The Origin of Playing Cards

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The theories about the origin of playing cards are large in number and varied in approach. However, few of them actually come based in concrete fact, preferring to rely on conjecture and folklore. The theories of gypsies and other "mysterious people" coming up with cards, however wrapped in romanticism, is nonetheless untrue as shown by the simple notation of times. By the time gypsies were called as such and identified in various European cultures at the earliest times, cards were already well established in Europe.

There are those who attribute cards to the far east, comparing the notations of cards and the numerical values on them to divinity symbols drawn on bamboo slips that even today can be found in China and Korea, and are used to divine fortunes. It is proposed that once paper money was invented, the symbols and numeric values were put together to form a primitive ancestor to modern cards, and were blindly copied by travelers who understood little of the complete significance of the symbols.

Chinese cards are made of narrow strips of paper than are European cards, and consist of for suits: coins, lines of coins, many coins, and many lines of coins, and are value-marked. This, with the advent of Chinese woodblock prints, make a convincing case in favor of an oriental origin. However, how these cards could have migrated to the West during this extremely isolationist period in Chinese history remains an open question, as does the issue of the complete change in appearance. There is also the fact that no signs of conventional Chinese cards have been found from before or during the time when cards were first introduced to Europe.

There are some conjectures about the invention of cards having taken place in India. This is based upon the likeness of one of the composite Indian gods, who is depicted holding emblems very much like the markings found on European cards. However, there does not seem to be any other congruities between Indian and European cards. Thus this particular idea has been abandoned in favor of more likely explanations pending further evedence to support it.

However, the proponents of the Indian theory have also divided into two camps of thought as alternatives to the gypsies taking cards from the East to the Europe. One set bestows this credit upon the crusaders who originally took chess to Europe. It is not inconceivable that cards could have traveled along with chess. The other cam takes the opposite vies, crediting the Saracens with the transference. This is countered by the fact that the Moors were not removed from Spain until after the known introduction of cards to Europe, though a similar path cannot be discounted completely.

The idea that Persia is was the source of cards is not as greatly debated. There seems to be some credence in the idea that cards may have descended from a four-player type of chess that was introduced to Persia from India. Also, chess is basically a war simulation, which can be better emulated in card with the element of luck introduced. However, the mere similarity this argument is based on makes a poor basis for a theory. Thus far it appears that without stronger proof it can be said that cards originated from within Europe itself.

The French, Italians, and Germans can all lay claim to the invention of cards. Each country has evidence of cards with four suits that show some resemblance to the current suits. No positive proof is given in any available documentation, but the time of introduction can be estimated to be within the mid to late 14^th century AD using negative evidence, or records in which the cards are expected but cannot be found. The first unarguable evidence of cards in Europe can be placed in the year 1377. This brings us to a point from which cards dispersed into various types and packs, which would eventually diversify to the games played today and listed among the games in our collection.