Have Tarot Decks Always Been More Substantial Than Standard Decks Of Cards?

Tarot cards are generally taller and wider than playing cards, with 78 cards compared to 52 in a standard playing deck. This larger size allows for more detailed artwork and symbolism. Oracle cards offer more variety in size and shape compared to tarot cards, with the minor arcana having 56 cards and resembling the regular playing deck closely.

There is no standardized size for tarot cards, but many deck creators and manufacturers use different sizes. The most common deck size for tarot cards is 2.75″ wide by 4.75″ tall, which is a reasonable size for an optimal reading experience and accurate interpretations. Each deck of tarot cards has four suits, which can vary depending on the region where the cards were produced. The most common card size for a traditional Tarot deck is 2.75″ wide by 4.75″ tall.

Tarot decks are believed to have originated in Italy and spread through much of Europe, with decks often modified by different regions. In reality, Tarot cards appear to have had a separate and much later origin than regular playing cards, possibly as a means of instruction and education. The Indian playing cards had seven suits, which Singer believes was an allegory for societal hierarchy.

Tarot cards are used in various parts of Europe since the mid-15th century to play card games such as Tarocchini. Standard Tarot size is 2.75×4.75in (around 7x12cm), but part of art close to edges is usually cut out or left blank in the printing process. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling and are sold together in a set as a deck of cards or pack of cards.


📹 “My tarot, Lenormand and playing card deck collection after downsizing” ✨💙✨

INTRO – 00:00 PLAYING CARDS & LENORMAND – 06:40 MINI TAROT DECKS – 18:40 LARGE TAROT DECKS – 35:50 ORACLES …


Did playing cards used to be bigger?

Playing card sizes have been standardized since the 19th century, initially to 3½ × 2½ inches, which are now known as “wide” or “poker-sized” cards. Wider cards were easier to cheat and could be trimmed smaller if packs were unavailable. Narrower cards, known as “whist-sized” or “bridge-sized” cards, likely first appeared in Europe and allowed players to handle larger numbers of cards required for games like bridge. However, there is no formal requirement for precise adherence, and minor variations are produced by various manufacturers in different countries.

In Germany, standard Poker and Rummy packs by ASS Altenburger and Ravensburger measure 92 × 59 mm, while Austria’s Piatnik sells packs marketed for Bridge, Poker, and Whist measuring 89 × 58 mm. Other sizes include medium and miniature sizes, which are often intended for playing patience or solitaire games, and larger ‘jumbo’ cards for card tricks and those with poor eyesight.

Are tarot cards different than normal cards?

Cartomancy is a method of reading tarot cards with playing cards, dating back to the 14th century. Tarot cards first appeared in Italy during the mid-15th century. Cartomancy uses 52 playing cards instead of the 78 tarot cards and doesn’t include the major arcana or all royal cards. It’s a great way to read fate or karma on the go and is preferred by some for its more concise and direct nature. For more information on reading tarot with playing cards, refer to the guide on what the suits mean. Tarot cards and their meanings can be found in the tarot deck.

Are tarot cards the same size as playing cards?

The dimensions of a tarot card are 2 units. The dimensions of the standard playing card are 75 inches by 4. 75 inches, while the largest pre-set size playing card is 3. 5 inches by 5. 75 inches. This latter size is ideal for educational and novelty drinking cards for children. It is ideal for use in social contexts with friends.

What is the original size of tarot cards?

Tarot cards are typically 2. 75in x 4. 75in, similar to our tall playing cards. This size allows for more space to display designs and makes shuffle easier. Our foiled tall playing card box can be customized to fit your deck and protect your cards. The Raider-Waite deck is the most popular variation, featuring 78 cards with major and minor arcana cards. Major arcana cards are not directly numbered but have names like The Hanged Man, Wheel of Fortune, and Strength. The Fool card is the only card without a specified position, providing insight into larger life events.

Is there a standard tarot deck?
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Is there a standard tarot deck?

The modern tarot deck, based on the Venetian or Piedmontese tarot, consists of 78 cards divided into two groups: the major arcana (22 trumps) and the minor arcana (56 cards). The major arcana features pictures representing various forces, characters, virtues, and vices, numbered I through XXI. The cards are arranged in a series of order, from juggler to papess, empress to emperor, pope to lovers, chariot to justice, hermit to wheel of fortune, strength to death, temperance to devil, lightning-struck tower to star, moon to sun, last judgment to world, and the fool.

The minor arcana consists of four suits of 14 cards each, similar to modern playing cards. Each suit has 4 court cards (king, queen, knight, and jack) and 10 numbered cards, with the value progression in ascending order from ace to 10, then jack, knight, queen, and king.

How big were playing cards in the 1800s?
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How big were playing cards in the 1800s?

This is an early and rare deck of American playing cards, made by the New York firm of Lewis I. Cohen (1800-1868). Playing cards are difficult to produce, requiring special paper, coatings, and color printing capabilities. They were manufactured late in America and likely did not begin until after the Revolution. The earliest extant American cards date back to the 1790s. Cohen, who began his career as a stationer, made a mark as a manufacturer, becoming the first in America to produce lead pencils.

