The origin of the king of cards

Poker is a popular paper tool for entertainment and gambling all over the world. Because of the different ways of playing, it is commonly known as Card, Wanliu, Majiu, etc., with different titles. Its standard name is poker.

Poker has a long history. People only know that poker originated in foreign countries and Europe. In fact, paper toys originated in China.

As early as the beginning of the week, the young man and his younger brother once played the game of "cutting tung leaves into reeds" in the palace. Paper had not been invented at that time, so leaves were used as toys. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, our ancestors invented a kind of playing card, which can be used for both games and gambling, and is called "Ye Zi Xi". It is also said that General Han Xin invented a card for entertainment in the army in order to alleviate the homesickness of soldiers. Because it is only the size of a leaf, it is called Yezixi. From bachelor of arts to ordinary people, they are always happy. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "Ye Zi Xi" had 40 cards in each deck, which were divided into four categories. There are many patterns on the card, including people, birds, animals, flowers, birds, insects, fish and so on. From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, playing cards were about 8 cm long and 2 cm wide, so people called them playing cards. Before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, card gambling was still popular in Chaoshan area, and the gameplay gradually diversified from simple arrangement. Each card is printed with numbers ranging from 1 to 10, or 32 words such as "handsome, official, photograph and car" in chess, and 64 cards of bonus, green, black, white and * * * are arranged for gambling. Two or four people bet.

This card game spread to Europe in about the third century A.D./KLOC-0. After a period of time, the card evolved into a card, gradually forming a common playing card now and becoming an international card.

The earliest number of playing cards varied from place to place. 78 in Italy, 32 in Germany, 40 in Spain and 52 in France.

In the future, there will be 52 cards in each deck of international playing cards, plus two wild cards (also known as kings or children) and 54 cards. At this point, the design and color, the number of points and the patterns of K, Q and J on the playing cards are basically finalized.

Playing cards are divided into four colors, namely spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Four colors have different names. The French call it "spear, heart, square and clove leaf", the Germans call it "leaf, heart, bell and acorn" and the Italians call it "sword, coin, stick and wine glass".

Later, according to the calendar in astronomy, westerners unified the content of this card game, which was set at 54 cards and four colors. In this way, after a long period of evolution, it gradually tends to be consistent.

There are many ways to play cards, the most common ones are bridge, percentage play, red dot fishing, hundred tricks, 2 1 minute and so on. Because the number of playing cards conforms to the astronomical calendar, there is a saying that playing cards are the epitome of the calendar for the following reasons:

54 playing cards, which means there are 52 weeks in a year. Two decks represent the sun and Xiao Wang represents the moon. Peach, heart, square and plum represent spring, summer, autumn and winter. Red hearts and diamonds represent the day, spades and clubs represent the night; Every season 13 weeks and the number of cards in each set of poker is exactly 13, and the sum of the points of 13 cards is 364 plus Xiao Wang, which is 365, which is the same as the number of days in general years; If you add a little more kings, it happens to be the number of days in a leap year. There are k, q, j and other cards 12. * * *, which means there are 12 months in a year, and the sun passes through 12 constellations in a year.

Nowadays poker is not only made of paper, but also made of many other materials. Cloisonne Poker, Gold Foil Poker, Crystal Poker, Agate Poker, Ivory Poker, Elephant Bone Poker, Horn Poker, Bamboo Poker, Plexiglass Poker, FRP Poker ... These poker cards are all used for collection and are rarely used for playing. For example, agate poker, ivory elephant bone poker, and ox horn and ox bone poker are all made in the shape of mahjong, but they are still playing poker. In addition, there are many playing cards with special shapes, such as circles, Christmas trees, shoes, triangles and snowmen.

It is understood that the largest playing card in China is Kirin Poker collected by Tianjin Yang, which is 56 cm long and 36.5 cm wide. The smallest playing card is only the size of a small nail.