Others : It used to be in the cards ...

On the internet you can find almost everything. If you search for card games you’ll find a lot of them on websites whether they are online casinos, online clubs or online tournaments. But card games have an interesting history. They are a part of our cultural heritage.

In the past, playing cards were considered an example of vice. Inveterate gamblers or cardsharpers were seen as mysterious and powerful people. In France of Louis XVI, gambling was at it's height. Monarchs playing cards were something normal in those times. Although, the monarch himself issued and signed strict laws against card table games even at the court the games prospered.

For playing cards and maintaining a venue the authorities settled with different punishments. Also, gaming debts and different obligations were not legal. The parents had the right to recover the money lost by their sons at gambling. But usually they follow through with this.It was a matter of honor among the aristocracy and as a consequence they paid the card debts. Even if they had other debts or were almost bankrupt they first paid the card table debts.

The passion for gambling was present also in the period of French revolution. In 1791 the National Assembly restricted all gambling, setting rigorous punitive measures especially for owners of gaming locations and even for the guests who would not inform about a card game taking place in a house.

In the XV century, the authorities banned the games, but they also changed the cardfaces in France. In the end, this was a way to allow gambling. They replaced kings with war, trade, world, and arts geniuses wearing Phrygian caps. Ladies were substituted with figures representing freedom of religions, press, marriage and trades. Allegoric scenes of equality of the states, rights, duties and races replaced four jacks. In fact card producers replaced kings with philosophers and writers, ladies with virtues, jacks with the famous republicans.

Playing cards today is somewhat different from what it was in the past. It is known that the cards appeared in Europe in the XIV century from the Islamic countries or, on other version, from gypsies, as a log of Tarot, then they were modified. In this century the head cards were symbolized by legendary heroes of antiquity such as Charles the Great, the biblical king David, Julius Caesar and Alexander Macedonian.

At the beginning of the XVII century the back side of the cards was decorated with small dotted ornament in order to prevent marking them, but it didn’t help. In the same century, in Italy appeared double headed playing cards (with mirror images) which became popular in the XIX century. But even this design of cards was changed. For example, in France were created cards representing Napoleon's wars.

Today, with the widespread of online games, the glamor of cards design disappeared. In fact the passion is gone. The aristocracy, the intellectual players had in the past their own rituals, their pomp when playing. Online you cannot see the reactions or the emotions of other players. During the game nobody interrupts you.

In any case, the popularity of card games grows and the pomp is replaced with the comfort of playing from home whenever you want.