In 1832, he published his first pack of cards and invented a machine that revolutionized the playing card industry by printing four colors in a single impression. By 1844, Cohen’s success led to a move to larger quarters, and he moved his plant to a large building at 184-190 William Street, New York. In 1854, Cohen turned over the business to his son Solomon and nephew Lawrence, and in 1860, the firm was renamed Lawrence, Cohen and Co.

Are there different size playing cards?
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Are there different size playing cards?

The cards offered by the company are categorized into various sizes, including poker, bridge, large, Tarot, mini, micro, Domino, business, square, circle, hex, 3″ hex, small hex, Trump, US game, giant, skat, mini European, jumbo, and photo. These cards are commonly used in industries such as education, retail, and gaming, while bridge-sized cards are often used in casinos. Large-sized cards are mainly used by marketing companies for unique portfolio displays or retailers and the educational sector for more space to print pictures and photos.

All cards come with professional card stock options, including smooth and linen finishes. Smooth finish uses a S30 with black core, popular for tabletop game cards and promotional use. Linen finish uses a M31 or M32 with black core later, preferred by professional card players worldwide for its superior durability and mark resistance.

The cards are available in various sizes, from 63mm x 88mm to 89mm x 146mm, with smaller sizes being more suitable for smaller businesses and marketing companies. The cards are also available in various shapes and sizes, such as 2. 5″ square, 2. 5″ square, 2. 5″ square, medium square, square, circle, hex, 3″ hex, small hex, Trump, US game, giant, skat, mini European, jumbo, and photo.

What is the oldest tarot deck?
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What is the oldest tarot deck?

The Visconti-Sforza Tarot, painted in the mid-15th century for the rulers of the Duchy of Milan, is the oldest surviving tarot cards. In 15th century Italy, the set of cards included in tarot packs, including trumps, was consistent, with two main exceptions. Some late 15th century decks, like the Sola Busca tarot and the Boiardo deck, had four suits, a fool, and 21 trumps, but none of the trumps match tarot ones. The Visconti di Mondrone pack, one of the Visconti-Sforza decks, originally had a Dame and a Maid in each suit, along with the standard King, Queen, Knight, and Jack.

The pack also included three trump cards representing the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Despite a Dominican preacher’s criticism of the evil inherent in playing cards, no routine condemnations of tarot were found during its early history.

What are the original playing cards?
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What are the original playing cards?

Playing cards were initially derived from Mamluk suits of cups, coins, swords, and polo sticks, which are still used in traditional Latin decks. Europeans used polo sticks as batons or cudgels, and the presence of playing cards was attested in 1377 in Switzerland and 1380 in locations like Florence and Paris. The widespread use of playing cards in Europe can be traced back to 1377. Account books of Johanna, Duchess of Brabant, and Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg mention payments for the purchase of packs of cards.

From 1418 to 1450, professional card makers in Ulm, Nuremberg, and Augsburg created printed decks, competing with devotional images as the most common uses for woodcuts. Most early woodcuts were colored after printing, either by hand or stencils from about 1450 onwards. The Flemish Hunting Deck, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the oldest complete set of ordinary playing cards made in Europe from the 15th century.

What are the original tarot cards?
(Image Source: Pixabay.com)

What are the original tarot cards?

The Visconti-Sforza Tarot, painted in the mid-15th century for the rulers of the Duchy of Milan, is the oldest surviving tarot cards. In 15th century Italy, the set of cards included in tarot packs, including trumps, was consistent, with two main exceptions. Some late 15th century decks, like the Sola Busca tarot and the Boiardo deck, had four suits, a fool, and 21 trumps, but none of the trumps match tarot ones. The Visconti di Mondrone pack, one of the Visconti-Sforza decks, originally had a Dame and a Maid in each suit, along with the standard King, Queen, Knight, and Jack.

The pack also included three trump cards representing the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Despite a Dominican preacher’s criticism of the evil inherent in playing cards, no routine condemnations of tarot were found during its early history.

What religion do tarot cards come from?
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What religion do tarot cards come from?

This literature review examines the relationship between Tarot cards and New Age religion, emphasizing their function in the contemporary study of the New Age movement.


📹 Things You Don’t Know About Playing Cards

Playing cards are so common today that we take them for granted. But, have you ever really looked closely at them or wondered …


Have Tarot Decks Always Been More Substantial Than Standard Decks Of Cards?
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Pramod Shastri

I am Astrologer Pramod Shastri, dedicated to helping people unlock their potential through the ancient wisdom of astrology. Over the years, I have guided clients on career, relationships, and life paths, offering personalized solutions for each individual. With my expertise and profound knowledge, I provide unique insights to help you achieve harmony and success in life.

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  • The jokers also represent day and night/sun and moon. The back of the cards are night while the front is day, there are 12 court cards and 12 months. 13 cards in each suit and 13 weeks in each season. If you do a perfect riffle shuffle from new deck order 24 times it will shuffle full circle back to new deck order.

