Chris Falarciyk, age 10, of Rochester, New York, for his question:

Who invented playing  cards?

No doubt our ancestors played card games long ages ago. But nobody remembers what the very first games were like or who invented the very first playing cards. We can trace the four suits in our modern deck back to the 1500s. They were donated by the French, remodeled and handed on to us. There is some evidence that the Italians played card games in the 1200s, and more evidence that the people of India enjoyed card games almost 12 centuries ago. But these earlier games were played with different cards.

We know for sure that our hearts and diamonds, clubs and spades were invented in France about 400 years ago. The original heart suit was called "coeur," which is French for heart. The diamond was called "carreau," meaning a square. The cloverleaf "trefle" became our club suit. The spiked "pique" became a spade. Nobody knows whether the suits and symbols were invented by one person or group of players.