Siobhan Yurray, age 13, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, for his question:

 When did people start playing card games?

This Christmas introduced us to an assortment of new card games. Some were friendly, others aggressive and quarrelsome and a few were beset with bothersome gadgets. But the basic idea was the same as it always was. The cards, and whatever rules and ginnnicks go with them, are used as a competitive game between players. This stimulating ideacsccurred to our ancestors in the dim distant past. In fact, nobody knows who first thought of it  ¬or whether it was inwated independently many times.

Historians suspect that the well known playing cards used for bridge and such were invented in India, possibly around 800 A.D. Later they were introduced into Europe and adapted into the standard deck we use today. These playing cards, however, are quite complex and most likely developed from simpler ones. We cannot say where or when these simpler card games originated, except that it must have been before 800 A.D. Most likely people played card games of some sort at least L 000 years ago.