  • You gave us the names of the kings (names that are actually the same that are written on the BP Grimaud cards) : Charles = hearts, David = spades, Cesar = diamonds, Alexandre = clubs. But queens and jacks also have names. Jack of clubs is Lancelot, the knight of the Round Table. Jack of diamonds is Hector, the trojan prince. Jack of spades is Ogier, a danish knight who served Charlemagne (aka the king of hearts which is a little bit strange). Jack of hearts is La Hire de Vignole, a knight friend of Joan of Ark. Queen of spades is Pallas, also known as Athena the greek goddess of wisdom. Queen of diamonds is Rachel and queen of Hearts Judith, both being characters from the Bible. Finally Queen of clubs has been named Argine, which is an anagram of Regina, the latin (and italian) name for queen.

  • Although I was surprised by a few of them, the one that surprised me the most were the shuffling facts. The hugely high number of order possibilities as well as the fact that it’s very possible that a deck of cards has never been shuffled and yielded the same result in all of history. Those facts blow my mind!

  • The older suits of swords, coins, cups and sticks still remains as the common suits in the minor arcana of tarot cards. About the only difference my set of cards – my Dragon Age set – has is that the “sticks” are Staves because a stave is another name for a staff, and thus the weapon of a Mage, which is appropriate in a game universe where the situation Mages live in is a big issue. Most of the Staves cards are also Mage-related.

  • The given history of playing cards was very fascinating and of great interest to me ! During the winter months, my family gathers every Friday night of every week, and enjoy playing various games of cards! It will be interesting for us to watch this article together before we begin our card game…….It will be the topic of the evening while we play the game of the night ! Thank you for sharing your info.

  • #8 – The Joker is in the deck because he is the evolution of the trump card The Fool from the Major Arcana, a set of 22 trump cards which were used in the game of tarrochi, which can still be found in Hoyle. Today, the Major Arcana is known to be the most famous cards of what is called The Tarot Deck. The Minor Arcana are the “playing cards” as we know them today, minus a fourth royalty member from each of the 4 suits. Why The Fool survives, as The Joker, in a modern standard playing deck, and the other trumps don’t, I don’t know for certain, but it may have to do with symbology: The Fool in Tarot represents the Player or Questor, that is the person who is asking the deck itself a question, himself. The Fool is called The Fool because he is a novice, unenlightened; he does not yet know the answer to his question, nor has he yet gone on his quest to find enlightenment. That the Fool as the Joker is sometimes used today as a trump card, a wild card, or something unexpected to be paid attention to, serves as an element of chance: a reminder that one is not always in control, nor in posession of all of the facts…a reminder that one is a human fool. Just watch your reaction when one uses a Joker on you. 🙂 #6 – The King of Hearts is holding his sword behind his head BECAUSE it used to be a battle axe and this is the correct posture for holding a battle axe which one is about to swing. You saw this part in the article but was not in the narrative: no three Kings hold their weapon in the same manner, I say three because one King does not hold his weapon, and indeed one King has no weapon at all!

  • Came from the Tarot. Remove the Major Arcana, boom 52 cards. Four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water equate to (Diamonds/Pentacles/coins), (Spades/Swords), (Clubs/Wands) and (Hearts/Cups). The Jack, Queen, King and Ace are still represented pretty much the same as their Tarot counterparts. This being the Paige (Jack), Queen, King and Ace (These remain unchanged.) It has been said that the Tarot is the pictographic representation of the entirety of the body of knowledge contained in the Kabbalah. The knowledge therein, being considered heretical, was under attack. Books were being burned. So, in an attempt to preserve the secret knowledge, the information was condensed into comprehensive and highly symbolic images. These cards were then used to play many games (assumed to be primarily gambling games), to ensure their preservation. The wise men knew that mans love of gambling would not ever fail. The designs and iterations changed slightly from culture to culture and, over the years, evolved into the cards we know today. That’s just from my own research. Feel free to add/correct anything I might have wrong. Just my two sense. Cheers!

  • Saw the missing mustache in the opening of the article. My guess was that since it’s the Hearts’ King, it was symbolizing a younger man. Younger, prime of life, the age you’d be looking for a spouse, etc. Something along those lines. Sorry, my thoughts on it are harder to verbalize than expected, but hope yinz get the gist lol.

  • I’ve known most of these, but I’m a hobby card magician, so I have and use a lot of cards 🙂 It should be noted that a deck of cards “technically” has more than 52 cards — a new deck contains 56 cards (52 normal cards, 2 jokers and 2 “brand” cards; many specialist decks contain special cards instead of brand cards, such as blank cards, duplicate cards or double-backed cards). Also, USPCC/bycicle poker cards are not just the most iconic, they arguably handle the best too: an air cushoned finish means they fan easily/slide nicely, the triple glued layers mean they’re flexible but very durable. Some competitors are good too, but many cheap brands are just plain shit.

  • Playing cards represent the Principle of DUALITY; in this context: Summer and Winter. This is why cards are called BI CYCLE (bycycle) = 2 cycles of summer and winter. Cards come in red (summer) and blue (winter). There are 52 cards = 52 weeks in a year; 4 suits = 4 seasons in a year; 13 cards in each suit = 13 weeks in each season.

