Playing cards have changed greatly through time, from being played by the nobility in person in palaces, to being played at home in pajamas on the internet. In older people, card playing keeps the mind active and slows and possibly prevents memory loss, as well as provides a venue for socializing. Besides being fun, card playing is known to increase IQ in kids, teach mathematical and logic skills, and enhance social skills. Today, many colleges and cities have card playing clubs card playing game software and card games online are extremely popular as well. Card games popular internationally are bridge, poker, and canasta. By the 18 th century, techniques such as bluffing and deception were well established.Ĭurrently, more people play poker than any other card game in the United States, with the exception of solitaire. Poker, whose predecessor was a 16 th century game called Primero, became a huge past time in the American Wild West and is often depicted in Western style movies and books. A wide variety of designs began to be printed on the back of cards which we see today.

America invented jokers and corner indices, which are the numbers printed in the corners of the cards this allowed for new game development. The earliest European games were trick taking games (where the object of the game is to win a round) like whist and hand comparison games like Primero.Īmerican card manufacturing started in the 1800’s. In India, cards are round and there can be as many as 8-10 suits. Many cards in Europe do not have queens, and in Italy, a 78 card deck is popular. In Germany suit signs are acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells. For example, the suit signs that are used in the United States today are French in origin and include hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs. Playing cards have changed a great deal through time and they still vary greatly between countries, regions, and cultures. Cards are thought to have originated in China with the invention of paper before the year 1000 they most likely came to Europe through trade routes from the Middle East in the 1300’s. Before mass printing became available, cards were hand painted and commonly used only by the nobility. Playing cards is an ancient and popular past time, with thousands of games in existence currently.

Car games to play