Useless Trivia about Playing Cards/Bridge

[32519]

The familiar symbols on playing cards today (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) that are now used were first devised in the 15th century. After the French Revolution, a 1793 decree forbade the use of feudal symbols on cards. As a result, the symbols and figures (Jack, Queen and King) were replaced by others. For instance, the Jacks were changed into symbols of equality: social rank for Spades, equality of duty for Hearts, colour of the skin for Diamonds and equality of rights for Clubs. The Queens were discarded in favour of the symbols of the four freedoms (work, religion, marriage and the press). The Kings were replaced with the themes of war, peace, trade and the arts. Still in France, many more designs drawn from revolutionary and republican themes called upon an equally large number of famous political and public figures to illustrate playing cards. It was at the end of the 19th century that cards recovered their classic symbols.

 

The names of the court cards

Nowadays, the names of the Jacks, Queens and Kings are no longer printed on playing cards. Here they are as a reminder:

................Spades..........Hearts..........Diamonds........Clubs

Jacks.......Ogier...............Lahire...........Hector..............Lancelot

Queens.....Pallas.............Judith or........Rachel.............Argine

......................................Athena

Kings........David..............Charlemagme..Caesar............Alexander

 

I have absolutely no idea who most of these people are or what their connection to the different suits is. Can anybody help?

[hrothgar]

The familiar symbols on playing cards today (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) that are now used were first devised in the 15th century. After the French Revolution, a 1793 decree forbade the use of feudal symbols on cards. As a result, the symbols and figures (Jack, Queen and King) were replaced by others. For instance, the Jacks were changed into symbols of equality: social rank for Spades, equality of duty for Hearts, colour of the skin for Diamonds and equality of rights for Clubs. The Queens were discarded in favour of the symbols of the four freedoms (work, religion, marriage and the press). The Kings were replaced with the themes of war, peace, trade and the arts. Still in France, many more designs drawn from revolutionary and republican themes called upon an equally large number of famous political and public figures to illustrate playing cards. It was at the end of the 19th century that cards recovered their classic symbols.

 

The names of the court cards

Nowadays, the names of the Jacks, Queens and Kings are no longer printed on playing cards. Here they are as a reminder:

................Spades..........Hearts..........Diamonds........Clubs

Jacks.......Ogier...............Lahire...........Hector..............Lancelot

Queens.....Pallas.............Judith or........Rachel.............Argine

......................................Athena

Kings........David..............Charlemagme..Caesar............Alexander

 

I have absolutely no idea who most of these people are or what their connection to the different suits is. Can anybody help?

 

It's an eclectic mixture of characters from antiquity and the Bible.

 

There may be some connection to the Nine Worthies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Worthies

[blackshoe]

Ogier de Danemarche, or Holger Danske, is a legendary character from various sources. He was said to be a Paladin of Charlemagne. There is a statue of him in Kronborg Castle in Helsingør (Elsinore), Denmark. Danish legend says he sleeps beneath the castle, and will return when Denmark is in danger. Poul Anderson wrote a fantasy novel (Three Hearts and Three Lions) about him. The title refers to Ogier's shield of arms (the arms of Denmark are three lions and nine hearts — Or, three lions passant in pale Azure crowned and armed Or langued Gules, nine hearts Gules.

 

La Hire (Étienne de Vignolles) was a companion of Jean d'Arc.

 

Hector was the son of King Priam of Troy and a hero of the Trojan War.

 

Lancelot du Lac was a knight of King Arthur's Roundtable.

 

Pallas Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom.

 

Judith was the heroine of the Book of Judith, part of the Septuagint.

 

Argine I don't know.

 

David was a King of the Jews, Charlemagne of the Franks, Caesar refers to Julius Caesar, and Alexander was "the Great" King of Macedon.

[32519]

Hrothgar’s post got me scratching a bit further on the card origins.

 

The four suits now used in most of the world — spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs — originated in France in about 1480. The trèfle (club) was probably derived from the acorn and the pique (spade) from the leaf of the German suits. The names "pique" and "spade", however, may have derived from the sword of the Italian suits. In England, the French suits were eventually used, although the earliest decks had the Italian suits.

 

Also in the 15th century, Europeans changed the court cards to represent European royalty and attendants, originally "king", "chevalier" (knight), and "knave". The original meaning of knave was male child (cf German Knabe), so in this context the character could represent the "prince", son to the King and Queen; the meaning servant developed later. Decks of 56 cards containing in each suit a King, Queen, Knight, and Valet (from the French tarot court) were common.

 

Court cards designed in the 16th century in the manufacturing centre of Rouen became the standard design in England, while a Parisian design became standard in France. Both the Parisian and Rouennais court cards were named after historical and mythological heroes and heroines. The Parisian names have become more common in modern use, even with cards of Rouennais design.

