Top Ten Amazing Facts about Playing Cards

There are a lot of amazing facts about playing cards that you may not know. They have a rich history and hold many fascinating secrets. If you love playing card games, you’ll be delighted to learn about the incredible history of these simple objects. The following are some of the most fascinating facts about playing cards. Once you’ve learned them, you’ll be begging your friends and family to play with you.

1. Do you know where the  First Card Decks were Invented? 

The first deck of cards was created in China around the 9th century. The first deck contained      32 cards, which represented all six dice combinations. These were printed on the wood, bones, and other materials. As they spread throughout the world, they were eventually made of paper and moved to Europe. There, they changed the names and symbols of the cards. Now, there are 52 types of playing cards. These represent the days, weeks, months, and seasons of the year.

2. Why are there 52 cards on the deck? 

There weren’t always 52 cards in a deck, over time decks have been composed of different modifications varying from numbers like 24,36,40,48, and combinations in between those. But after a while 52 rised as the ideal number that conquered across the world. 

Nobody can truly affirm why the reason came to be 52 but some theories have it that the French and British colonialism had a very big impact on this since the regular French deck size of 52 got to go around the world.

3. Famous Historical figures are in the deck 

Have you taken a close-up look at the deck? Do you find any resemblance with some historical figures? If you haven’t a peak again! Yes, look at them again because ever since the creation of the deck of 52 based in French the cars are all inspired by famous figures. You can find Greek goddess Athena as the queen of spades, Alexander the Great as the King of clubs, or Lancelot du Lac as the Jack of Clubs.

4.  There are over 1,000 card designs

 There are countless designs of playing cards. For example, a single deck of playing cards has more than 1,000 faces. The deck is never shuffled twice the same way. For 500 years, the backs of playing cards were plain. In the 15th century, French cardmakers introduced lithographic designs, which were later applied to playing cards. The pictures are attributed to the Renaissance.

5. The World’s Rarest Deck of Cards is in New York City 

Yes, the world’s rarest and oldest deck of cards is available for you to see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It’s a hand-painted tarot deck that comes all the way from the mid 15th century Netherlands. It’s in impeccable condition, meaning it’s been barely played around. 

6. The 52 cards represent the Calendar

An explanation of the number 52 in the deck of cards comes from a theory that states the number stands for the number of weeks within a year.

While the colors black and red represent day and night and the four suits are the representation of the four seasons. 

Even the 12 court cards represent the 12 months of the year and the 13 cards in every suit represent the lunar cycles.

If you think about it, if you add all the deck cards symbols together they equal 365.

7. Modern cards are made out of Plastic for Casino’s safety

Have you ever felt that the decks of casino cards feel different? That is because they are made out of 100% plastic. The reason behind this is to make the casinos work a bit easier by making it harder for players to mark the cards and cheat. This way assures the casino’s security. 

8. Casino Cards stand in need of a lot of security

Card games in casinos are a very special task for them since a lot of players try to cheat by making marks on the cards so they can be visible to them.  That’s why casino cards hold a whole lot of security measures in place. Characters and symbols are made on a bigger scale so that any suspicious incident can be caught by the security cameras. 

9. Deck of cards are not changed daily

Decks of cards at casinos are not changed daily, rather they are changed every 8-hour shift, and depending on the table decks can be changed every 30 minutes to an hour.

10. USA holds the name for the most famous cards

The brand Bicycle holds the title for most iconic cards due to its reputation throughout history. The brand goes all the way back to helping American prisoners escape during WW2 and scaring Viet Cong members during the Vietnam War.

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Not so many people know about the multiple secrets decks of cards hold. From helping people in history to famous figures in them, 1000 of facts to know but we bring you the top ten.