  • Yep, and the ace of spades is also often associated with death because it’s said that when Wild Bill Hickok was murdered, he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of 8’s (or the “dead man’s hand”), though Edmund Hoyle said it was jacks and 8’s. •A phrase meaning that someone is stupid is saying that they’re not playing with a full deck of cards. •The phrase saying that someone is cheating is saying that they’re dealing from the bottom of the deck (giving themselves an advantage through sleight of hand). •Saying that everything’s the best it can be with your life is saying that it’s aces. Even the sandwich was born because of cards: John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, did not wish to stop to eat while he was playing cards, but was hungry! He asked his servants to make and bring him something between two slices of bread so he could eat while he continued to gamble.

  • To add further facts to the 10 listed visit “The stealing of a curly hair lock” to watch the game of Ombre being played in a London Palace with a 40 card deck from the Latin game described by Alexander Pope and also “Satire without attire” for the rules and ranking in Tridge as the European ancestor of the game of Bridge.

  • The Sami people of northern Norway dress in bright red and blue costumes and where ‘star’ hats. Sami regale each other with impromptu fire side sing songs dedicated to each other and to special events. These songs are called Yoiks, the singer is a Yoiker. Yoikers in many pointed hats in bright red and blue costumes revealing entertaining attention grabbing news. It can’t be pure coincidence, can it?

  • Number 5 interests me in that 52 cards (52 weeks in a year). Originally in the 1800’s there was only one joker, but then in the late 1940’s 2 jokers were incorporated into the decks for the game of Canasta. The four seasons corresponding to the four suits and then adding the value of the cards plus 1 for the joker was quite interesting. The most mind blowing was the maps in the card. I had heard of this before, but still find it quite amazing.

  • What gets me is that ‘Poker’ use to be the first game people learned how to play with a deck of cards. But these days, I can’t even find hardly anyone who knows how to play it. I guess it’s a generational thing. But I really do miss playing card games with friends. Even the drinking games back in my 20s we use to play was fun.

  • The first trumping game was actually an old version of Jass cards, from Germany, c. 1350, which included two sets of 8 “Professional Triumph” cards. The word “Trump” however, comes from the Italian, Trionfi – or “Triumph” – cards, c. 1400, and was popularized by Tarocchi – AKA Tarot – cards, long before Euchre (~1860) and Bridge (~1890).

  • Suicide kings*, plural. The king of diamonds is also a suicide king, with an axe right above his neck. They are called suicide kings because they look like they’re committing suicide and they’re red in color, blood is red. The king of diamonds is also one of the only two cards that holds an axe. The other being the jack of hearts.

  • I think there was a mistake… that’s what surprised me the most about this really interesting and fun vid … because the SPADES represent MILITARY MEN..NOT the DIAMONDS..the diamonds represent MONEY and BUSINESS Enterprise, the SPADES (swords) represent FIGHTERS, MILITARY men, SOLDIERS, POLICE officers, even SURGEONS and BUTCHERS well as MARTIAL ARTISTS and BOXERS… people of action… and certain kinds of lawyers… so Spades Ace of Spades can actually represent an important lawsuit .

  • I’m a little surprised that you didn’t mention the the King of Hearts (I also believe him to be Charlamagne) is the ONLY court card with FOUR ARMS…didn’t you notice the different sleeves? I’ve written many articles on the King of Hearts to magician’s sites and I believe that the sword-holding arm was actually that of Carloman, Charlamagne’s younger brother. Carloman HATED his older brother because of the land (most of Europe and part of the far East) he owned and Charlamagne decided to give his brother some land, but it was all land-locked which enraged Carloman! He often talked of killing his brother…but Carloman died at 19 years of age from “unknown causes”. Then his history was erased. Charlamagne certainly killed his brother and then demanded that his history be lost in time.

  • French card-makers in the late 16th century who standardized the suits of Spades (David), Hearts (Charlemagne), Diamonds (Augustus.), and Clubs (Alexander) and Since Charlemagne was the King of France and the first Holy Roman Emperor, who lived from 747 to 814 AD, the Church was the hearts, so him being more pious makes sense. The funny thing is Augustus and Alexander were usually portrayed without facial hair. The French scroogied things up 500 years ago.

  • you did not talk about the correlation between the cards and the minor arcana of the tarot deck. Gypsies and fortune tellers would bring the major Arcana when meeting a client and the client would bring a deck of cards with them and they would be combined to create a tarot deck. then the fortune would be told and the deck split up again. this way, in hopes, the fortune teller and the citizen would not be caught and there for tried for witchcraft.

