This is a list of traditional sets of playing cards or gaming tiles such as mahjong tiles or dominoes. A typical traditional pack of playing cards consists of up to 56 regular cards, organized into 4 suits, and optionally some additional cards meant for playing, such as jokers or tarots. The cards of each suit typically form a hierarchy of ranks. However, some traditional packs, especially from Asia, follow a different scheme.
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French suited packs [link]
Full French-suited pack [link]
The full French-suited pack contains 52 cards, organized into the 4 French card suits spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts and 13 ranks. The modern natural hierarchy is ace > king > queen > jack > ten > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2, i.e. aces are high and tens are low. Historically, aces were the lowest cards, and this hierarchy is sometimes still prescribed for cutting. In Ace–Ten card games, tens have the second-highest card-point value and therefore tend to rank high between ace and king rather than in their natural position.
Full French-suited packs often contain up to 3 jokers, which are needed for some games. Jokers have neither suit nor rank.
French-suited Piquet pack [link]
Historically, this was a French suited 36-card Piquet pack, lacking ranks 2–5. (This pack is still in use in Switzerland as the French-suited Jass pack.) Around 1700 the descriptions of Piquet and other games played with the same pack changed and stipulated a 32-card Piquet pack, lacking ranks 2–6. Dropping the sixes made Piquet more interesting. Nowadays this 32-card pack is the standard pack for many European games including the French and Dutch national card games Belote and Klaverjas. It is also the more popular of the two alternative packs used for the German national game of Skat, the other being the German-suited 32-card Piquet pack.
German suited packs [link]
German-suited cards are still common in large parts of Central Europe, although they generally compete with French-suited cards, which are often more popular.
Full German-suited pack [link]
The full German-suited pack contains 36 cards, organized into the 4 German suits acorns, leaves, hearts and bells and 9 ranks. The role of the queen is played by another male figure (ober) similar to the jack (unter). The ober has its suit sign placed in a high position, and the unter has it placed in low position. Aces are styled as deuces. The modern natural hierarchy is ace > king > ober > unter > ten > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6, i.e. aces are high. German-suited cards do not have jokers.
German-suited Skat or Piquet pack [link]
This is a German-suited pack without the sixes, as used for many Central European games such as Skat and Sixty-six / Mariáš. Historically this pack was popular as the standard pack for Piquet, after the sixes were dropped in that game to make it more interesting.
Swiss suited packs [link]
Swiss-suited cards are used only in part of the German-speaking area of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Locally they are known as "German" cards.
Jass pack [link]
The only frequently encountered Swiss-suited pack is known as the Jass pack. It contains 36 cards and is very similar to the full German-suited pack. The main difference is that instead of leaves and hearts there are shields and bells, and the ten is styled as a banner.
Kaiser pack [link]
The 48-card Kaiser pack is only produced for the Karnöffel variant Kaiserspiel, which requires 40 or 48 cards. If the banner and deuce are regarded as a ten and ace, the pack is equivalent to an extended Jass pack that lacks only aces. If the banner and deuce are regarded as ace and deuce, the pack is equivalent to a full Spanish-suited pack.
Spanish suited packs [link]
Spanish-suited cards are used in most Spanish-speaking countries and in the south of Italy.
Full Spanish-suited pack [link]
The full Spanish-suited pack contains 48 cards, organized into the 4 Spanish suits swords, clubs, cups and coins and 12 ranks. The role of the queen is played by the cavalier, visually distinct from the valet (jack) by riding a horse. There is no ten.
Standard Spanish-suited pack [link]
The standard Spanish-suited pack consists of 40 cards in the ranks ace, king, cavalier, valet and 2–7.
Italian suited packs [link]
Italian-suited cards are used only in the north of Italy.
Full Italian-suited pack [link]
The full Spanish-suited pack contains 52 cards, organized into the 4 Spanish suits swords, batons, cups and coins and 13 ranks. It is very similar to the full Spanish-suited pack, but does have tens.
Standard Italian-suited pack [link]
Like the standard Spanish-suited pack, the standard Italian-suited pack consists of 40 cards in the ranks ace, king, cavalier, valet and 2–7.
Tarot packs [link]
While tarot cards are better known for their use for divinatory purposes, in some regions of Europe tarot, tarock and tarocchi games are still common. These games are generally played with traditional designs optimized for recognizability, distinct from the designs common in occult tarot packs.
Hanafuda pack [link]
The Japanese Hanafuda pack contains 48 cards. There are 12 suits representing months, and three ranks: normal, poetry ribbon and special. Every normal card exists twice.
Mahjong [link]
Chinese domino packs [link]
References [link]
- Parlett, David (1990), The Oxford guide to card games: a historical survey, Oxford University Press, pp. 27–34, ISBN 978-0-19-214165-1.
- [1]
- Card Games Web Site
