Hey it's Mike Chen. It is one of the most common items that you see on an almost
daily basis. A deck of cards has become ubiquitous part of our lives and a
cheap way of entertaining ourselves and our friends. I mean you can spread them
across a table to build a house of cards or have your buddies gather for a poker
night. The standard 52 deck of playing cards it seems a mundane to us but it
has like so many things quite a story to tell. In each suit and each character on
it has its unique tale so in this video we're going to count down to 10 amazing
facts about a standard deck of cards. Number 10 the magic number. Ask anyone
and they will say that a deck of playing cards should always have 52 cards
but not a lot of people know why. The number 52 actually represents the number
of weeks in a single year and incidentally the four suits represent
the four seasons - not the hotel. The 13 cards in each suit are the 13 weeks and
each season the court or the twelve Royals represented twelve calendar month
and the two red into black suits are the four different solstices. Also the four
suits represent the four natural elements heart is water club is fire
diamond is earth and spade is air. Number nine the odd card out. Check out any deck
of playing cards and you will notice that the ace of spades
stand out in appearance. Whether is the imagery on the face of the card or
the amount of text accompanying the illustration or maybe how sparse it
looks. It is definitely in odd card out. The reason behind this is that playing
cards were a popular form of entertainment in medieval France and
like today almost anyone from all walks of life has a deck. So in order to
exploit its popularity the French rulers would put a tax on the ace of spades
the card would from then on have open spaces where officials would use to
place stands indicating that a tax has been paid but these days the open
faces on the ace of spades are used to print information about the manufacturer
trademarks or any other bits of random information. Number eight one card short
Due to the tax placed on the ace of spades by the French monarchy and of
course tax evasion people would therefore buy their decks and opt out on
the ace of spades to avoid that extra charge so they would always have to play
a game with one card short. This is where the phrase not playing with a full deck
originated from. These days if you say that it would usually mean
that a person is odd or not in their right mind but back in the day it would
quite literally mean that you are playing with an incomplete deck.
Number seven older than you think
The first recorded use of playing cars was in Asia
around twelve century. While we may associated these cards with the Europeans
or even the Middle East it was in the continent of Asia
more specifically China that the game was first conceived. Initially it was
played similar to a mahjong or dominoes where players would use bone or ivory
tiles as cards later on the Chinese switched it to its paper form that we
know of today. Number six familiar faces. The look and
layout of the modern-day playing cards owes itself to the French. Particularly
the courts, or the cards with faces. These face cards were named after and
designed to look like famous historical monarchs and they are as follows: the
King of Hearts is supposed to be Charlemagne the King of Diamonds is must
be Julius Caesar the King of Spades is supposed to be King David from the Bible
in the king of club is supposed to be Alexander the Great. The queens and
Jack's were also taken after historical figures. For example, the Queen of Hearts
is a representation of a biblical figure named Judith and the Jack of Clubs
represent Lancelot. Number five suit up. Across different
countries and cultures and over the course of centuries there have been
different variations of the suits to a deck of playing cards. However it is
difficult to pinpoint the exact origins and reasons as to why. On the other hand
suits that are similar to modern-day playing cars have appeared as early as
the 15th century in China. In these suits all four of them represent different
amounts of money. In Europe, countries like Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and
many others developed their own form of the suits but it was the French version of
the suits with its spades hearts clubs and diamonds that have spread worldwide
and are now recognized as a standard any deck of playing cards
Number four collector's item. Unlike say comic books were cards where there are
industry where community standards. Card collecting is a popular hobby but there
is no clear market price for any kind of deck. Regardless, people buy different
decks from different manufacturers and of different rarity. Speaking of rarity a
mid 15th century 52 deck of tarot cards from the Netherland was considered to be
the rarest and oldest in the world of cards and decks and it was sold to a
private collector in the 1970s with a price tag of $2,800 and now
resides in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Number three coming to
America. Playing cars arrived on American shores with the British colonists, since
then they have become quite popular in North America. Centuries after it was
introduced the deck went through several changes in the hands of Americans. For
example the varnished or high-gloss finish on cards was an innovation to ease
shuffling and if you would notice most playing cars today have rounded edges
this is to prevent them from wear due to constant playing and preventing them
from folding up when shuffled. But perhaps the most innovative change
done by the Americans was the double headed court cards that prevented players
from turning them right-side up during play or dealing.
Number two an ace in the hole
During the Vietnam War crates upon crates of aces of spades or
sent to the American troops the troops would then wear these aces like badges
or scattered them around areas where rebels can't because the general belief
was that the Vietnamese rebels were superstitious and associated the ace of
spades with bad luck and they allegedly fled at the site. However the story was
later on proved to be a myth, perhaps a kind of propaganda where
psychological warfare done to raise the chances of the American troops of
defeating the Vietnamese communists. And finally number one the deck that won the
war. At the height of the Second World War, the American government would send
decks of bicycle brand cards to troops imprisoned in Nazi camps. At first
glance the decks and cards would appear ordinary but what was amazing about them
was that when they became wet the cards would peel apart to reveal parts of a
map. Assemble in a specific way the 52-card deck would reveal an intricate
map that charts out escape routes for the imprisoned American soldiers.
So I guess an ordinary deck of cards may not be so ordinary after all.
All right guys, thank you all so much for watching this video. I'll see you later.