  • Playing cards are similar to tarot cards. I’m surprised this wasn’t mentioned. I actually prefer doing readings with playing cards vs tarot. However, I use the elements a little differently with playing cards vs tarot . It’s how I was taught But everyone has their own method. Diamonds:fire, clubs: air, spades: earth, hearts: water . Joker: the unexpected Ace: new beginnings something new Ace of spades: change or a loss. An important decision needs to be made. This article was still interesting . Thx for sharing

  • Playing cards started with Tarot Cards. Tarot cards have 56 cards in the minor arcana and 22 cards in the major arcana total of 78 cards. As far as a deck of cards today, they have taken the tarot cards, dismissed the 22 Major arcana, except for one 0-Fool, that they combined with the page in the minor arcana and came up with the joker. Yes, Cups are hearts, Coins are Diamonds, Wands,Clubs, or batons depending on the deck you use that you called sticks are clubs, and swords is spades, Then the knight is Jake, Queen is of course the Queen and King is of course the King. Like I said the page was combined with the fool and became the Joker. This is why playing cards can also be used for divination.

  • The deck of playing cards are we know it originated from the Tarot deck. “Tarot”….a deck for fortune telling, is a deck of 78 cards and each one having a meaning (and some an opposite meaning if it is dealt upside down) The cards are interpreted as all facets of life, with a joker, ( LeMat or the fool )and 21 cards making up the major arcana. The minor arcana is comprised of the 4 suits as we know them from ace to king, spades which indicate struggle or conflict, clubs which mean education, knowledge and wisdom, diamonds which mean money and financial dealings and hearts which are related to love and relationships. The minor arcana, ace to king also has not only the cavalier (or jack) along with queen and king but also the page which usually indicates a young person. There are 56 cards in the minor arcana. In the traditional deck of playing cards the major arcana (except Le Mat the joker) has been dropped along with the 4 pages of the 4 suits which makes the deck an even 52 plus joker.

  • I remember back in the 60’s my grand parents (who were WWI era people) would be selling decks of ace of spades cards at VFW picnics. They gave the reasoning that if our boys were taken prisoner with an ace of spades on their person the cong wouldn’t kill them. Later I found out the real reason for the cards.

  • Number two, staring it’s possible that no two decks were in the same order after being shuffled, is true only in the sense that the possibility exists, but it’s highly unlikely that two decks were not shuffled into the same order. New decks start in the same order, and often people shuffle for a short time.

  • 4:55: Number 5 is wrong. A complete French tarot deck has 78 cards: four suits from 1 (ace) to 10 plus valet (jack), chevalier (knight), dame (queen) and roi (king) which are 56 already. Furthermore, it has 21 trump cards from 1 to 21 and the excuse (fool) card, adding up to 78. So, even if you remove the trumps and the fool and only take the suit cards, they are still 56, not 52.

  • I’m surprised that the names of the 4 Kings are discussed but not the Queens or Jacks. They are all named after historical or mythological figures. The Queen of Spades is Pallas, Hearts:Judith, Diamonds:Rachel, Clubs:Argine. The Jack of Spades is Ogier, Hearts:La Hire, DIamonds:Hector, Clubs:Lancelot.

  • Look at the King of Hearts sword: It is raised to strike! Why would a King being doing this? He is young, and trying prove himself in combat! The other Kings are simply holding their weapons as signs of Office. Being clean-shaved was a sign that you had not yet come to power. Facial hair was as much a badge of Office as the fancy robes.

  • Actually, the King of Hearts is based off of Charles the 7th of France. He was the only king to be alive to see his face on a playing card, and the reason he is stabbing himself in the head? Well, towards the end of his life Charles was bedridden with illness and took up playing cards and card games to pass the time. After two years and the illness affecting his brain, he became paranoid about the number 13, and how the King is the 13th card in the suit. And his life ended when someone entered his chambers to find him standing with a sword in his left hand. He said something ominous and then stabbed himself in the side of the head until he was dead. And that is why the King of Hearts shows the sword stabbing himself in the head, although nowadays it is less graphic, and where the name of Suicide King comes from.

  • I am surprised that the Tarot deck never made it into this viddy. Pentagrams=Diamonds for money, Clubs=Wands for work, Swords=Spades for conflict and Cups=Hearts for love and the Fool became the Joker. Also, playing cards have a topsy-turvy design, so that unlike tarot cards they can’t be used for divination, in which the “up” or “down” state affects the reading. PS: In the olden days, cards were blank on the back to prevent marked decks and were only used for one night of gaming, after which the players could jot addresses or notes on the back of the used cards and trade them so they could keep in touch. This idea gave birth to the business card. PPS: The number of cards in a deck relates to how many cards can be laid out to form a perfect rectangle, because that is how they are printed, all up on one big sheet, before they are cut into cards.

  • The king of Hearts doesn’t have a mustache because the king they printed it after didn’t have one and the reason his sword was going through his head was because he was mentally insane because after thet printed it the king(the 13th card) was made. He was seeing the number 13 every where until a specific day(i forgot which day) a someone walked in his room to see him standing (he was supposed to be bed ridden) with a sword in his hand. He the said a scary phrase in a different language (maybe french idk) and then stabbed himself through the head until the sword came out the other end😐

  • I still have a deck of ‘aircraft identification’ playing cards from when I was a G.I. in the 1970s; they feature silhouettes (front, side, and top) of NATO/Warsaw Pact aircraft on the backs of the cards (where the nekkid people’s pics usually are). The idea was to foster a better awareness of ‘who’s are whose’ if one ever found him/herself on an AA gun during an actual camp-out…..

