Playing cards, similar to dominos, seem to have begun production in China, dating back even farther to the Tang Dynasty in the 9th Century AD. These cards were originally printed on blocks of wood, and as printing became widespread in China cards transferred to paper. The first recorded game of cards was from a Song Dynasty record from 1294 AD, although the game is not described.

Cards seem to have followed the Silk Road and were documented in the Arabic world and Egypt in the 11th Century. A near complete intact set dating from the reign of the Mamluks in the 15th Century was found in Istanbul by archeologists. This set contained 52 cards, four suits, with ten numbered cards and three “Royal” cards, the King, Viceroy, and Deputy. Due to Islamic rules about depicting faces and people in art, these were not “Face” cards as we know them today, but seem to be the origin of face cards.

While it is unclear exactly when playing cards came to Europe, it seems to have been shortly after their arrival in Egypt, as the Italian city of Florence passed a ban on playing cards in 1377, as did the English in 1413. It stands to reason cards had been present for some time prior to the bans, but exact dates are unknown. This really didn’t stop their popularity, because German and French prints and hand painted cards were widespread and became popular throughout this time, with the original suits being shields, roses, bells and acorns, and German cards having the first use of a Queen as a face card. Popularity seems to have overcome the ban, because in 1628, the King of England chartered the Mistery of Makers of Playing Cards of the City of London, a company which persits to the modern day under the name Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards. By 1864, the first American produced cards were documented as well, adopting the French, or modern suits for the cards.

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