depict novels. But how about novels that depict playing cards? Already for centuries playing cards have embedded themselves into our lives and culture, and crawled their way into language, paintings, and music. But what about literature?
It’s not hard to think of examples of books where playing cards are part of the wider background of a novel. Perhaps we find them in the hands of characters who are having a social game of bridge, or in the hands of gamblers trying their luck at Blackjack at a casino or playing Poker in the back room of a saloon. But are there other examples besides Jostein Gaarder’s The Solitaire Mystery (see our previous article) where playing cards become central characters, and key figures in the story?
The example that will spring to mind for most people is Lewis Carroll’s classic work, Alice in Wonderland.
The Book
This story is one that almost everyone has come across in their life. But if you’re like most people, then you’ve only been exposed to Alice via Disney films, or perhaps through an abridged version for young children. You really owe it to yourself to read the original book by Lewis Carroll, first published in 1865. Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, who excelled in playing with words, and delighted in logic and fantasy. In Alice in Wonderland we see all these skills and interests on display, and come together in a wonderful and charming story.
If you don’t have a copy of the book, you can easily find it online, because the copyright has long lapsed. I suggest you head here, where you’ll find a downloadable PDF of a virtual edition created by Peter Zelchenko in 1998 for BookVirtual. This project is a true typographically accurate replica of the original Macmillan edition and this free digital edition was produced by VolumeOne.
The Story
For those unfamiliar with the story, what can you expect? Alice in Wonderland is a story of childlike innocence and curiosity, as we journey into a world of the surreal, the fantastic, and the whimsical.
Together with the seven-year-old Alice, we follow a talking white rabbit, and fall into a rabbit-hole, by which we enter an imaginary and wacky world where nothing is at it seems.
If you were the kind of child who always asked the “why?” question, and who liked to challenge what everyone else regarded as normal, you’ll love this book. In this story, Lewis Carroll gives us a picture of a world where everything that we accept as normal is turned upside down. We find ourselves in a land which is populated by an arrange of fantastic characters that entertain us with their wit and whimsy. Consider this excerpt from an absurd conversation Alice has with the Cheshire Cat:
“By-the-bye, what became of the baby?” said the Cat. “I’d nearly forgotten to ask.”
“It turned into a pig,’ Alice answered very quietly, just as if the Cat had come back in a natural way.
“I thought it would,” said the Cat, and vanished again.
In one of the book’s more famous scenes, Alice finds herself at a mad tea-party together with the March Hare, a Hatter, and a Dormouse., where she is bombarded with paradoxical riddles, and astonished with absurd logic.
“…they drew all manner of things – everything that begins with an M –”
“Why with an M?” said Alice.
“Why not?” said the March Hare.
The Playing Cards: Croquet with Queen of Hearts
But it is in the next chapter, entitled “The Queen’s Croquet Ground”, that we meet our playing cards for the first time. After leaving the tea party, Alice enters a garden, where she sees a procession of living playing card characters, which all have human heads, arms, and legs. Chief among them are the King and the Queen.
The suits of these playing card characters all correspond to different roles in the royal court, with the Spades serving as gardeners, Clubs as soldiers, Diamonds as courtiers, and Hearts as members of the royal family.
Click on the images below to read the first few pages of this chapter:
It’s here that we read about the antics the execution-minded Queen of Hearts with her constant refrain “Off with his head.”.
After this Alice commences what has to be one of the most bizarre games of croquet ever witnessed.
The Playing Cards: The Trial of the Knave of Hearts
The final two chapters of the book put the spotlight once again on our playing card friends, as Alice witnesses a trial overseen by the King of Hearts as judge, to settle a case where the Knave of Hearts has been accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. At this point Lewis quotes the old and well-known English nursery rhyme “The Queen of Hearts”, which cleverly forms the basis of his plot:
“The Queen of Hearts / She made some tarts, / All on a summer’s day;
The Knave of Hearts / He stole those tarts, / And took them clean away.
The King of Hearts / Called for the tarts, / And beat the knave full sore;
The Knave of Hearts / Brought back the tarts, / And vowed he’d steal no more.”
Alice herself is called upon to give testimony against the Knave, and a measure of chaos ensues when Alice first knocks over the jury box filled with animals. She then challenges the King and Queen of Hearts about the absurdity of the proceedings.
I won’t spoil what happens in the final scenes as the pack of cards starts to gang up against Alice. You can read the final pages of the book for yourself here:
The Message
Is Alice in Wonderland all nonsense? I don’t think so, because there’s much more to this story than first meets the eye. Behind the outer layer of apparent `nonsense’ Carroll conveys a great deal of sense. There’s a wonderful version of the book entitled The Annotated Alice, that was produced by famous mathematician and logician Martin Gardner. In this annotated version, Gardner explores a lot of the imagery and ideas of the Alice in Wonderland story, and explains some of the references and influences behind the characters and more. As a mathematician, he especially points out many of the clever logical and mathematical concepts found in the story. There’s also a lot of political commentary and parody of the popular culture of the day which he identifies and explains. For example the farcical trial at the end is generally understood to be a lampooning of the British legal system.