  • I wanna say, following what ive seen in your article, I think The King of Heart should be a representation of the Pope. Thus, Ithink, he does not have mustache because it is a symbol of virility, wich is kind of opposite of chastity. Also I presume that his sword is a spiritual one, kinda symbol of wisdom…

  • There’s a article on yt from the show Q.I., that explains the odds of shuffling 52 cards into the same order, in a far more mind-blowing way: “If every star in our galaxy (250 billion) had a trillion planets, and each of those planets had a trillion people, and each of those people had a trillion decks of cards, and they’ve been shuffling all of the decks a thousand times a second since the big bang (13.8 billion years); then they would only NOW, start repeating the orders of previous shuffle!l”

  • Actually, there were decks that had 56 cards in them. The additional card was known as the page, and was put between the 10 and the jack (although the jack in these decks was called the knight.) Also, you didn’t talk about the jack of spades. Known as the rogue card, this is card gets matched with other cards from other suits, most notably the queen in some games. Pinochle is one of those games.

  • About yielding a “proper shuffle” – the customary methods of shuffling a deck of cards, are actually not very good at randomizing them, as has been shown numerous times. So using the number of mathematically possible card-orders, 52! ≈ 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,780,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ≈ 8.0658·10⁶⁷, to calculate the probability of repetition of deck order, greatly underestimates that probability. “Following suit” and “coming up trumps” are today associated with contract bridge, formerly whist, but apparently go back much further than either of those more modern games. Another playing-card originated saying (this one from poker): “drawing to an inside straight” – used to refer to any highly improbable event.

  • They treat us like we are Dumb & they started the post by MISPRONOUNCING “Playing” using the action pronunciation of Playing instead of the Pronoun “Playing” Cards where the “A” is emphasized as well as the word Playing, they used the action Playing Cards where Cards is emphasized!! WAY TO GO DUMMIES!! @BE AMAZED

  • If you were found with a fraudulent Ace of spades you could be executed.Interesting! I know someone was murdered over the article Poker game which was rigged to lose.The man had been ready to testify against the greedy company and was shot to death before the trial. It’s amazing how even through just a game a person would lose their life.Anyway good article.More people need to know the origin of that 52 card deck.

  • Ummm … if the Kibg of Diamonds represents Gaius Julius Caesar, why did you show a bust & coin depicting Caesar Augustus, his great-nephew, adopted son & heir? And actually Caesar Augustus was the only REAL emperor on the decks … Charlemagne was crowned “emperor” of “the Holy Ronan Empire”, of which was said “it was not holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” … it was a made up stand in for the actual Roman Empire which had collapsed in the West around 400 years before.

  • So there’s a greater chance of properly shuffling a deck of cards twice and yielding the exact same results, than there is for all things to come into existence as a result of nothing? Not to mention the odds of human intelligence happening over and over. Hmmm, when it comes to mathematical odds, it’s interesting how higher odds result in greater success than lower odds.

  • =Um. Adding up the “values” on a deck of card yields 220. You would have to assume that a Jack=11, Queen=12 and King=13, to get 364 then assume Joker=1. I’ve never heard of face cards have such values assigned to them. Have you? Seems a bit of a stretch. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deck_of_Cards

  • Some jacks wear moustaches in certain decks. For instance, I have two decks of cards. In one of them the Jacks of Hearts has a mustache, a mean face, white hair, and his face is frontal. In my other deck the same Jacks of Hearts is blond, has a sweet face, holds a feather, is sitting down with an axe in the back, and has a profile face. Well, all I can think of that Kings, Queens, and Jacks represent many different nobles from different eras. That’s all.

  • Lots of info that can easily be disputed. Spades are “air”, as they represent knives, thought, “sharp as a tack”, meaning “intelligent”; while clubs represent fire; in the TAROT deck, they are shown as leafy wooden staves, but this is really wood “on fire”, disguised to fool those not aware of the “real” meaning. So this article has the clubs’ and spades’ meaning reversed. Who is to say which is correct? Or if there is a “correct”? Such meanings are in the eye/ear of the beholder. To me, this article has little authoritative content. (IMHO)

  • Charlemagne was Emperor of Frankia, not Holy Roman Emperor. And the words Emperor and King are largely interchangeable, with their definitions not relying on the monarch’s function, but rather on what his domain is called. Both ’emperor’ and ‘king’ simply mean ‘ruler’ in their respective original languages.

  • When the viet cong part came up, someone behind me said “stupid Chinese”. Its funny because… tv/internet/Youtube often portrayed white people, specifically from the more “countryish” part of America to be ignorant. Not totally ignorant, but ignorant on these sort of matters. I live in Malaysia, we actually learn this in history and geography… Vietnamese are not chinese. This idiot wasnt joking… I turned around and said to him laughingly, “dengar dik cina kena maki satgi” (Dont say tht out loud, you might get some scolding and insults if a chinese hears you). I honestly thought it was a mild joke from a somewhat racist person but no!.. he went on to say “Depa semua cina komunis”(they are all communist chinese) “depa ni lah porak perandakan negara kita dulu”(these were the people who caused trouble in our country last time). So, with tht being said… dont believe the internet stereotypes… ignorant people comes in all shapes and sizes. I cant say much about the racism aspect(cant be helped, some ppl are like tht and you cant convince them to not be racist) but being crazy stupid is a whole different story.

