Russian playing cards are cards that were used predominantly in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. Unlike Western games played with a standard French-suited 52-card pack, most Russian card games employ either 36-card packs (e.g. Durak) or 32-card packs (especially Preferans).
Playing cards were first introduced into Russia at the beginning of the 17th century from Western and Central Europe (supposedly from Germany and Poland). But they were soon banned: in 1649, Sobornoye Ulozheniye mentioned card games as one of the "thief's crimes" punished by lashing, however, from the time of Peter the Great the ban was usually ignored. In spite of many attempts by the Russian government to restrict card games, many Russians, especially the Russian nobility, played cards on a significant scale during the 18th century.
Before the 19th century, practically all playing cards were imported from Western and Central Europe, and from 1765 all imported cards had to be stamped and high import duty paid, which was intended to limit card gaming. However, in 1819, the restrictions were lifted, but at the same time the import of playing cards was also forbidden and a state monopoly was created. The production of own Russian playing cards started in the Imperial Card Factory of the Imperial Paper Mill in Aleksandrovo (now a part of Saint-Petersburg).
The design of the Russian card decks were derived and influenced by the German card decks as well as the French card decks. Russian cards in the market were divided into three or four categories, depending on the quality of paper and printing: from cheapest decks for laymen through medium quality decks for the Russian middle class to high class decks for the imperial court and the higher nobility. In 1862 the renown Russian painter Adolf Charlemagne (Russian : Адольф Шарлемань) created a new unified design. Very soon his design became the most widespread and recognizable and it is still widely produced and used in Russia. Apart from that nearly fifty card designs were devised by various Russian artists during the 18th–20th centuries.
The end of the 19th and the beginning of 20th knew the rising interest to the old pre-Petrine Russian traditions (see also Russian Revival architecture), this fashion was even more intensified due to the 300th anniversary of the house of Romanovs in 1913. As a result, in 1911 the particular card design in the "Russian style" (Russian : колода «Русский стиль» ) was created. The costumes of the face cards imitated the historical 17th century Russian costumes of the famous 1903 Ball in the Winter Palace.
Thanks to German influence, a standard Russian pack contains only 36 cards from 6 to the Ace. For some games, particularly Preferans, the 6s are omitted, resulting in a 32 card pack. Nevertheless, 52 card packs also occur.
The design of the pip (numerical) cards as well as the suits (♣, ♦, ♥, ♠) resemble those of French playing cards. The design of the face cards is either that of Adolf Charlemagne or in the "Russian style". The design of the aces are variable, historically the ace of diamonds showed the coat of arms of the Russian Empire (in the most popular satin deck, the ace of diamonds is usually the only decorated one, corresponding to the ace of spades in English decks, and in the other decks all the aces are usually decorated in some extent). The face cards and the aces are marked by the Russian letters that correspond to the Russian rank names:
The names for the pip cards are derived from Russian numerals: двойка, тройка, четвёрка, пятёрка, шестёрка, семёрка, восьмёрка, девятка, десятка (dvoika, troïka, chetvyorka, pyatyorka, shestyorka, semyorka, vos'myorka, devyatka, desyatka) for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 respectively.
The popularity of card games in Russia was portrayed by some famous Russian writers, particularly Alexandre Pushkin who wrote The Queen of Spades .
Because the 6 is the lowest card of the Russian deck, Russian slang uses the derogatory word shestyorka meaning "underling, lackey".
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games. A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules may vary by region, culture, location or from circle to circle.
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a finish to make handling easier. They are most commonly used for playing card games, and are also used in magic tricks, cardistry, card throwing, and card houses; cards may also be collected. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling, and usually are sold together in a set as a deck of cards or pack of cards.
The tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot playing cards spread to most of Europe evolving into a family of games that includes German Grosstarok and modern games such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century, French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. Thus there are two distinct types of tarot pack in circulation today: those used for card games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille, originally intended for playing card games, are occasionally used for cartomancy.
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the ace of spades. This embellishment on the ace of spades started when King James VI of Scotland and I of England required an insignia of the printing house to be printed on the ace of spades. This insignia was necessary for identifying the printing house and stamping it as having paid the new stamp tax. Although this requirement was abolished in 1960, the tradition has been kept by many card makers. In other countries the stamp and embellishments are usually found on ace cards; clubs in France, diamonds in Russia, and hearts in Genoa because they have the most blank space.
In playing cards, a suit is one of the categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several pips (symbols) showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or additionally be indicated by the color printed on the card. The rank for each card is determined by the number of pips on it, except on face cards. Ranking indicates which cards within a suit are better, higher or more valuable than others, whereas there is no order between the suits unless defined in the rules of a specific card game. In a single deck, there is exactly one card of any given rank in any given suit. A deck may include special cards that belong to no suit, often called jokers.
The king is a playing card with a picture of a king displayed on it. The king is usually the highest-ranking face card. In the French version of playing cards and tarot decks, the king immediately outranks the queen. In Italian and Spanish playing cards, the king immediately outranks the knight. In German and Swiss playing cards, the king immediately outranks the Ober. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the Ace is higher. Aces began outranking kings around 1500 with Trappola being the earliest known game in which the aces were highest in all four suits. In the Ace-Ten family of games such as pinochle and schnapsen, both the ace and the 10 rank higher than the king.
