Russian playing cards are cards that were used predominantly in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. Most Russian card games employ either 36-card packs (e.g. Durak) or 32-card packs (especially Preferans).
Russian playing cards are cards that were used predominantly in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. 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 renowned Russian painter Adolf Charlemagne ( ‹See Tfd› 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" ( ‹See Tfd› 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 that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). 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.
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 packs in circulation: 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.
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 Jack corresponds to the Unter in German and Swiss-suited playing cards.
The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. The main feature of most playing card decks that empower their use in diverse games and other activities is their double-sided design, where one side, usually bearing a colourful or complex pattern, is exactly identical on all playing cards, thus ensuring the anonymity and fungibility of the cards when their value is to be kept secret, and a second side, that, when apparent, is unique to every individual card in a deck, usually bearing a suit as well as a alphanumerical value, which may be used to distinguish the card in game mechanics. 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.
Preferans or Russian Preference is a 10-card plain-trick game with bidding, played by three or four players with a 32-card Piquet deck. It is a sophisticated variant of the Austrian game Préférence, which in turn descends from Spanish Ombre and French Boston. It is renowned in the card game world for its many complicated rules and insistence on strategical approaches.
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 used for playing card games 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 the Canadian province of Québec for playing French Tarot; in southwest Germany for playing Cego and Dreierles; and in Denmark for Danish Tarok.
Animal Tarot is a genre of tarot decks used for playing card games that were most commonly found in northern Europe, from Belgium to Russia, only one of which has survived: the Adler Cego pattern in south Germany. A theme of animals, real and/or fantastic, replaces the traditional trump scenes found in the Italian-suited tarot packs such as the Tarot of Besançon. The Sküs plays a musical instrument while the Pagat is represented by Hans Wurst, a carnival stock character who carries his sausage, drink, slap stick, or hat. They constitute the first generation of French-suited tarot patterns. Prior to their introduction, tarot card games had been confined to Italy, France, and Switzerland. During the 17th century, the game's popularity in these three countries declined and was forgotten in many regions. The rapid expansion of the game into the Holy Roman Empire and Scandinavia after the appearance of animal tarots may not be a coincidence. In the 19th century, most animal tarots were replaced with tarots that have genre scenes, veduta, opera, architecture, or ethnological motifs on the trumps such as the Industrie und Glück of Austria-Hungary.
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.
Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French name tarot are called tarocchi in the original Italian, Tarock in German and similar words in other languages.
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 (knight) 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.
Hearts is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of French-suited and German-suited playing cards. However, the symbol is slightly different: is used in a French deck while is used in a German deck.
Acorns is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of German-suited and Swiss-suited playing cards. This suit was invented in 15th-century German-speaking lands and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. Around 1480, French card makers adapted this sign into clubs in a French deck.
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.
The suit of coins is one of the four card suits used in Latin-suited playing cards alongside swords, cups and batons. These suits are used in Spanish, Italian and some tarot card packs. This suit has maintained its original identity from Chinese money-suited cards. Symbol on Italian pattern cards: Symbol on Spanish pattern cards: Symbol on French aluette cards:
The suit of cups is one of the four card suits used in Latin-suited playing cards alongside coins, swords and batons. These suits are used in Spanish, Italian and some tarot card packs.
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 | |||||||
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Historical patterns are shown in italics | |||||||
| French ♦♣♥♠ |
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German     |
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Latin    |
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| Money-suited 文 索 萬十 | |||||||
| Single-suited/ non-suited | |||||||
| Many suits | |||||||
| Historical suit-system | |||||||
