Playing Card Facts

spades:
king- King David (biblical figure, commonly known from the story "David and Goliath")
queen- Athena (goddess of wisdom and war in Greek mythology)
jack- Hogier (better known as "Ogier the Dane")

diamonds:
king- Julius Caesar (early dictator of Roman Republic)
queen- Rachel (form the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible)
jack- Hector (trojan prince from Greek Mythology)

clubs:
king- Charlemagne (better known as "Charles the Great")
queen- Judith (biblical figure)
jack- La Hire (military commander in the Hundred Year War)

hearts:
king- Alexander (better known as "Alexander the Great")
queen- Regina (also known as "Argine")
jack- Lancelot (according to legend, King Arther's most valued knight.)

:)
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
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33
Grand prairie TX
Its so awesome that a thread like this gets so many hits from tons of people in like 20 minutes but the ones with actual merit have only the same 5 people talking to each other.
 
Sep 3, 2007
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Its so awesome that a thread like this gets so many hits from tons of people in like 20 minutes but the ones with actual merit have only the same 5 people talking to each other.


Just taking a quick look over. I couldn't find 5 people that are going back and forth. I just figure it is laziness.
 
Nov 7, 2008
295
0
Hofstra Univ.
The identity of the court cards vary in different places. When i did some research awhile back I found out the idea of giving the court cards identities happened first in France. Although the identities vary a bit between Paris and Rouen.

The only thing is what does this all matter unless you can make use of it somehow?
A fact I have worked into a routine is, the king of hearts is not suicidal. He was murdered. The murderer lies in the deck as well. Solve the mystery, make a routine, and you have found usefulness out of all of this stuff.
 
Dec 23, 2007
1,579
4
36
Fredonia, NY
just to clear things up. While it is true that entire decks of Ace of Spades were distributed to soldiers during the VIETNAM WAR, not WWII, and it is true that the government and soldiers believed that the cards scared local vietnamese soldiers for religious reasons, in fact this was a misconception. The ace of spades has no special meaning to the vietnamese and did not frighten them in the least. It was a misconception that spread rapidly through the military ranks and was encouraged by the Brass and Government as a means of boosting morale. The government in turn commissioned the USPCC to produce the decks with only AoS in bulk and distributed them. Many soldiers wore the ace on their helmets as good luck or to frighten viet cong, not realizing all it really did was make a nice target. Anyways, the other facts listed on this thread are mostly true although their is a lot of debate about the 4 suits being seasons our elements.


here's one no one mentioned that i use in my torn and restored card. Does anybody know the origin of the word Abracadabra? Its is originally an ancient Incantation believed to have mystical healing powers. The Incantation revolved around the magical and powerful number 11, which is the number of letters in it. The incantation could be spoken or written, but it must be done so 11 times, each time with a diminishing letter. For example, written as
A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A
A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R
A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B

etc... etc.. down to one letter. this would in turn be put on a talisman worn by the ill or spoken over them. And such, they would be healed.. Well that was long winded but i use a shorter and more to the point version for the healing powers to restore a torn card. Get the audience involved speaking the magic word and bam you gots magic.
 
Nov 7, 2008
295
0
Hofstra Univ.
just to clear things up. While it is true that entire decks of Ace of Spades were distributed to soldiers during the VIETNAM WAR, not WWII, and it is true that the government and soldiers believed that the cards scared local vietnamese soldiers for religious reasons, in fact this was a misconception. The ace of spades has no special meaning to the vietnamese and did not frighten them in the least. It was a misconception that spread rapidly through the military ranks and was encouraged by the Brass and Government as a means of boosting morale. The government in turn commissioned the USPCC to produce the decks with only AoS in bulk and distributed them. Many soldiers wore the ace on their helmets as good luck or to frighten viet cong, not realizing all it really did was make a nice target. Anyways, the other facts listed on this thread are mostly true although their is a lot of debate about the 4 suits being seasons our elements.


here's one no one mentioned that i use in my torn and restored card. Does anybody know the origin of the word Abracadabra? Its is originally an ancient Incantation believed to have mystical healing powers. The Incantation revolved around the magical and powerful number 11, which is the number of letters in it. The incantation could be spoken or written, but it must be done so 11 times, each time with a diminishing letter. For example, written as
A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A
A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R
A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B

etc... etc.. down to one letter. this would in turn be put on a talisman worn by the ill or spoken over them. And such, they would be healed.. Well that was long winded but i use a shorter and more to the point version for the healing powers to restore a torn card. Get the audience involved speaking the magic word and bam you gots magic.
exactly what i was talking about!! make some use of this shtuff!!
 
Nov 11, 2009
194
0
The identity of the court cards vary in different places. When i did some research awhile back I found out the idea of giving the court cards identities happened first in France. Although the identities vary a bit between Paris and Rouen.

