It may be crazy to think, but the suit and value was not always printed in the corner of a playing card. However, despite advances in playing card design, con artists continue to find new ways to cheat at cards. He introduced simple lithographic designs that, beyond providing improved aesthetics, were intended to make the cards more difficult to “mark” by card cheats. This mass production ultimately led the English design to become the standard for playing cards.ĭe La Rue was also the first playing card manufacturer to break the nearly 5 centuries old tradition of using plain backs on playing cards. In the late 19th century, the French designs were remodeled by Charles Goodall and Sons into the graphic symbols or “pips” commonly found on playing cards today.Īround this same time, Thomas De La Rue and the De La Rue printing company further streamlined playing card design in a way that allowed them to increase output and reduce costs. Eager to continue capitalizing on the massive popularity of playing cards, the English began producing their own playing cards. Combining the translations of both the Italian and French designs, they formed the names: Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds.ĭespite changing the names, these English cards still featured lavish French designs until the import of foreign playing cards was banned in the early 1600’s. As a result, the English began importing French playing cards and eventually adopted the suit names we know today. Right before the start of the 16th century, high taxes on playing cards forced French card makers to relocate their operations to Belgium. The Acorns also became “trèfles” (or clovers or clubs) and the leaves were transformed to “piques” (or pikes or spades). While they kept the Germanic “heart” symbols, the Bells were replaced with “carreaux” or “diamonds”. The French also evolved the German suits to create the first iteration of what would ultimately become the suits we find in standard decks today. This simplified color scheme allowed them to drastically improve production speeds. This imagery was believed to be more indicative of German Life.ĭuring this time, the French also began to insert themselves into the conversation by becoming the first card makers to split a card deck into two colors: red and black. Additionally, as “sword” translates to “spada” in Italian, and “espada” in Spanish, these symbols may have laid the groundwork for the modern suits we know today.Īround the turn of the 15th century, the Germans developed their own suits: Hearts, Bells, Acorns and Leaves. Known as “Latin Suits”, this imagery can still be found on some Italian and Spanish playing cards to this day. Potentially inspired by tarot cards, European card makers began using Swords, Clubs, Cups and Coins as the suit symbols on their playing cards in the 14th century. The Evolution of Playing Card Suits Latin Suits While living in a Swiss monastery, a German monk named Johannes wrote about the burgeoning popularity of playing cards and the variety of card games they were being used for. It wasn’t until the late 14th century that we saw our first recorded account of playing cards being used in the ways we are accustomed to today. However, during this time, they were believed to only be used as ornate gambling pieces for other games like Mahjong or Chess. Some reports suggest they may have surfaced as early as 9th century China during the era of the Tang Dynasty. The exact origin of playing cards is contested by historians to this day. Although they might now be more carefully stored and displayed, and certainly never used to cheat in a game of poker! The Early Days Even super rare playing cards stem from everything in this article. Today, we explore the facts about how we finally landed on the design that can be found on nearly every deck of cards in the world. Over the last 1,000+ years, playing cards have undergone a significant evolution as various countries have adapted them to feature colors, designs and symbols that best reflect their own unique cultures. Most people don’t realize the amazing amount of history and engineering behind a simple deck of cards.
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