Michele Maloney, age 10, of Manhiem, Pa., for her question:
WHO INVENTED PLAYING CARDS?
"According to Hoyle'' is an expression which means that something is to be done according to the rules or in the proper way. The name came from Edmond Hoyle, an English teacher of a card game something like bridge called whist. In 1742 he published a book of rules which later came to include those of all other card games and also chess and backgammon.
Cards originated in Hindustan about 800 A.D. First mention of them in Europe came in 1279 when they turned up in Italy. Shortly after this they appeared in Spain, France and Germany, with the rest of the world following not too much later.
Four suits in cards originated in France during the 1500s. At that time an object which was shaped very much like a cloverleaf was used and it was called the trefle. Later this suit came to be known as the club. Pique was the name of a suit which featured the tip of a pike, and this later came to be known as the spade. Coeur was the third suit, and this is the French word for heart. Fourth suit was carreau, meaning square, but this spot later changed shape to become the diamond.
A deck or pack is made up of 52 cards divided into four suits of 13 cards each. The black suits are spades and clubs, while hearts and diamonds are red. Ten spot cards are numbered from one (called the ace) to 10, and each suit has three face cards: the jack, queen and king.
In most card games the ace is the highest ranking card, going above the king and the other face cards.
Patience is the name of a game that can be played by one person. It is now called solitaire. A popular two person game is casino, while two, three or four persons can play pinochle or cribbage. Four is the best number for a game of whist or bridge, while any number from two to six can have fun with canasta. Poker can be open to as many as 10 players.
Gin rummy, skat, blackjack, five hundred, hearts, euchre and red dog are a few more examples of games played today.
Among the most popular of card games is bridge. More than 5,000 clubs can be found throughout North America with more than 175,000 members.
The four suits in a deck of cards are ranked with spades and hearts at the top and the diamonds and clubs below them. In bridge, a " no trump'' bid is higher than one in spades.
Contract bridge is the modern game, although some still play auction bridge. The difference between the two games is that contract requires more exact bidding than auction. The object in contract bridge is to determine the best contract through bidding and to fulfill the contract in play. In auction bridge it is not necessary to bid for game in order to score.