History of the Playing Cards

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing various card games.. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling.

A complete set of cards is called a pack or deck, and the subset of cards held at one time by a player during a game is commonly called a hand. A deck of cards may be used for playing a great variety of card games, with varying elements of skill and chance, some of which are played for money. The front (or "face") of each card carries markings that distinguish it from the other cards in the deck and determine its use under the rules of the game being played. The back of each card is identical for all cards in any particular deck, and usually of a single color or formalized design. Usually every card will be smooth; however, some decks to allow blind people to read the card number are in Braille and . The backs of playing cards are sometimes used for advertising.

Playing cards first entered

In Europe   in the late 14th century, with suits (sets of cards with matching designs) very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins and which are still used in traditional Italian and Spanish decks. Wide use of playing cards in Europe can, with some certainty, be traced from 1377 onwards.

The Mameluke deck contained 52 cards comprising four "suits,

A complete pack of Mameluke playing cards was discovered by Leo Mayer in the Istanbul in 1939.This particular complete pack was not made before 1400, but the complete deck was matched to a privately owned fragment dated to the 12th or 13th century. It is not a complete deck, but there are cards of three packs of the same style.

The earliest cards were made by hand, like those designed for Charles VI; this was expensive. Printed woodcut decks appeared in the 15th century. The technique of printing Woodcut  to decorate fabric was transferred to printing on paper around 1400 in Christian Europe, very shortly after the first recorded manufacture of paper there, while in Spain the earliest dated European woodcut is 1418.

The primary deck of 52 playing cards in use today includes 13 ranks of each of the four French Suits , clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥) and spades (♠), with reversible Rouennais "court" or face cards . Each suit includes an ace, depicting a single symbol of its suit (quite large often only on the ace of spades) a king, queen, and jack, each depicted with a symbol of their suit; and ranks two through ten, with each card depicting that number of symbols (pips) of its suit. As well as these 52 cards, commercial decks often include two Jokers. In many games the Jokers are not used. The jokers are usually distinguishable by colours look was also to their popularity. such as the

Bicycle Playing Cards

are a popular brand of standard playing original brand  . Since 1885, the Bicycle brand has been manufactured by the United States Printing Company, which, in 1894, became the United States Playing Card Company of cinncinati. "Bicycle" is a trademark of that company. They are popular with magicians and other card enthusiasts.

The typical Bicycle deck (Poker-standard Type 808) is a standard issue deck of cards consisting of 52 traditional playing cards, two jokers, an information card, and a card describing poker ranks. As with most decks, the first standard card of the deck is the uniquely-stylized Ace of Spades. The Bicycle trademark is usually also printed on the Ace of Spades. The type number of a Bicycle deck can be found both on the bottom of the deck box and on the stone of the Joker artwork.

Bicycle playing cards are sold in a variety of decks featuring different cards (such as for use in Pinochle), back designs (including the traditional rider back and older Vintage backs), face designs (including Jumbo Index and Lo Vision cards for the visually impaired, and a "Poker Peek" design on their Pro series decks that simplifies looking at hole cards), and sizes (such as narrower bridge decks, thicker Masters Edition cards designed to last longer, and Big Bicycle cards that are four times the normal card size). Any of the aforementioned are traditionally available with red and blue backs, but other back colors (including black, silver, and even pastel colors) are also available. There is even a "Ghost" deck that is entirely black and white except for red hearts and diamonds on the corners of appropriate cards. Consumer paper versions of the plastic KEM type WSOP decks are sold under the Bicycle brand. In 2010, Bicycle Playing Cards released special 125th anniversary decks which include a redesigned rear side, redesigned Ace of Spades, and 1885-2010 written under the numbers on the corner on each card.

Bicycle playing cards are commonly used as magic cards  and are generally considered by magicians as the best playing cards for most tricks. In addition to specialty decks specifically designed for card tricks (not to mention spin-off brands such as Arcane, Artifice, Sentinels and Propaganda), Bicycle also make other kinds of non-standard card decks, such as a "gaff" deck (contained in a mirrored-art box) with an assortment of unusually-altered cards that can be used with regular cards for jokes.

Magicians such as Ricky Jay, Gary Tinsley, Cameron Hood, Daryl, David Blaine, Dynamo, Brad Christian, Cyril Takayama, Jack Thomas, Chad Nelson, Robby Arcane, Nanuru and many others have all used and performed effects with Bicycle Playing Cards. Bicycle cards can have an 'air cushion' finish which improves the handling of the cards. Arco’s, Tally-Ho's, Aladdin’s, Dan and Dave's Smoke & Mirror cards as well as the other playing cards on this page are ideal for use with magic tricks. Theory 11 also have made some custom decks with the Bicycle name.

When cards arrived in the us in the 1800s their look changed due to popularity, they invented the joker an extra card used in games they invented and small numbers and letters on the corners of the cards to make it easier to sort through the deck. when companies made the playing cards they often depicted political views on the front. They controlled the printing and manufacturing to raise money for King Charles the first, the worshipful co also started a tax on playing cards in the 1920s. Today major printing co are looking for new ideas to make their products nicer

Now Zazzle has brought in the bicycle playing cards for us to create tops for them, so I would love to share some of mine with you. They are a new product so more will be created. You can find my playing cards in my playing card folders at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor* and http://www.zazzle.com/boot_eek*

Here are some of my friend’s stores where you can also browse through.

http://www.zazzle.com/styleuniversal?rf=238218562078565840 ht

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http://www.zazzle.com/kamizzz?rf=238218562078565840

 

ttp://www.zazzle.com/tat2t‘s?rf=238218562078565840

http://www.zazzle.com/smangieri ?rf=238218562078565840

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