Playing card games is probably one of the most popular pastimes in the world today. You'll find a deck of cards in most homes everywhere.
A simple game of cards combines two elements, which have always fascinated people-chance and skill.
Introduced into Britain over 600 years ago
No one knows exactly who invented playing cards but it seems likely that they were first introduced into Britain in the 14th century. At this time they were more or less a copy of existing French cards.
The cards were all handpainted and nobility were the only ones to use them. They were the only people wealthy enough to be able to afford them! 
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| The Nine of Clubs (Bastos) from an Old Spanish pack. The name stayed but the shape changed. | An artist's impression of the Six of Birds by the Master Engraver, Strasburg 1450. | 
| The joker is the modern version of the Fool in the old Tarot cards, which was the extra card in the deck. | Cheap and easy to carry
Card tricks have always fascinated magicians and audience alike. From the performer's point of view, cards are inexpensive, easy to carry and tricks can be performed almost at the drop of hat!
From the audience's viewpoint, a few simple card tricks give the performer an instant reputation for dexterity and amazing skill.
If you practise for a while you can have great fun plus an enlarged reputation because of your newly acquired skill!
Cards through the ages
Playing cards were engraved for the first time around 1445 and were probably produced near Basle, Switzerland. This is deduced from the styles of clothing on the pitcher cards. Here are a few samples of European playing cards still in use today. How did we get the four suits of Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds? They appear to be a mixture of cards from Italy, Spain, Germany and France.
The Spanish cards had clubs (Which were actual wooden clubs), Coins, Cups and Swords. The Italian cards were the same.
The French cards had Hearts, Pikes, Carreaux (which are paving tiles) and Trefoils (which are a sort of three leaf clover).
The German cards had Hearts, Acorns, Bells and Leaves.
The English took the French Trefoil but called it after the Spanish Club. They took the Pike, altered it a little and added the Spanish word for Sword (Espada) and this became the spade.
The Heart came from either the French or German. Diamonds may have been derived from the French paving tile or from the Italian and Spanish gold coins. (Denari in Italy, Oros in Spain, Which then became Diamonds in Britain.)
Card Techniques
If you are going to play cards or perform a few card tricks, it is essential that you should be able to handle a deck of cards properly. Study the illustrations which follow and you should be able to shuffle and cut cards in a short space of time. The Riffle Shuffle Hold the deck in the right hand as shown. Allow half of the deck to release itself by springing the cards slightly, so that approximately half of the deck is resting on the tips of the left fingers. |  | Take this half of the deck in the left hand, so that you now have half the deck in exactly the same position in each hand and bend them as shown by applying pressure with the forefingers on to the back of each packet. |  | Now allow the cards to riffle downwards on to the tabletop, the cards from both packets being released at the same time. The cards will automatically interleave. |  | Once the cards are exhausted, push the interleaved cards together and square them up. |  | The Overhand shuffle Hold the deck in the right hand between the thumb and four fingers.
The left thumb now approaches the deck and starts to pull the cards off the top of the deck in small packets, which are gathered in the left hand until all the cards in the right hand are exhausted.
This should be repeated several times. |  | Cutting the deck When playing cards, the deck should always be shuffle before each game starts. It is also customary to offer the deck to another player and ask him to 'cut the deck'.
The deck is placed on the table. A portion of the deck is lifted off the top of the deck and placed to one side. The remainder of the deck is now lifted from the table and placed on top of the first portion. |  | Dealing
First, the dealer shuffles the cards and offers the deck to the player on the right and asks him or her to cut the deck. The dealer then picks up the deck and starts to distribute the cards to the players.
Starting with the person on the left the dealer gives one card to each player until everyone (including the dealer) has a card. This is repeated until each player has the correct number of cards for the game.
If the game is one in which each player takes turn dealing, it is usual for the deal to travel in a clockwise direction.
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