History of Playing Card Suits

Playing cards may seem simple, but they are steeped in rich history‒coming from a past where their cultures, players, and surroundings have played a key part in the design and development of every card. The playing card suits and designs we recognize today are usually attributed to fifteenth century France and were thought to represent key figures of the culture and society.

Whether you’re going to play Spades online for free or are just diving into playing cards for the first time, it’s important to understand the four suits: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. These suits are at the core of nearly every playing card game.

To help you learn more, we’ll take a closer look at the history of playing card suits, discover who invented the Solitaire card game, and consider how playing cards became such a key part of society.

A History of Playing Cards

As we mentioned, the playing card suits we use today date back to France in the fifteenth century, where only the aristocrats and wealthy were able to enjoy them. However, the designs were part of a longer pattern of history, with the first written record of playing cards emerging from tenth century China‒where they were used in gambling.

The concept spread across the Middle East with the design changing and growing. Eventually, the fourteenth century examples of the cards were decorated with four suits: Coins, Cups, Swords, and Polo Sticks. Upon reaching Europe, these were adapted to represent Coins, Cups, Swords, and Sceptres‒or Batons‒thanks to a lack of familiarity with polo sticks.

The trend of changing the design of suits continued until cardmarkers in Paris opted for Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs, inspired by a German deck featuring Leaves, Hearts, Acorns, and Hawk Bells. These are the suits we are familiar with today.

Suits and Solitaire

The early depictions of playing cards were primarily used for gambling, but they also have a history of being used for entertainment. One of the best-known card games, Solitaire‒also known as ‘Patience’‒focuses on the order of playing card symbols.

The premise is simple: build piles of cards in numerical order, putting cards of the same suit together. The game is won once the player collects entire suits in descending order with no cards leftover.

The game is thought to have originated in the Baltic region in the eighteenth century and have its origins in fortune telling. This is said to have been the start of a surge of interest in cartomancy‒or fortune telling‒such as Tarot card readings.

The practice of Solitaire continued throughout history, eventually becoming the game we know today. The practice can be seen throughout history, making an appearance in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, and is said to have been a favorite of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert!

The Bottom Line

Understanding the history of card suits can shed new light on games like Solitaire. Next time you shuffle a deck or play a hand, take a moment to marvel‒those red and black designs have a fascinating story to tell!