The good old deck of cards is probably the oldest thing that was ever used as a pass time! There isn't anything that you can't do to entertain yourself & the ones around you. Right from blowing all your money and your entire inheritance in a series of unfortunate games to performing magic tricks in front a crowd (to look like an excited 3rd grader)! Why don't we all find out a bit more about this deck of 52 pieces of thick sheets, that give us so much to do!
1. The significance of the number 52 (the number of cards in a deck)!
There are 52 weeks in a year, and if all the symbols in a deck are added up in this way A=1, King=13, Queen 12, Jack 11 & Joker=1 we get 365. Add another Joker to get a leap year!
2. A pack is thrown away after about an hour at LA casinos!
Each deck of cards gets thrown away/sold after about 12 hours at casinos in LA, but during peak hours, they are discarded in an hour or so! This is to make sure that the creases formed around the cards aren't used for foul play (marking cards)!
3. Who is the biggest manufacturer of playing cards?
The United States Playing Cards Company is the biggest manufacturers of cards in the world, with most of the famous casinos getting their stock from here.
4. The most used kind of cards at casinos?
The cards used in casinos are made purely of plastic! They offer more robustness to the cards, causing delayed creases at the edges etc. and make way for more number of hands before being disposed of.
5. Whom do the faces of cards represent?
The face cards in the deck were designed in a way that they look like historical kings with the King of Diamonds looks like Julius Caesar, the King of Hearts like Charlemagne, the King of Spades like King David from the Bible & the King of Spades like Alexander the Great!
6. What do the 2 color patterns of cards represent?
The two colors red and black of the cards represent the general dichotomy of nature: day & night, life & death, good & evil, light & dark etc.
7. Four suits for the four seasons
The 4 suits of a deck of cards are said to represent the 4 seasons known to man – Hearts for spring, Clubs for summer, Diamonds for fall & spades for winter!
8. Ace of spades helped the US army during the Vietnam war!
The Viet Cong or the National Liberation Front was a group that was superstitious and scared of the ace of spades as it foretold death! The US army saw to it that several aces of spades cards were dispersed amongst them as a scare tactic!
9. What can you do other than playing with a deck of cards?
Other than playing card games, a/many decks of cards can be used to play card stacking, a favorite pass time. A man from Iowa USA has become a professional card stacker, with a Guinness World Record for the tallest card tower ever made in 1992! He now builds card houses (really elaborate & beautiful!) for a living.