  • Card rooms absolutely DO NOT use the rifling technique! Players are easily able to view the cards and it bends and shreds the tips of the cards which results in “marked cards” and you just can’t have that. I’m a 3rd generation card dealer my mom dealt for the WSOP for 8 yrs and my aunt 11yrs. unfortunately they are all converting over to automatic shufflers however you can request a table shuffle at most places

  • He’s a bit wrong about what the suits represent. Firstly, just to go over, there are for classes of people: the nobility, the clergy, the bourgeoisie(merchants), and the peasantry. By middle class I assuming he means merchants. Now clubs actually represent the clergy. If you notice the club is in the shape of a cross. The nobility had spades and the bourgeoisie had diamonds. Hearts were representative of the peasantry.

  • In Probability it’s mathematically shown that a deck of cards shuffled seven times ends up very close to it’s original arrangement. This has also been demonstrated. Shuffling cards to randomize them, is more of a human misconception than reality. People should understand the many ways cards can be marked, how difficult it is to spot cheating in poker. Also, if you’re gambling in a group and after ten minutes you haven’t figured out who the sucker is: it’s you and you should leave.

  • Nice job: Note the ‘Queen of Diamonds’ acts as a ‘hypnotic trigger’ in the first installment (issue) of the ‘Manchurian Candidate’ starring Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey … Black & White movie era ! Queen of Hearts is popular in ‘Alice in Wonderland’, known through the popular phrase ‘Off With their Heads.’ The ‘Red Queen syndrome’ becomes a ‘survivalist metaphor’ for natural selection in some of the scientific literature. The ‘Red Queen’ also becomes an ‘AI’ program guarding the underground ‘Hive’ in the ‘Resident Evil’…Zombie Apocalypse series…. staring actress Mila Janovich as a futurist ‘cloned Alice’ (down a different kind of rabbit hole) designed to save mankind from a Zombie worldwide epidemic !

  • Idioms from cards, eh? Here are some commonly used in Dutch: “Mijn laatste troef is nog niet uitgespeeld” (My last trump card has not yet been played) –> Watch out, I have more tricks waiting for you to get you. “Poker face” (copied from English) –> No emotion. Nobody knows what you’re thinking. “De kaarten zijn geschud” (The deck’s been shuffled) –> Nobody knows what will happen next. Similar to Caesar’s quote “ALEA IACTA EST” (The die has been cast). It sometimes also used as a “no way back now” kind of situation. “De zwarte piet toeschuiven” (Giving somebody the ‘zwarte piet’) –> “Zwarte Piet” is a game in which you must allow another player to pull a card out of your hand. Whenever two cards of the same value and both being either red or black that combination is out of the game. As the Jack of Clubs is removed form the deck by default the Jack of Spades is the “Zwarte Piet”. When all other cards are out, the one who has this card is the loser. The idiom means you are blame other people (sometimes in order not to get the blame yourself) for great trouble. This idiom is also often morphed into the verb “zwartepieten”. A very common word in politics when something really went wrong (you don’t want to lose the next elections after all). “Met het mes op tafel” (with the knife on the table) –> Poker players in the US are said to have a knife on the table to let you know they mean business (I don’t say that is true, I only say, people say it). The idiom means you are going to negotiate in a rather threatening way (it comes close to blackmail, but may not yet be classed as such).

  • The French (who created the standard set) often list the actual monarchs iconically portrayed, a fairly normalised list, although I don’t have them to hand and would appreciate if anyone does. Whether or not this is anything more than creative anachronism is, of course, a matter of conjecture unless someone can point to the kind of collected iconography the Florentine Princes have in the Doges Palace Camerae Segredae. That’s rather unlikely, as to share identical styles over four reigns supposes art never developed during that period, which only happened once or twice. Rather, these are heavily stylised in the Egyptian mould, where monarchs and Gods retained much of their Early Period iconography even after Greek Humanism, introduced under the Ptolomies, altered the rest of the pharaonic pictorial language. The style of clothing rather suggests the late Renaissance harking back to an earlier period, however I could be wrong.

  • You got the occult meanings wrong, that sounds like some New Age crap. Love is passionate and it would go with fire, which is associated clubs since they come from the wands of the tarot deck. The top three cards can also represent zodiac signs, in order from bottom-to-top, although when it was Page, Knight, King, and Queen that practice wasn’t quite as common; but the elemental associations and the cutting down to Jack, King, and Queen makes the zodiac model viable with more recent decks.

