History of games, playing cards

This presentation examines the status of a deck of cards that circulated in Mexico City around 1583. The deck contains 18 cards created by the second monopoly of playing cards in Mexico City under the administration of Alonso Martínez de Orteguilla, surviving today as a printer’s proof in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville. The set shows iconography regularly employed in Renaissance Tarot decks, such as figures representing Force and Temperance, together with portraits of the Mexica kings Moctezuma, and Cuauhtemoc, as well as representations of dancers and acrobats from prehispanic traditions.  Given the popularity of playing cards in 16th century New Spain, these cards both entered into, and to some degree created, a social context that allowed the circulation of what appear on the surface to be European games and images in Mexico City.  Yet the images, and probably game rules, resulted from the encounter of European and Prehispanic iconography and philosophical traditions. The representation of both cultural references in an European style situates the deck as an important element in the construction and dissemination of a new visual culture.
Through an multidisciplinary approach of Early Modern European books, prints, paintings, and playing cards, all objects that were employed for the education of the priviledged creole and indigenous population, as well as a consideration of books, traditions, popular festivities and games of prehispanic past. This presentation also addresses the probable role the popular and portable deck of cards with allegorical images had in the construction of the Mexico City society in the early years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

Origins of the Minor Arcana presents the story of the Tarot's much-neglected Minor Arcana, particularly its origin story, which is to be found in the symbolic and gaming traditions of the Chinese and the Arabs. Set against the backdrop of humankind as Homo symbolicus (symbolic man) and Homo ludens (playful man), this volume illustrates how the gradual evolution of symbolic expression, together with the integral nature of play in human culture, ultimately led to the invention of playing cards and their transmission across the Eurasian landscape and into Europe, where they served as the foundation for all European playing cards, including the Tarot.
This volume abolishes the numerous origin myths surrounding the Tarot, especially its occult pseudo-history, and highlights the Tarot's true origins in the gaming traditions of the Near East and Egypt.

Playing, an important activity already well known from advanced animals, is an a priori of human personal and social development. It is quite a special way how man becomes familiar with the natural world around him, with social structures, and with himself. Playing can be defined as a voluntary activity, using peculiar tools, which is goal-oriented, follows certain rules, and is aware of coincidences. In most cases, interaction is an essential element of games. By playing, basic structures of personal and social life but also dynamic phenomena of the cosmos can be imitated, modelled and mastered. They can help to exercise practical skills and serve for psychological and educational purposes. Games require certain strategies or are devoted to chance. They are related to myths, rituals, dance, divination, and foretelling. Among the many games known by cultures across the world and throughout time, there exist such, which are loaded with an apparent or hidden astronomical meaning. These games illustrate the rhythm of time (daily, monthly, seasonal, annual, and longer periods), the movement of the celestial bodies around the world axis or on the ecliptic, the shape of certain asterisms, and the principles of time-reckoning, the spatial structure of the cosmos, or even the functionality of astronomical instruments (e.g., the gnomon). Sometimes also the construction of certain monuments follows the conception of specific cosmic plays. 
The aim of the talk is to give an overview about the types of games, for example hopscotch, ball games, board, games, dice games, card games, string figures, and others containing or depending on astronomical knowledge and to present some selected examples taken from different cultures and epochs, which demonstrate the role of astronomical games in the experience realm and spiritual world of the people. Moreover, the peculiar power of cosmic and calendrical games, which is given by re-enacting, simulating, understanding, and communicating dynamic astronomical phenomena and processes, is shown. Finally, it will be discussed, whether and which role astronomical games may have anew in the context of educational astronomy in the 21st c.

Poemetto in ottave di gusto canterino, pubblicato forse per la prima volta a Firenze nel 1553. Dopo un breve proemio ogni ottava contiene il ritratto di una prostituta fiorentina, che viene associata a una delle 40 carte figurate dei tarocchi fiorentini (detti germini o minchiate); quattro carte sono riservate a quattro ruffiane. Poiché non ci è pervenuto nessun mazzo dei germini, si è ricostruito e riprodotto (per l'abbinamento con il testo) un mazzo ideale, utilizzando mazzi di tarocchi contemporanei e di minchiate di epoche posteriori. Il poemetto, nella sua semplicità, è uno dei migliori esempi di letteratura puttanesca del Cinquecento.

Двинянинова А. Р. Марсельский шаблон таро // Aliter. 2021. № 15. - С. 45–63.

«Марсельское таро» Международное общество игральных карт определяет как собирательное название определенного шаблона карт с особым дизайном, названного так вследствие большого выпуска карт мастерами города Марселя, хотя этот шаблон производился и в других регионах Франции и Швейцарии. В этой статье рассматривается становление марсельского шаблона, его история и развитие. От первых миланских прототипов до местного французского производства марсельский шаблон видоизменялся и приобретал собственный узнаваемый стиль, который и по сей день считается эталонным. Марсельское таро полюбилось и "отцам оккультного таро", привлeкшим к нему большое внимание со стороны поклонников эзотерики, и исследователям истории карточных игр, ведь марсельский шаблон был достаточно популярен на игорном рынке XVIII века. Статья снабжена кратким биографическим материалом отдельных карточных дел мастеров, а также описанием наиболее значимых колод марсельского шаблона.

