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Most people in the world consider games as their hobby. Most of them are computer games, but many still prefer the classics: cards. Spreading out a pool of preference, playing a game of poker or simply playing the fool—like in the classic Spades card game—offers one-of-a-kind buzz. In good company, whether formulating strategies in Spades or enjoying a hand of poker, this leisure is always a delight.
In this blog post, we will tell you why counterfeiting the ace of spades was punishable by death in Britain, what the English name of the jack and the Russian Ivan the Fool are connected with, as well as the unique English rule when the queen is older than the king. Keep reading this post to know the history with interesting facts.
The Origins and Evolution of Card Games
Playing cards appeared around the 11th century in China. In the 12th century, the first mentions of a game played with oblong cards can be found in Chinese chronicles.
It took a long time for the entertainment to reach European countries. Through India, Middle Eastern countries, and Egypt, they first reached Italy. Afterwards, they spread almost everywhere.
Interestingly, card games were actively persecuted by the church. Cards were considered an invention of the devil and a sin, but this did not affect their distribution. And some historians claim that even on the contrary – due to constant prohibitions, card games were well-known, which is why they became even more popular.
Card games came to England last of all, passing through Italy and Germany. But it is the English suits that we use now. More on that later.
Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades
Usually, card is a four players game, and playing cards with four suits had already arrived in Europe. Initially these were not symbols, but pictures depicting Swords, Staves, Cups, and Pentacles.
Modern card suits:
- Hearts
- Spades
- Diamonds
- Clubs
Notice how much simpler the English and French pictures are compared to the German or Italian ones? There is a simple explanation for this – mass production.
Already in the 14th century, long before the invention of the printing press, the English already mastered the art of xylography – wood prints. And the first playing cards were made of wood.
Simple geometric shapes instead of suit pictures allowed for higher quality products and faster production. It was thanks to woodcut workshops that cards spread throughout Europe in the form we know them today. And with the advent of the printing press, paper cards also appeared.
Initially, cards were a frowned upon pastime. But their popularity grew so quickly that the church could do absolutely nothing. Already in the 16th century, it became prestigious to create portraits of people playing cards.
For a very long time, cards were not regulated by the state, but in 1711, the British authorities realized that they were missing out on a lot of profit and introduced a tax on cards – the so-called “ace of spades duty”.
From then on, each deck of cards was taxed, which went towards the country’s military needs. The tax was one shilling, which instantly increased the cost of playing cards several times. And considering that hundreds of thousands of decks of cards were sold throughout the empire, the crown received a nice additional income to finance military operations.
If the fee for the deck was paid, a special official would put a stamp or seal on the ace of spades card. That is why it was popularly called the “duty ace card” – “tax ace”. This was considered a symbolic moment – in Tarot, the equivalent of the ace of spades means the death card. And all card taxes were used to support wars.
Initially, the stamps looked like this:
But as card games grew in popularity, they evolved like Card Game Online, becoming more and more elaborate, until they became:
Although the tax was relatively small, the penalty for counterfeiting the seal was death. However, we were unable to find any evidence that people were actually executed for such a minor violation. Perhaps this is a kind of English humor from those in power, but this is not certain.
Interestingly, the “ace of spades duty” was abolished only in 1960. And only because it was too much of a hassle. Given the mass printing of decks of cards and their penny price in the 20th century, the tax was reduced to 3 pence – and formally it did not even cover the costs of calculating it.
In Britain: Lady May Be Older than King, “Servant” Becomes “Man”
Now, a little about the cards and combinations. There are many interesting things here – enough for a dissertation on linguistics.
Surely you know that each card from the jack on up actually refers to a historical figure. For example, the king of diamonds is Julius Caesar, and Charlemagne is the king of hearts.
Almost everyone knows this, but the origin of the card values and their names can be considered much more interesting.
The Jack is the “youngest” of the cards, and it got its name later than the others. In Russian, this name came directly from “valet”- the French term, and from there from the Old French vaslet. And it meant “servant”. The etymology can be traced back to the Proto-Celtic word “wastos,” from which the modern “vassal” comes.
In English, the jack is called “Jack”. The name of real historical figures has nothing to do with it. It’s just that in England, Jacks were often called ordinary people. As, for example, in the English fairy tales “Jack and the Beanstalk” or “Jack the Giant Killer”. By analogy, the Russian Ivan the Fool is the closest to it. There were also other names for the card – knave and bower.
Knave — servant. When cards first came to England, the jack was called that. Actually, it is a direct translation from the French valet. But very soon it was replaced by the colloquial Jack.
The name bower has been completely forgotten, remaining only in some games. For example, in the old game of euchre, the two strongest cards are jacks of the same color as the trump. And they are called the right bower and left bower.
There were also interesting moments with kings and queens in England. In Russian, it’s all unambiguous, but in English they are called “king” and “queen”. In all other countries, the king is higher than the queen. But in Britain, a unique rule was introduced. When the ruler of Britain was a woman, then in card games all players were obliged to perceive the queen as the highest card. It really worked during the time of Queen Victoria, but now it is more of a joke among card players – it can be proven that in poker, a pair of queens is stronger than a pair of kings.
By the way, card games have given rise to a huge number of phraseological units and idioms. Here are just a few of them:
- Ace in the hole – an obscure advantage
- Put your cards on the table – show all the details
- Deal me in — I’m in
- All bets are off — an unpredictable situation
And these are just the popular ones. According to various estimates, there are about 250 idioms associated with cards in total.
Card games have a rich history with significant events and narratives, from their demonic origins to becoming a recreational staple, with noteworthy quirks like the tax on the ace of spades and the unique British card pecking order. Dive into the tradition with ABC’s Online Spades Game—download the app today to enjoy thrilling Spades matches anytime, anywhere!
We hope this post has also influenced you to dive into the tradition. If really so, download the Skillcat app and play Online Spades Game. Enjoy the thrill of strategic bidding and expert gameplay!
