It’s how you play your cards…

It only costs a couple of euro, but surely must rate as the greatest pleasure-giving value for money in the entire world. We refer to your ordinary, simple deck of cards.

The range of card games played with similar packs is truly astonishing; and the more you think about it, isn’t the ingenious make-up of the four suits and 52 cards truly mind-boggling?

Playing cards goes back a bit, as you might well imagine; but in fact the game of cards goes back as far as 9th century China. The suits were probably developed in Egypt before making an appearance in Europe in the 14th century. It was the French who introduced the familiar black and red colours and modern suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. That was sometime in the 15th century.

The oldest surviving pack was made in the Netherlands in 1475 and is currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (It might be changed to The Trump Museum of Art before you get there!)

We could go on about the four suits symbolising the four seasons and numerous variations of card games all over the world, but it is far more interesting to stay local for the rest of this one.

The game of ‘25’ is probably Ireland’s national card game. Back in the day, when people got together to amuse themselves in simpler fashion, there would be at least one house in every locality where neighbours gathered regularly to play cards. Here we take back the word ‘simple’, because there was nothing simple about how seriously good card players took the game! Over the long nights of the winter months, men and women would deal the deck for hours – and then the ‘postmortems’ would go on for nearly as long!

The most important thing in 25 was ‘holding the game in’ and therefore the greatest crime was ‘taking your own trick’ and ‘letting someone out’.

The stakes might just be for a few coppers, but coming up to Christmas they would play for ‘feathers’ – a goose or turkey.

‘Three 15s’ is a variation of 25 and was favoured for most organised community card drives, especially across the midlands. A card-drive was a regular means of raising funds at sports clubs, churches and so on. Whist was, and still is, another popular community game, as is bridge’ and of course poker. Games such as solitaire and rummy would also be popular in parts.

There is no age gap when it comes to playing cards. Children usually start their card career with games of Snap, ‘Old Maid’, and ‘Beggar my Neighbour’. This is the pass into the wonderful world of cards.

Poker is popular all over the world; with different variations of the game. Five-card draw is the most common around where I come from and is my favourite. I played Three-card brag’ in the bus depot in England and had I not indulged is serious games of Seven Card Stud Poker in Canadian mining camps, I could have been a snug man today!

Again, it is just so amazing the value that can be had and all the different uses that a deck of cards can be put to. Think of all the magicians who use playing cards to display their magic and fortune tellers who claim to see your future from how you ‘boxed’ the cards. Indeed, there was often a local person you might be told was ‘good at reading the cards’.

It is no surprise that superstition and the dark arts were also associated with cards. The Jack, or Knave of Spades is, I think, the card usually advanced as symbolising Satan.

This same story has been attributed to some place just in about every county in Ireland. The neighbours have gathered in their usual ceili house for the regular game of cards. A stranger calls in and asks if he can have a hand. The game has progressed nicely along the usual lines until a player drops a card on the floor and stoops to retrieve his card – the Knave of Spades – but as he stretches to pick up the card, he is stunned to observe that the stranger has cloven feet… the devil himself!

That being said, the deck of cards was also used as a prayer book in the song of that name. ‘The Deck of Cards’ was written and first recorded by American country singer T Texas Ryder, while the most popular version was a later recording by Tex Ritter. It is a clever narrative of the various playing cards depicting passages or teachings from the Bible.

I have several packs of cards in my house but nobody to play with. Mrs Youcantbeserious comes from a family of great card players, but by some strange twist, I got the one with no interest in card-playing. Shortly after we got married, I sat down one night to teach her how to play 25. Allegedly, at some point, I muttered; ‘Ah for Jazus’ sake’… and the cards finished up on the floor! And that, my friends, was that!

Don’t Forget

People take heart when you give them yours.