A Jack or Knave, in some games referred to as a Bower, in Tarot card games as a Valet, is a playing card which, in traditional French and English decks, pictures a man in the traditional or historic aristocratic or courtier dress, generally associated with Europe of the 16th or 17th century. The usual rank of a jack is between the ten and the queen.
The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. In English-speaking countries it is the only traditional pack used for playing cards; in many countries of the world, however, it is used alongside other traditional, often older, standard packs with different suit systems such as those with German-, Italian-, Spanish- or Swiss suits. The most common pattern of French-suited cards worldwide and the only one commonly available in English-speaking countries is the English pattern pack. The second most common is the Belgian-Genoese pattern, designed in France, but whose use spread to Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and much of North Africa and the Middle East. In addition to those, there are other major international and regional patterns including standard 52-card packs, for example, in Italy that use Italian-suited cards. In other regions, such as Spain and Switzerland, the traditional standard pack comprises 36, 40 or 48 cards.
Playing cards have been in Italy since the late 14th century. Until the mid 19th century, Italy was composed of many smaller independent states which led to the development of various regional patterns of playing cards; "Italian suited cards" normally only refer to cards originating from northeastern Italy around the former Republic of Venice, which are largely confined to northern Italy, parts of Switzerland, Dalmatia and southern Montenegro. Other parts of Italy traditionally use traditional local variants of Spanish suits, French suits or German suits.
Spades form one of the four suits of playing cards in the standard French deck. It has the same shape as the leaf symbol in German-suited cards but its appearance is more akin to that of an upside down black heart with a stalk at its base. It symbolises the pike or halberd, two medieval weapons.
Polignac is a French 18th century trick-taking card game ancestral to Hearts and Black Maria. It is played by 3-6 players with a 32-card deck. It is sometimes played as a party game with the 52-card pack; however, it is better as a serious game for four, playing all against all. Other names for this game include Quatre Valets and Stay Away. Knaves is a variant and it is also similar to the Austrian and German games, Slobberhannes, Eichelobern and Grasobern.
A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically an entire suit is nominated as a trump suit; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts the terms trump card or to trump refers to any sort of action, authority or policy which automatically prevails over all others.
The Bourgeois Tarot deck is a mid-19th century pattern of tarot cards of German origin that is still used for playing card games today in western Europe and Canada. It is not designed for divinatory purposes. This deck is most commonly found in France, Belgian Wallonia, Swiss Romandy and Canadian Québec for playing French Tarot; in southwest Germany for playing Cego and Dreierles; and in Denmark for Danish Tarok.
The Tarocco Piemontese is a type of tarot deck of Italian origin. It is the most common tarot playing set in northern Italy, much more common than the Tarocco Bolognese. The most popular Piedmontese tarot games are Scarto, Mitigati, Chiamare il Re, and Partita which are played in Pinerolo and Turin. This deck is considered part of Piedmontese culture and appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics closing ceremony held in Turin. As this was the standard tarot pack of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it was also formerly used in Savoy and Nice before their annexation by France. Additionally, it was used as an alternative to the Tarocco Siciliano in Calatafimi-Segesta, Sicily. Outside of Italy, it is used by a small number of players in Ticino, Switzerland and was used by Italian Argentines.
German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suits of Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells. The German suit system is one of the oldest, becoming standard around 1450 and, a few decades later, influencing the design of the now international French suit system of Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. Today German-suited playing cards are common in south and east Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, Liechtenstein, north Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, northern Serbia, southern Poland and central and western Romania.
French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of trèfles, carreaux, cœurs, and piques. Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. In a standard 52-card deck these are the valet, the dame, and the roi (king). In addition, in Tarot packs, there is a cavalier (cavalier) ranking between the queen and the jack. Aside from these aspects, decks can include a wide variety of regional and national patterns, which often have different deck sizes. In comparison to Spanish, Italian, German, and Swiss playing cards, French cards are the most widespread due to the geopolitical, commercial, and cultural influence of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. Other reasons for their popularity were the simplicity of the suit insignia, which simplifies mass production, and the popularity of whist and contract bridge. The English pattern of French-suited cards is so widespread that it is also known as the International or Anglo-American pattern.
Aluette or Vache ("Cow") is an old, plain trick-taking card game that is played on the west coast of France. It is played by two teams, usually of four people, but sometimes also of six. It is unusual in using a unique pack of 48 Spanish playing cards and a system of signalling between playing partners. The French colloquial names for the game, jeu de la Vache or Vache, refer to the cow depicted on one of the cards.
Droggn, sometimes called French Tarock is an extinct card game of the Tarock family for three players that was played in the Stubai valley in Tyrol, Austria until the 1980s. Droggn is originally local dialect for "to play Tarock", but it has become the proper name of this specific Tarock variant. An unusual feature of the game compared with other Tarock games is the use of a 66-card deck and that, until recently, there was no record in the literature of a 66-card game and no current manufacturers of such a deck. The structure of the game strongly indicates that it is descended from the later version of Tarok l'Hombre, a 78-card Tarock game popular in 19th-century Austria and Germany, but with the subsequent addition of two higher bids.
Polish playing cards have been manufactured since the 15th century and include both French- and German-suited cards. Polish playing cards may also refer more narrowly to the Polish pattern: traditional packs of 36 German-suited playing cards produced in Poland to local designs.
Playing card packs by suit system | ||
|---|---|---|
Historical patterns are shown in italics | ||
| French (standard cards) | ||
| French (Tarot cards) | ||
| German |
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| Latin | ||
| Single-suited/non-suited | ||
