Being a fan of card games has never been more exciting. Due in no small part to the success of games like Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens, the annual output of new games has skyrocketed in recent years.
The ease with which these games may be played with others, as opposed to the more time-consuming board games, has made them increasingly popular.
Getting started with card games is similar to playing games like online slots with bonus spins trigger. It’s pretty straightforward. It’s as simple as opening the pack, dealing out the required number of cards, and setting them to face up on the table.
Although the popularity of newer card games like pai gow poker and baccarat has increased dramatically in recent years, these games still pale in contrast to the classics like blackjack and poker.
Despite their differences in rules and, in some cases, the decks of cards used, practically all card games share a common ancestor.
Card games are indeed thrilling to play. However, we rarely consider where the idea originated when we use a regular deck of cards with alternating suits to play poker, rummy, and other card games. So, here you’ll find information for anyone curious about the long and storied history of card games and the birthplace of the deck of playing cards.
Read on for more!
What Exactly Are Card Games?
Playing cards can be made from various materials, including cotton-paper blends, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, thin plastic, and heavy paper. For convenience, playing cards have a glossy front and back design. Small enough to fit in your hand, playing cards come in sets known as packs or decks.
Cards can be made in a modern, regional, or historical style. Since there are so many cards today, wouldn’t it be interesting to see how they evolved and how various countries and cultures influenced one another?
Origins of Card Games and Their Impact on Culture
Since early cards were likely manufactured from organic materials that have decomposed over time, their precise beginnings have been lost to history due to poor record-keeping and the passage of time.
Historians have a lot of data to work with, so they can only guess. Most of these analyses place the origin of card games in China during the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, the “leaf game,” a dice game played with real leaves, was invented by the Wei clan sometime in the ninth century.
Those who say the leaf game isn’t a card game are in the minority. Instead, they link to a document from the Yuan Dynasty’s 1320s that mentions two persons discovered with paper playing cards in 1294.
At this time, cards made their way from Asia to Egypt, arriving there in the 12th century. It is where we find the earliest examples of playing cards still in existence today. Just a few hundred years younger may be found the earliest nearly complete deck of cards, which has been placed firmly in the 15th century.
In the 1400s, playing cards made their way to Europe, where they were adorned with pictures of royalty before developing into the contemporary suits we use today.
How Casino Was Introduced in Card Games
In the literature of card games, the casino debuted at the tail end of the eighteenth century in London and shortly after that in Germany. It gained popularity in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, and other variants emerged.
Card Games Improvements
Poker, blackjack, and baccarat are the big three in casino card games. These can be discovered in a wide variety of locations, including online.
To better cater to their clientele, most reputable online casinos provide several distinct variations on these games. Blackjack, for instance, comes in four prominent online varieties, with somewhat varying rules, mechanics, and limits for each: traditional, premium, and high roller.
Nonetheless, there are other games from which the ones we play now evolved.
Spain’s “trentre-un,” England’s “bone ace,” and France’s “quinze” may all be traced back to the origins of blackjack. There were some subtle changes, but the overall goal was the same: to construct hands of cards that were as close to a given number as feasible. Vingt-un, a popular French gambling game, made its way across the Atlantic and was quickly adopted by American casinos, giving some interesting new twists. From one of these—involving the acquisition of a blackjack—emerged the term by which we now refer to this game.
Like blackjack, poker evolved from numerous independent games played in different parts of the world before coming together in Europe and being brought to the United States, where contemporary rules and variations were developed. Moreover, Benny Binion, who would go on to organize the World Series of Poker, first held a tournament of its kind in Nevada.
The baccarat game has a shorter and more straightforward history than most card games, having been developed in Italy in the 15th century under the name baccara before being introduced to France. In the 1950s, Tommy Renzoni brought it to Las Vegas with minor modifications to the regulations made in South America and the Caribbean on its route to the United States.
Card Games Today
Traditional games have been around for over a thousand years, but the origins of many contemporary card games with specialized decks differ. Ideas from major game manufacturers may have inspired games like Cards Against Humanity in the 1990s. Still, they wouldn’t have made it to market without the support of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter.
Cards Against Humanity first appeared on the popular financing platform in 2010. From the extra $15,000 raised, the developers could commission even more card designs (they had initially hoped to earn only $4000). 2015 saw the release of another modern bestseller, Exploding Kittens. The project’s creators asked for $10,000 but received $8,710,000 in donations.
There’s no telling if today’s games will last as long as the classics of yesteryear, but if they do, historians won’t have to guess where the ideas came from.
