Playing cards

Playing cards reached Europe from the Mamluk lands in the late 1370s, with four suits of numbered cards and court cards. Tarot was made in 15th-century Italy by adding a fifth set of picture cards, the trumps, to such a pack, usually with a Queen added to each suit's courts. The modern French-suited pack of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades dropped the Knight and kept King, Queen and Jack, so it has 52 cards to tarot's 78. Readers usually match Wands to Clubs, Cups to Hearts, Swords to Spades and Pentacles to Diamonds. Some people read with ordinary cards, a practice called cartomancy. The idea that the Fool survives as the Joker is popular but disputed. See tarot and playing cards.