A standard deck of playing cards can be utilised to play games ranging from a single-player dungeon crawler to a multi-player party game.
Regardless of whether a deck of cards is simple, ornate or manufactured from various materials, the standard deck consists of 52 cards divided into four suits: Spades, Diamonds, Clubs and Hearts.
Each suit contains nine pip cards (2 to 10), an Ace, and three court cards (Jack, Queen, King).
Jokers and promotional cards are additional.
However, has it always been this way?
Have standard decks of playing cards consistently featured the same four suits?
Verdict:
FALSE
The clue lies in the names and symbols of the suits, specifically spades and clubs. The symbol used for Spades looks more like a leaf than a shovel, and the symbol for clubs looks more like a clover leaf.
This is because every region of Europe had its own idea of the four suits. The first suits, which were used in Italian and Spanish decks, were Swords, Batons/Clubs, Cups and Coins.
German and Swiss decks added nature themes to their suits with Acorns, Leaves/Shields, Hearts/Roses and Bells.
The French deck simplified the symbols to make the cards easier to produce and the English altered them further to the suits we know today. However, because playing cards already have a long history, the Clover suit is colloquially called Cubs, and the Leaf suit is known as Spades (as in Pikes, an evolution from the Italian Baton).
Even once the suits were standardised, there were attempts to change and add more suits (like Eagles and Stars) to the playing card deck.
What accounts for the inconsistency? Interestingly, playing cards did not originate in Europe, either. The oldest records of the humble playing card trace back to China and India.
Reference:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/playing-card