  • this article is brainwashing, you can tell its brainwashing because the background article and music are all in slow motion. one of the hallmarks of brainwashing is recordings that have either been sped up or slowed down or bits of both. the narration also has been slowed down, hence the chilled out drawl. most american television is broadcast slowed down and you feel like you are perusal paint dry. you can get software which changes the speed of articles on your pc, if you do this you will find these slowed down drawl articles start talking normally! if you do this a few times you will know when a presentation has been slowed down and you need to be wary that someone is trying to control your mind. they are trying to get in your skull and sabotage your thought processes. when you watch or listen to such slowed down presentations you can go into a trance, which is what happens if you watch american television. in Britain television is played at normal speed. I got into a bit of a trance perusal this vid and had difficulty leaving the vid, I got “glued to the set” which is a hallmark of mind control broadcasts. the article plants various violent connotations of cards eg the king of hearts knifing his head, and the ace of spades associated with hanging and an execution marker. this is brainwashing so that when you see some cards you get depressing thoughts. the part of your brain where cards are stored now has various violent images planted the article also presents timeline confusion, eg saying the kings are associated with actual kings.

  • Not that its a BAD article but people on the comments seem to have more info. Playing cards are a n incomplete set of tarot cards. Also, they get the “meaning” of the cards wrong as air is represented by spades (originaly swords) and so on. Also, the joker is the only major arcana that survived from the tarot, being in this last one “the fool”, only arcana (card) without a number. The fool is everyone, and so it takes place as any card in a playing card deck.

  • During the second invasion of Iraqi the American military issued a deck of card with the face of Saddam Hussein on the ace of spades and other members of his government on other cards. These men were at large in the country so the idea was to help American soldiers to recognize them should they come across them. The cards were so popular that the manufacture started printing them for retail sale in the US where I bought a deck.

  • I haven’t researched the accuracy of it, but I read somewhere that the Templar’s used to use Tarot decks or “playing cards” as some sort of “learning tool”. Knowing that the Templar’s were arrested by King Philip IV of France in 1307, (who was also known as Philip the Fair, i.e., young and/or handsome), I wonder if the “suicide king” might not have been a representation of King Philip IV. He did die young, supposedly cursed by the dying Grand Master to “join him within a year”.

  • They forgot to mention the Obama deck of cards. In the place of the image of the club, is an image of a bunch of bananas. In the place of the image of the heart, is a watermelon. In the place of the image of a spade, is an image of a fried chicken. In the place of the image of a diamond, is an image of a pork chop rib bone. Right?

  • Playing cards were seen by the rulers of England as a ready source of revenue, particularly when there were wars to be paid for. So, the makers and later the purchasers, paid a tax on each pack. Instances are recorded of taxes being raised in 1588, in 1628, during Queen Anne’s reign, and from 1711 onwards, until the tax was finally abolished in 1960 (!) since by then it was more trouble to collect than it was worth. Playing cards was seen as addictive gambling and as such proved to be an easy source of income generation. In order to prevent tax avoidance, the ace of spades was held by customs and only issued once duty had been paid by the card maker.

  • Several things here that are just plain wrong. Like the supposed Egyptian connection (comprehensively debunked), or that the Joker card was invented by an American publisher (not true; the Joker – also sometimes called the Fool – was present in the earliest Italian decks from the 15th century). You say that decks could have different numbers of cards, up to 52. Only 52 cards? You forgot about those medieval Italian playing cards again, some of which probably had 86 cards (although as commissioned pieces, it is likely that cards were added – or left out – to accord with the tastes of the patron).

  • Okay, at 04:31, and 06:31, the King of Hearts has facial hair. Also 0631 he isn’t stabbing himself. What deck of cards did they come from? Btw, I love cards. Playing them, and yes, the details. I had painted a giant Queen of Spades one time with all the details,, as I thought she was the prettiest of the cards. I often wonder what the logos mean on the other side of them. Hmmm, I’m going to get myself some more playing cards. Haven’t played a good game in quite a few years….busy, busy, busy.

  • Interesting. Particularly that about the ace of spades, you can see how it may have come to symbolise death (given its association with a hanging offence). A couple of mistakes here. While it is not certain whether modern playing cards derive from the old tarot cards or vice verca, they are thought to have a common origin. As such the joker is older than this article makes out, deriving from the Major Arcarna (The Fool in particular) though I do not dispute the explanation for the Jokers’ survival in games such as Euchre, (though revival might be a better word). Likewise, to the best of my knowledge, hearts derive from cups (not coins), diamonds derive from coins (which would explain why the king of coins had an axe – the same as the king of diamonds). The associaton with arrow heads is new to me, I was given to understand that like coins, diamods were linked to the merchant class. Spades certainly used to be swords and associated with air; it is wands/batons that symbolise fire and are called clubs today. I grant you my knowledge derives more from the history of Tarot, but the books I have on the subject do go into the history in some detail. Other than that an interesting account with interesting insights. Jostein Gaarder certainly drew the same parallel between playing cards and the calender in his book “The Solitaire Mystery” so you’re in good company!

  • It seems to me that you mixed up two of the suits when you were speaking of their meaning. In my studies they have always been correlated thusly, Fire – Wands – Clubs – Will Air – Swords – Spades – Intellect Water – Cups – Hearts – Emotion Earth – Coins – Diamonds – The body and practicality. You listed spades as fire and clubs as air. Do you have a source for that?

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