The only thing is what does this all matter unless you can make use of it somehow?
A fact I have worked into a routine is, the king of hearts is not suicidal. He was murdered. The murderer lies in the deck as well. Solve the mystery, make a routine, and you have found usefulness out of all of this stuff.

I agree fully
I am trying to get this stuff into some tricks
I think this is a cool thread :)
 
Dec 28, 2008
132
1
ace of spades was used during world war II to scare off the enemies
-uspcc distributed decks which consisted nothing but the ace of spades and sent to the troops for this purpose

-Sean
Actually, this was only in the Vietnam war, as it was thought that the Viet Kong were afraid of the spade.

the king of hearts is the only one card with a sword thru his head
And this is actually because, when the playing cards were being copied up for the new designs, the axe was accidentally replaced with a sword. This is also the reason the King of Hearts is the only one without a moustache.
 
Dec 28, 2008
132
1
First Joker: 1857


For what reason is the Ace of Spades more ornate and intricate than the others?
Because, in the 18th century, when tax was introduced on cards, a tax stamp was pressed onto the top card, the ace of spades. In the 19th century, companies started printing their own ace of spades which contained the royal coat of arms to show that tax had been paid.


In 1935, card manafacturers tried to introduce a fifth suit: green eagles (USA) and green crowns (UK)... Catastrophic failure!
 

nic

Jan 2, 2010
9
0
The possible permutations of the order of cards, along with any number of cards being reversed, exceeds the amount of known atoms in the universe.

Something to say before a simple card reversal to give it more impact.
 
Sep 3, 2007
1,231
0
The possible permutations of the order of cards, along with any number of cards being reversed, exceeds the amount of known atoms in the universe.

Something to say before a simple card reversal to give it more impact.

That could work but just the word 'permutations' might throw people off. Also, when you throw out something like "more than the known atoms in the universe" it seems a bit unrealistic. For something like triumph I don't usually throw any odds out there. It confuses the plot in my mind.

[Edit] And just out of mathematical curiosity, the # of permutations is 52! since every card is different. If any, all or none could be upside down:

We'd have different sets. The 52! as the number of ways to arrange the cards. Keeping in mind, all cards are there for each set, in different orders. For each permutation would allow the same amount of cards face up and face down. For each of 52! either up or down it is a combination since the order of face-up face-down is unimportant. Only the # of possibilities.

It could be something like 52!/2!(52 - 2)! Or: 1,366 ways to have face-up and face-down cards in a deck.

For each 52! combinations there are 1,366 ways. Or 52! * 1,366.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dec 30, 2009
57
0
everone says that if you count the pips on the cards you get 365, i have yet to come up with that answer when i do the math, regardless there are 52 cards in a deck, which is also the number of weeks in a year, 4 suits, the number of weeks in a month, 13 cards in each suit, the number of weeks in a quarter of a year

my deck also serves me as a bible, but im not gonna get into that
 
Jul 13, 2009
1,372
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33
I just figured this out mathmatically yay for graphing calculators!

If you add all the values of the cards together, jokers counting as One you get a total of 366, this represents a leap year, which I find surprising since there is four suits in a deck of cards which corespond with the four years to a leap year.

Here is the string of number I typed in for anyone who wants to try it out themselves.

1(4)+2(4)+3(4)+4(4)+5(4)+6(4)+7(4)+8(4)+9(4)+10(4)+11(4)+12(4)+13(4)+2 (Jokers)=366
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
playing cards were actually often used before Tarot cards. In fact if you know the meanings of Tarot Cards you could possibly translate that to the different meanings the Playing cards have. Thus the cards would then have a more intimate value and appeal to them, than just come guy using them to show off his next magic trick.

Just something to think about.
 
Dec 30, 2009
57
0
can we please say goodbye to the myth that all the pips equal 365? weve went on with adding the two jokers and getting a leap year (366) but not all decks of cards have 2 jokers, some come with four, that screws everything doesnt it? im sick of hearing this, its all over the place and even in smokin aces 2, and as many times as i count, and as many times as i do the math with a calculater, i cant reach 365
 
Dec 23, 2007
1,579
4
36
Fredonia, NY
can we please say goodbye to the myth that all the pips equal 365? weve went on with adding the two jokers and getting a leap year (366) but not all decks of cards have 2 jokers, some come with four, that screws everything doesnt it? im sick of hearing this, its all over the place and even in smokin aces 2, and as many times as i count, and as many times as i do the math with a calculater, i cant reach 365

listen calm down, take a breath and think about it for more than two seconds.

a=1 all the number cards equal that value, jack=11, queen=12 and king=13. add all them up and you get 91 for the value of each suit, multiply by 4 and you got 364, plus the jokers as mentioned before. Seriously its nothing to get so worked up over.
 
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