Polish playing cards

Polish playing cards have been manufactured since the 15th century and include both French- and German-suited cards. Polish playing cards may also refer more narrowly to the Polish pattern: traditional packs of 36 German-suited playing cards produced in Poland to local designs.

Description

Polish pattern cards comprise the four suits of Leaves, Hearts, Acorns and Bells and five picture cards: the Ace or Deuce, Ten or Banner, King, Ober and Unter and four pip cards: the Nine, Eight, Seven and Six. Sometimes there are additional cards such as the: Five, Four and Three.

History

The first cards of this type were imported from Germany and appeared in Polish towns and cities as early as the 15th century. Soon thereafter, domestic production began.
In the 16th century, playing card manufacture had begun at Lwów, Wrocław, Poznań, Olkusz and Kraków.
According to Łukasz Gołębiowski, German-suited Polish cards were used to played, among others, the games of Kupiec, Kasztelan, Wózek, Skrzetułka, Drużbart, Pamfil, Chapanka, Tryszak, Mariasz, Piquet and Cwik.
From the 18th century, French-suited cards and French terminology began to gradually dominate, while traditional Polish cards gradually lost popularity throughout the 19th century. Currently, cards of this pattern are still used in Silesia for the game of Skat. Tarot playing cards are also produced for Polish Taroki.
Notable Polish cardmakers in the late 19th and 20th centuries include Willink of Warsaw, Pierswsza and Karpalit of Lvov, the Kraków Playing Card Factory and state-owned KZWP. The latter dominates the market and has recently been renamed Trefl.