Playing cards had a humble beginning, as shown by their mysterious past. They began as a simple leaf game and evolved into what they are now: a 52-card deck divided into four suits and two colors. Although we’ve looked into the history of playing cards, there are still many unanswered questions about their colors.
Continue reading to learn more about the red and black colors used in today’s card decks.
Ancient Deck of Cards
Playing cards were known during the Tang Dynasty, according to several manuscripts and books, and the first card game was played by Princess Tong Chang in the year 868. Many people assume the cards were printed during their reign. Playing cards had spread throughout the Asian continent by the 11th century.
In the 14th century, playing cards were introduced to Europe and quickly became popular. The European cards looked a lot like the Mamluk deck, which was very common in Egypt. Cups, polo sticks, knives, and coins were the four suits in the deck.
The playing cards had entered Italy and Germany by the 13th century, and the standard Latin suits had been replaced by leaves, bells, acorns, and hearts. The French suits, namely hearts, tiles, clovers, and pikes, were created in 1480 by combining Latin and German suit images.
Hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs make up the modern-day French suit, which is adapted from the German suit. While the Mamluk, Latin, and German card decks all had three male cards, the French card deck did away with the knight in favor of a female card, the queen. The English pattern, also known as the Anglo-American pattern, is the most common French deck pattern.
Four-colored Deck of Cards
The suits of hearts and diamonds are red in the modern card deck, while clubs and spades are black. However, identifying these cards can be challenging, and there’s a good chance you’ll play the wrong card during a game. To prevent such misunderstandings, the four suits were given different colors to differentiate them from one another. There were a few other systems to choose from. For example, in one scheme, red represents hearts, blue represents diamonds, black represents spades, and the green represents clubs. Red hearts, yellow diamonds, black clubs, and green spades are part of another German suit scheme.
Four-colored decks, also known as no-revoke decks, were created specifically for trick-tracking games like call bridge, jass, and whist. Many card manufacturers began these four-colored suit cards in the early 1900s, particularly for bridge and poker games.
The Importance of the Colors Black and Red
Unlike the blue and green inks, the black and red ink were readily available and at the most affordable prices. Soot and linseed oil were combined to make the black dye. The red ink, on the other hand, was made with cinnabar and linseed oil. Both inks were long-lasting and did not fade when exposed to light. Other hypotheses claim that the red color was chosen because it stands out on white paper. At the time, the copper compounds needed to produce the blue and green inks were prohibitively costly. They were also not oil soluble. According to some hypotheses, the colors red and black reflect day and night, respectively.
No matter what color they are, playing cards will continue to thrill us for many years to come. Several different card games are played all over the world, but rummy is still the most common. RummyJacks is the freshest online rummy platform where you can play a wide range of rummy games. You will be playing with real people at all times. On the website, you can play a range of rummy games, including free and cash games, as well as tournaments. If you don’t know how to play rummy, you can use the app’s tutorial to learn the game’s basics and rules.