What Lewis Carroll really wants us to do is return to reality along with Alice with a renewed appreciation for everything that is normal and accepted. But because this whimsical tale and its fantasy world is so nonsensical and enjoyable, you’ll want to return there many a time, and enjoy its sheer madcap humour. Alice in Wonderland is full to the brim with wild humour, farcical fantasy, witty wisecracks, and even slapstick comedy. You’ll be amazed by the cat-less grin of the Cheshire-Cat, amused by the absurd logic of the mad Hatter, and in hysterics over the antics of Queen of Hearts. I especially enjoyed the abundance of delightful puns, paradoxes, and parodies. While much of the deeper significance will escape young children, they will certainly enjoy it as a fantastic story, and rediscover it with even greater pleasure as adults. A classic is a book that appeals to people of all times and ages, and that’s certainly the case with Alice in Wonderland; this is truly a classic for the child in all of us!
Special mention should also be made of the illustrations accompanying the first published versions of the book. The original pictures were wood engraved by John Tenniel, and his artwork has become forever connected with the story of Alice, and has influenced a great deal of subsequent imaginings of it.
The Tribute Deck
So the book is about playing cards, but are there playing cards about the book? Of course! With the glut of custom decks on today’s market, surely it is inevitable that the circle would become complete, and someone would make a deck of playing cards based on this novels about playing cards.
And sure enough, there are several such decks that are marvellous tributes to Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit deck features a simple black and colour scheme with line art that was inspired by the classic John Tenniel woodcut illustrations from the original Alice in Wonderland books. The Wonderland Tarot deck has more playful and colourful artwork by Morgana Abbey, but is also a homage to the style of John Tenniel.
But perhaps my favourite Alice in Wonderland themed deck is the Alice in Wonderland deck created by graphic designer and illustrator Sasha Dounaevski, who has been a fan of the Lewis Carroll stories since her childhood.
The simple blue and white colour scheme is a recurring feature of the deck, and Sasha has used linear drawings with a minimalist style and with a childish and playful feel, believing that this best suits the absurdity and logic of the story. Just like the book itself, there are many imaginative details that the artist has provided, but there’s also plenty of scope for you as reader to imagine details of your own.
The card backs represent the garden that Alice gets into, with a distinctive symmetrical pattern. The Aces each recount part of Alice’s adventures and companions, e.g. Pigeon (Spades), the child that turned into a pig (Clubs), the mad tea-party (Diamonds), and a mallet-flamingo (Hearts).
But as with most custom decks, it’s the court cards that are the real highlight, depicting characters like The Cheshire Cat, Mad Hare, Hatter, White Rabbit, and more – including of course The Queen of Hearts and The King of Hearts.
To distinguish the suits clearly, the black suited court cards have a blue background, while the red suited court cards have a beige background.
The number cards are also customized with uniquely shaped pips in a non-standard arrangement. An extra feature of these is a unique symbol for each different suit, each of which has been derived from the story, e.g. the pocket watch, the pepper pot.
The Jokers feature the magical food/drink from the story which made Alice small and big respectively: the “Drink Me” mixture and the “Eat Me” cake. Also of note are two bonus cards, one of which pictures the book’s final court scene – which appropriately features lots of playing cards!
This deck is a wonderful tribute to the famous book, given the extensive customization and how the Alice in Wonderland theme has been incorporated in every aspect of the playing cards, making it a charming deck for the child in all of us!
Final Thoughts
In many ways playing cards have become a microcosm of life. Art mirrors life, and when playing cards find a place in our art, then they are giving us reason to reflect on ourselves and on our lives. But art can also be enjoyed for its own sake, and those of us who are playing card enthusiasts will appreciate the clever way that playing cards have found a place in novels like the ones discussed above, and will enjoy reading these stories and appreciate the clever ways they incorporate playing cards.
Not only have playing cards become an integral part of our lives, but as a form of art themselves, they also reflect something about life. With today’s myriad of custom decks, we are now in a position where playing cards have become works of art, and reveal something about what we like, and they are indications of what is important to us. And in cases of decks about Alice in Wonderland, they have even become tributes to works of art that themselves honour playing cards. So why not head down a rabbit hole, and join me in enjoying some of these great books which honour our 52 paper friends!
About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards.
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Decade-by-decade it’s natural for trends to change. Whether it be a new fashion statement or a new board game, we are constantly seeking the “new thing”.
Now, change is inevitable. It’s actually a good thing to accept this ever-changing world. Without it, we would still be throwing sticks rather than
using dice.
As the decade quickly comes to a close, we’ve comprised a list of some of the best board games of each decade. Take a look at how board games have evolved over the years. And you’ll also find a sneak peek into what 2020 may have to offer for the future of board games.
