Things You Don’t Know About Playing Cards

Playing cards are so common today that we take them for granted. But, have you ever really looked closely at them or wondered what they could mean?Like, who is that suave King that doesn’t have a moustache? Here are 10 Things You Don’t Know About Playing Cards.

[BeAmazed]

That one about the cards containing a map really surprised me! Which one surprised you?

[gizmoteknodekker]

The jokers also represent day and night/sun and moon. The back of the cards are night while the front is day, there are 12 court cards and 12 months. 13 cards in each suit and 13 weeks in each season. If you do a perfect riffle shuffle from new deck order 24 times it will shuffle full circle back to new deck order.

[JiveDadson]

The King of Hearts did originally show the king holding an axe. Over time, he held the axe progressively closer to his head until the head of the axe disappeared behind the king's head, leaving only the handle showing.

[EyeOfTheVeda]

I learned a lot from this and definitely enjoyed it, but it was kinda weird that they mentioned the original suits being cups, coins, swords, and sticks, yet failed to note that this is exactly the same as the Tarot Card suits, and it obviously came from that.

[pj]

Number 5 interests me in that 52 cards (52 weeks in a year). Originally in the 1800's there was only one joker, but then in the late 1940's 2 jokers were incorporated into the decks for the game of Canasta. The four seasons corresponding to the four suits and then adding the value of the cards plus 1 for the joker was quite interesting. The most mind blowing was the maps in the card. I had heard of this before, but still find it quite amazing.

[osearthesp]

Joker can also be used for replacing a lost card since backing designs are the same as rest of deck ;]

[dwnnfunky]

"Rifle shuffle, " the deadliest shuffle of them all.

[militcageorgeva]

I've heard that The Queen of Hearts is inspired by Queen Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII. When you look at her portrait there is an obvious resemble.

[guywithknife]

I’ve known most of these, but I’m a hobby card magician, so I have and use a lot of cards :) It should be noted that a deck of cards “technically” has more than 52 cards — a new deck contains 56 cards (52 normal cards, 2 jokers and 2 “brand” cards; many specialist decks contain special cards instead of brand cards, such as blank cards, duplicate cards or double-backed cards). Also, USPCC/bycicle poker cards are not just the most iconic, they arguably handle the best too: an air cushoned finish means they fan easily/slide nicely, the triple glued layers mean they’re flexible but very durable. Some competitors are good too, but many cheap brands are just plain shit.

[robertelee]

Although I was surprised by a few of them, the one that surprised me the most were the shuffling facts. The hugely high number of order possibilities as well as the fact that it's very possible that a deck of cards has never been shuffled and yielded the same result in all of history. Those facts blow my mind!

[ikeyasector]

What gets me is that 'Poker' use to be the first game people learned how to play with a deck of cards. But these days, I can't even find hardly anyone who knows how to play it. I guess it's a generational thing. But I really do miss playing card games with friends. Even the drinking games back in my 20s we use to play was fun.

[ChrisRamsay]

lol, I feel like you guys just remade my video

[OlafReuh]

You gave us the names of the kings (names that are actually the same that are written on the BP Grimaud cards) : Charles = hearts, David = spades, Cesar = diamonds, Alexandre = clubs. But queens and jacks also have names. Jack of clubs is Lancelot, the knight of the Round Table. Jack of diamonds is Hector, the trojan prince. Jack of spades is Ogier, a danish knight who served Charlemagne (aka the king of hearts which is a little bit strange). Jack of hearts is La Hire de Vignole, a knight friend of Joan of Ark. Queen of spades is Pallas, also known as Athena the greek goddess of wisdom. Queen of diamonds is Rachel and queen of Hearts Judith, both being characters from the Bible. Finally Queen of clubs has been named Argine, which is an anagram of Regina, the latin (and italian) name for queen.

[ZyloxDragon]

Fun Fact:

The King of Hearts is: The False King, The Suicide King, The Devious King, Friendly AND Worthy?

Sounds about right for any politician nowadays.

[RainbowHeron]

#8 - The Joker is in the deck because he is the evolution of the trump card The Fool from the Major Arcana, a set of 22 trump cards which were used in the game of tarrochi, which can still be found in Hoyle. Today, the Major Arcana is known to be the most famous cards of what is called The Tarot Deck. The Minor Arcana are the "playing cards" as we know them today, minus a fourth royalty member from each of the 4 suits. Why The Fool survives, as The Joker, in a modern standard playing deck, and the other trumps don't, I don't know for certain, but it may have to do with symbology: The Fool in Tarot represents the Player or Questor, that is the person who is asking the deck itself a question, himself. The Fool is called The Fool because he is a novice, unenlightened; he does not yet know the answer to his question, nor has he yet gone on his quest to find enlightenment. That the Fool as the Joker is sometimes used today as a trump card, a wild card, or something unexpected to be paid attention to, serves as an element of chance: a reminder that one is not always in control, nor in posession of all of the facts...a reminder that one is a human fool. Just watch your reaction when one uses a Joker on you. :-)
#6 - The King of Hearts is holding his sword behind his head BECAUSE it used to be a battle axe and this is the correct posture for holding a battle axe which one is about to swing. You saw this part in the video but was not in the narrative: no three Kings hold their weapon in the same manner, I say three because one King does not hold his weapon, and indeed one King has no weapon at all!
--I'm amazed you did not address the One-Eyed Jack. *You* get to research that one. :-)

[kuglio]

I'm a magician with cards being my favorite prop. I never knew the odds were so high with shuffling only 20 cards.

[brendannelson]

we gonna just skim over the fact he said”rifle” shuffle? its riffle shuffle

[collaberatorzseanhuang]

Why is the jack of clubs the only non-spade card to turn his head to his left while all other picture cards turn to their right ?

[ladykoiwolfe]

I've always loved cards. I have a lot of different decks, and knew most of this and a bit of alternative thoughts on the kings. But those WWII decks are a goal. The best I have is a deck of reproductions of medieval cards. Everything else is modern but very cool.

[ionlyeatbrainsdummy]

"Why is the ace of spades is different?"
Yep.