 

King of Spades: King David of the Hebrew Bible

King of Hearts: Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, King of the Franks from 768

King of Diamonds: Emperor Julius Caesar

King of Clubs: Alexander the Great, Greek king of Macedon

Queen of Spades: Athena from Greek mythology, also known as Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.

Queen of Hearts: Judith, a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded by Jews and Protestants.

Queen of Diamonds: Rachel, from the Bible and favourite wife of Jacob

Queen of Clubs: Argine (possibly an anagram for Regina, which is Latin for queen). Another possibility is Argea (a name borne by four minor characters in Greek mythology).

Jack of Spades: Ogier the Dane/Holger Danske, a knight of Charlemagne

Jack of Hearts: La Hire, a French military commander during the Hundred Year’s War. He was a comrade-in-arms to Joan of Arc and a member of Charles VII’s court.

Jack of Diamonds: Hector (from Greek mythology) was a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War.

Jack of Clubs: Judas Maccabeus; he led the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BC) and is acclaimed as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history alongside Joshua, Gideon and David.

[sfi]

A History of Card Games by David Parlett is an invaluable source of information for the history of cards and the games. It covers this information in extensive detail and is well worth a read.

[32519]

Does anyone know in what year screens were introduced into top flight matches and the reason for introducing them?

[jjbrr]

Does anyone know in what year screens were introduced into top flight matches and the reason for introducing them?

 

We are not your google.

[Bbradley62]

Does anyone know in what year screens were introduced into top flight matches and the reason for introducing them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_(bridge)

[barmar]

What the Wikipedia article doesn't mention is that cheating incidents like Reese-Shapiro were the impetus for the development of screens.

[Bbradley62]

I haven't played a sanctioned game in 15 years, and never played with screens. How common are they at non-top-level events?

[barmar]

Almost nonexistent in the US except for the late rounds of major events. I think some international championships use them at all stages of their events.

[Gerardo]

The European Open last year has one in every table, at any stage (300+ tables).

 

The first time I ever played with a screen was in a private match (played in a home, for some League), in Poland.

[JLOGIC]

USBF has them for all stages of their events.

 

ACBL has them for day 3 of the blue ribbons and platinum pairs, day 3 of the fall swiss, days 2 and 3 of reisinger, Round of 16 and on of the vandy/spingold, semis of the GNTs, and that's it as far as open events go. These are off of memory so might be slightly inaccurate. IMO they need to start screens from the round of 32 on in the vandy/spingold, the field is deep enough where those are serious matches already. Other than that, I am happy with that, I would not want to play behind screens in day 1 of a national pair game or something.

[gnasher]

I'd happily play all of my bridge behind screens, except perhaps club games. The benefits are the same regardless of the event, and they're nothing to do with cheating. Screens reduce UI. UI problems are bad. Therefore screens are good.

 

The European Pairs and World Pairs have had screens throughout for a long time - certainly since the early '90s.

 

In England almost no bridge events are played with screens - only three weekends of Premier League, and, starting this year, the Gold Cup finals. In contrast, when I visited a club in Antwerp last year, I saw them putting up screens for a weekend league match.

[JLOGIC]

I'd happily play all of my bridge behind screens, except perhaps club games. The benefits are the same regardless of the event, and they're nothing to do with cheating. Screens reduce UI. UI problems are bad. Therefore screens are good.

 

It's not about the benefit but it's about the cost.

 

For starters, playing behind screens makes the game slower. This is magnified if casual players are playing behind screens. Sure, they'd get better with experience, but it is horrifying to think how slow day 1 of a national pair game would be behind screens with so many bad/old/whatever players who would not know what to do.

 

Secondly, it makes the bridge less social. This is more of a problem for some than others, but personally I enjoy the social element of the game. Cutting into it for the sake of having less UI problems is fine and justifiable to me in big events where social things don't matter as much as it is about competition and winning, but I do think most people enjoy the social element of bridge and that is part of the reason they play, so it would diminish the enjoyment for them (and me).

 

I know I seem to be in the minority but I like for bridge to be played at a pace that is not prohibitively slow, and I like to see my opponents faces and chat with them and have fun. This is why the whole concept of 2N (10 second tank) 4N (10 second tank) 6N (10 second tank) is absurd in practice. There must be a balance at some point obviously, but the right balance depends on the event imo. Of course it also depends on personal preferences.

[antonylee]

Screens are used in France in all national finals, even of lower flight events (say the equivalent of the GNTC). After all, without them I would probably never have seen a French top pair give me a top on a gross misunderstanding in the national junior pairs :-) (they were apparently experimenting a WNT-based system, which is very uncommon in France.)