The 1950s: Candy Land
While Candy Land was actually introduced to the world in 1949, it reigned as one of the leading popular games throughout the ’50s. Today, it continues to be popular among children and certainly nostalgic for adults. According to Tim Walsh, an American game inventor and writer, 60 percent of households that have a 5-year-old child, own the game Candy Land. Clearly, its popularity did not cease after the ’50s came to a close. And we are certain that the upcoming ’20s will be no different.
The 1960s: The Game of Life
The Big Game Hunter permanent collection
The Checkered Game of Life 1866 Edition
This game is quite unique because it reached great heights in popularity during its original production in 1860, as well as during its revamp in 1960. This game is the perfect example of how a board game changes with the trends and times. During the 19th century, The Checkered Game of Life was Milton Bradley’s first printed and sold board game. Introduced during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency while slavery was not yet abolished (1865), this first installment was a melancholier board game than what we are accustom to. One of the checkered sections was actually labeled “suicide”. It detailed a man hanging by a noose from a tree branch (see below). If a player fell on this space, they were booted from the game.
The altered 1960s board game naturally varies from today’s version. Those who played during the 20th century would either end the game as an impoverished farmer or they would reside in Millionaire Acres. Today, the concept of rural vs. urban plays a role but is less dramatic and stereotypical. You’ll either end up in Countryside Acres or Millionaire Acres. Nevertheless, both game versions represent a similar goal: reaching happiness in the game of life.
The 1970s: Mystery Date
While the board game Mystery Date was released during 1965, its popularity spiked during the ’70s upon updating. If the tagline doesn’t give too much away, ‘Meet Your Secret Admirer,’ the game was targeted toward young girls. The goal was to land your dream date with one of the boys who waited behind the door while avoiding “the dud” who wore normal clothing. The more admirable suitors were dressed in either formal, beach, skiing or bowling attire. Throughout the years, this game has notably changed its aesthetic to keep up with the varying decades.
The 1980s: Pictionary
In 1987, Pictionary sold 3 million copies. It was then deemed 2nd place on the highest selling games ranking. The top spot was held by the Nintendo Entertainment System. Similar to the idea of charades, players draw hints for their teammates with the end goal of guessing the correct word being sketched. It is the game’s simplicity and the ability to evoke competition that created its popularity during family game nights. Personally, I find Pictionary to be more comfortable to play than charades. Rather than using your body to act out something, you put pen to paper and allow the motionless drawing to do all the action.
The 1990s: 13 Dead End Drive
You may remember this board game from its sensationalized and quirky advertising TV commercials. This murder-themed board game was released in 1993. The objective of the game is to inherit the fortune that was left by the wealthy character Aunt Agatha. The goal is to take down each of your opponents by trapping them in an area that will knock them down and boot them out of the game. Instead of playing on a flat surface with game pieces, this game’s structure implemented a 3-D board to issue a more realistic gaming experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofz_wA-aTI0
The 2000s: Apples to Apples
This board game was released to the public halfway through 1999, as the new decade was approaching. Throughout the 2000s, and even much of the ’10s, this game was a phenomenon. It
brought families with children of all ages together for game night and it wasn’t short of entertainment. I remember playing the game with my parents,
siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, as we gathered around the living room hoping that our card would be the chosen one. Nearly 15 years later, my family
continues to crack jokes about that family game night.
Funny Story: If you’re wondering why my family still talks about the time we played Apples to Apples during Fall 2009, here’s the story. It was my sister’s turn to be the judge, so she read her adjective card aloud: Annoying. We all quickly and competitively slid our one card to my sister in the hopes that we would get chosen and find ourselves one step closer to winning.
My sister read through each card and decided to pick Patrick Swayze. The adults gasped, wondering why she had chosen the beloved actor who had actually died only a few months prior. My sister responded with, “I just didn’t know who he was, which was annoying. So he gets the ‘Annoying’ card!” My aunts and uncles responded with, “too soon, too soon.” Turns out, my brother had won that round and was ironically using it as a throw-away card. To this day, anytime Patrick Swayze is mentioned we all say, “too soon, too soon.”
The 2010s: Codenames
The original word guessing game was released in 2015. Since then, it has broadened its board game horizons
and created different editions, with the same overall goal but varying concepts manifested.
During Codenames word game, if you are the spymaster in your team of two, your goal is to describe the word(s) to your partner without specifically using any of the words in your set. This game calls for strategy, teamwork and, of course, secrecy. If you have a competitive nature, try this one and play it as a final hoorah to the ’10s decade. (But I’m positive it’ll continue its popularity reign into the ’20s).
The Future: 2020s
At Shuffled Ink, we can manufacture any board game that wish to design. Throughout the years we’ve assisted in the creation of your customized board games, complete with customized accessories, booklets, dice, instructions, spinners, timers, tuck or setup boxes and more.
You all, our clients, are the future of what board games have to offer in 2020. What will board games look like in the future? We have an idea that may or may not be wildly far-fetched.
Nevertheless, that question is for your innovative minds to decide and for us to help make possible.
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● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk
● Make Your Own Custom Tarot Cards at: ShuffledInk
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