Standard 52-card deck
The standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards is the most common pack of playing cards used today. The main feature of most playing card decks that empower their use in diverse games and other activities is their double-sided design, where one side, usually bearing a colourful or complex pattern, is exactly identical on all playing cards, thus ensuring the anonymity and fungibility of the cards when their value is to be kept secret, and a second side, that, when apparent, is unique to every individual card in a deck, usually bearing a suit as well as an alphanumerical value, which may be used to distinguish the card in game mechanics. In English-speaking countries it is the only traditional pack used for playing cards; in many countries, however, it is used alongside other traditional, often older, standard packs with different suit systems such as those with German-, Italian-, Spanish- or Swiss suits. The most common pattern of French-suited cards worldwide and the only one commonly available in English-speaking countries is the English pattern pack. The second most common is the Belgian-Genoese pattern, designed in France, but whose use spread to Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and much of North Africa and the Middle East. In addition to those, there are other major international and regional patterns including standard 48-card packs, for example, in Italy that use Italian-suited cards. In other regions, such as Spain and Switzerland, the traditional standard pack comprises 36, 40 or 48 cards.
Composition
A standard 52-card French-suited deck comprises 13 ranks in each of the four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades. Each suit includes three court cards, King, Queen and Jack, with reversible images. Each suit also includes ten numeral cards or pip cards, from one to ten. The card with one pip is known as an Ace. Each pip card displays the number of pips corresponding to its number, as well as the appropriate numeral in at least two corners.In addition, commercial decks often include from one to six Jokers; most commonly two or three since the mid-20th century. The Jokers are often distinguishable from one another, either in design or colour, as some card games require these extra cards. The Jokers can also be used as replacements for lost or damaged cards.
There are 52! or exactly 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 possible arrangements of a standard 52-card deck.
File:Piatnikcards.jpg|thumb|centre|upright=4|English pattern pack by Piatnik of Austria. The English pattern is also known as the Anglo-American or International pattern.
New-deck order (NDO)
Major playing card manufacturers deliver new decks of playing cards arranged in "New Deck Order" or a very close variation of it: It starts with two Jokers, then ascending the Ace-to-King of Spades, Ace-to-King of Diamonds, then descending King-to-Ace of Clubs, and finally King-to-Ace of Hearts.NDO has three benefits:
- Standardized ordering simplifies quality control
- Perception of untouched freshness and newness: Consumers, gamblers and collectors expect and appreciate a neutral, unshuffled starting point
- This order is useful for many card tricks and effects, by ensuring memorability, facilitating sleight-of-hand and false shuffles, and the ascending-then-descending order allows for tricks that depend on palindromic or cyclic structures.
Design
The most popular standard pattern of the French deck is the English pattern, sometimes referred to as the International pattern or Anglo-American pattern. The second most common is the Belgian-Genoese pattern, which was designed in France for export and spread to Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and much of North Africa and the Middle East. There are also numerous others such as the Berlin pattern, Nordic pattern, Dondorf Rhineland pattern and the variants of the European pattern.Modern playing cards carry index labels on opposite corners or in all four to facilitate identifying the cards when they overlap and so that they appear identical for players on opposite sides. For the Ace and court cards, this label is the initial letter or letters of the name of that card. In English-speaking countries they are lettered A, K, Q and J for Ace, King, Queen and Jack. In other countries the letters may vary, although the English versions are also sometimes used. Germany uses A, K, D and B ; Russia uses the Cyrillic letters Т, К, Д and В ; Sweden uses E, K, D and Kn and France uses 1, R, D, V. Some older Finnish cards used to have numbers 1-13.
All early playing cards were single headed. During the 19th century, card manufacturers began designing double-headed cards so that the cards could be readily identified whichever way up they were. In the case of court cards, this entailed cutting off the lower half of the image and replacing it with an inverted copy of the top half usually, but not always, with a horizontal or sloping dividing line between the two halves. Today, while single headed patterns of German-suited and Latin-suited cards still exist, modern French-suited cards are invariably double-headed.
Although French-suited, 52-card packs are the most common playing cards used internationally, there are many countries or regions where the traditional pack size is only 36 or 32 or where regional cards with smaller packs are preferred for many games. For example, 40- or 48-card Italian-suited packs are common in Italy; 40- and 48-card Spanish-suited packs on the Iberian peninsula; and 36-card German-suited packs are very common in Bavaria and Austria. In addition, tarot cards are required for games such as French Tarot, which is widely played in France, and the Tarock family of games played in countries like Austria and Hungary.
History
The English pattern pack originated in Britain, which was importing French playing cards from Rouen and Antwerp by 1480. The earliest cards of the English pattern date to around 1516. Britain only started manufacturing its own cards towards the end of the 16th century, when card production began in London. These were based on the Rouen pattern, but unlike the traditional French cards, they dropped the names on the court cards. The English pattern evolved, in the process losing "some of its Rouen flavour and elegance and became more and more stylised. The figures took more space in the cards and many details were distorted."All early cards of this type were single headed, but around 1860, the double-headed cards, universally used on modern decks, appeared. Corner indices were added around 1880. During the 19th century, the English pattern spread all over the world and is now used almost everywhere, even in countries where traditional patterns and other suits are popular. In America, the English pattern was copied onto wider cards.
The fanciful design and manufacturer's logo commonly displayed on the ace of spades began under the reign of James I of England, who passed a law requiring an insignia on that card as proof of payment of a tax on local manufacture of cards.
Until August 4, 1960, decks of playing cards printed and sold in the United Kingdom were liable for taxable duty and the ace of spades carried an indication of the name of the printer and the fact that taxation had been paid on the cards. The packs were also sealed with a government duty wrapper.
Card size
Historically the size of playing cards was down to the printer, but during the 19th century sizes became standardised, initially to a size of 3½ 2½ inches. Today these are often referred to as "wide" cards or "poker-sized" cards. Wider playing cards had advantages: it was harder to cheat and, if packs were unavailable, dog-eared cards could be trimmed smaller. Narrower cards, known as "whist-sized" or "bridge-sized" cards, probably first appeared in Europe and enabled players to handle the larger numbers of cards required for games like bridge.However, there is no formal requirement for precise adherence and minor variations are produced by various manufacturers in different countries. In Germany, for example, standard Poker and Rummy packs by ASS Altenburger and Ravensburger measure 92 × 59 mm. Austria's Piatnik sells packs marketed for Bridge, Poker and Whist measuring 89 × 58 mm; while Britain's Waddingtons produce generic packs sized at 88 × 58 mm.
Other sizes are also available, such as a medium size and a miniature size. These are often intended for playing patience or solitaire games. Larger 'jumbo' cards are produced for card tricks and those with poor eyesight.
The thickness and weight of modern playing cards are subject to numerous variables related to their purpose of use and associated material design for durability, stiffness, texture and appearance.