Card game

An enormous number of card games have been invented over the centuries. Only a few major games and families of games can be mentioned here. Different card games are available for any reasonable number of players.

Packs of cards

The standard Anglo-American (bridge) pack of cards consists of 52 cards. Most actual packs sold include 1 or more often 2 extra cards called jokers, which are used in some games, but in most are not used in the formal structure of the game, being simply available in practice to replace lost or damaged cards. The cards are in 4 suits, which in English are known as spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs (symbolized by ♠, ♥, ♦, ♣). Each suit comprises 13 cards. These consist of 3 court cards, known in English as king, queen and jack or knave, and 10 numbered cards from 1 to 10, though the card numbered 1 is labelled A and called the ace. In most games it is not treated as a numbered card at all.

Continental European packs have a variety of names for suits and ranks, but they also usually have fewer cards. French and German packs usually have 32 cards, omitting all numbers from 2 to 6 for French cards, or 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 for German ones (the distinction is unimportant, as the 2 in German packs is treated like the ace in others). Swiss cpacks are similar to German ones, but with the addition of 6s. Spanish and Italian packs have 40 cards, omitting 8 to 10.

There are also a variety of more specialized packs used for particular games.

The cards in a pack have identical backs, enabling a game to distinguish between cards a player is entitled to know the identity of and those they are not.