The International Playing-Card Society defines the Tarot of Marseilles as a collective name of the certain pattern of cards with the specific design named so because of the large production of cards by the craftsmen of Marseille though this pattern was made in other regions of France and Switzerland. This article examines the formation of the Marseille pattern, its history and development. From the first Milanese prototypes to local French production, the Marseille pattern was modified and acquired its own recognizable style, which is still considered the benchmark. The Tarot of Marseilles was beloved by "the fathers of the occult tarot", who attracted great attention to it from adorer of esotericism, and by researchers of the history of card games, because the Marseille pattern was quite popular on the gambling market of the 18th century. The article is provided with a brief biographical material of individual card masters, as well as a description of the most significant decks of the Marseille pattern.

An anonymous, undated printed booklet of ca 1655, in the Department of Manuscripts of the BNF (Paris), that offers the earliest sofar known rules of the game of Tarot, proved to be printed in Nevers in 1637 and written by the abbé Michel de Marolles (1600-1681), the print collector who sold his collection to King Louis XIV. It is the basis of the present Department of Prints and Photography.

Uno spregiudicato religioso di origine francese, un inflessibile cardinale napoletano mandato dal Papa a governare Bologna, un vecchio senatore petroniano purosangue, un mazzo di carte per giocare a tarocchino bolognese che viene condannato a bruciare al rogo…
Sono questi i protagonisti della storia raccontata in queste pagine, sullo sfondo della Bologna dell’inizio del Settecento: una città all’apparenza immobile sotto l’opprimente giogo papale, ma in realtà viva e sempre attenta a difendere quei pochi elementi di autonomia che ancora le sono rimasti. Primi fra tutti, il diritto di definire come “misto” il governo che regge la città e la libertà di giocare a carte – a tarocchino – nelle tante osterie che riempiono il suo centro storico.

A.V.Lebedev, The Aegean origin and early history of the Greek doctrines of
reincarnation and immortality of the soul (Epimenides, Pherecydes, Pythagoras, and Onomacritus’ Orphica), in: N.B.Bogdanovich (ed.). Myth, Ritual, Literature. National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Institute of Classical Orient and Antiquity,  HSE Publishing House, Moscow, 2023, pp. 238-299.
  NB!  Figures I-III in the published volume are insets with no page numbers. In the present pdf file they are all attached at the end. Figure I (graffiti on bone plates from Olbia) looks to p.242, figure II  (portrait of diviner Pharnabazos) to p.284, figure III  (Cycladic group of 'mother and daughter') to p.273.
    In the section (1) a new reading and interpretation of the so-called ‘Orphic’ graffiti from Olbia is proposed on the base of superior quality photographs of the plates than the 1978 photo in the editio princeps, on which virtually all existing literature is based. Relying on Vinogradov’s 1997 photo, I read and interpret the bottom line of the recto of OF 463 as follows: Διο[νύσωι] Ὀρφικῶ[ι] λ̅ (scil. τριακάδι θύειν vel εὔχεσθαι) – “Sacrifice (or pray) to Dionysos Orphikos on the thirtieth day”.  Dionysos Orphikos is Dionysos of Orpheus’ Theogony, the son of Persephone, as distinguished from the traditional Dionysos, the son of Semele. Dionysos Orphikos permanently dwells in Hades, as was clearly seen by Philodemus. The bone tablets are neither dedications to Dionysus, nor secret ‘tokens’ of the initiated members of an Orphic thiasos. They are the oldest example of fortune-telling cards (ἀγυρτικοὶ πίνακες), typologically comparable to Tarot cards and Chinese inscriptions on oracular bones, and are based on the principles of Greek cleromancy (astragalomancy), since their triadic structure (number - prophecy – name of the god to whom one should pray) coincides with that of the cleromantic oracles from Asia Minor of the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. published by Nollé. The owner of the plates was most likely “Pharnabazos, the soothsayer of Hermes”, known from another graffito from Olbia of the same period, since it was Hermes who was considered the patron of popular dice divination. The drawings on the plates are associated with the symbolism of the Orphic myth of sparagmos (dismemberment) of Dionysus by the Titans and the Pythagorean doctrine of the immortality of the soul, while pairs of opposites come from a table comparable to the Pythagorean table of 10 opposites. Conclusion: the tablets provide no evidence on the existence of ‘Orphic community’ in Olbia (let alone of a kind of ‘Orphic church’ in Greece), but they provide evidence on the circulation of “Orpheus’ Sacred Words” in the periphery of Greek world in late fifth century B.C. Pharnabazos like the wandering priests (agyrtai) and diviners (manteis) in Plato's Republic, carried “books of Orpheus” in his bag, and combined the “Orphic” sparagmos/rebirth myth with Pythagorean doctrine of the substance dualism of the mortal body and immortal soul (the opposites ψυχή σῶμα are correlated with opposites ἀλήθεια ψεῦδος), anticipating the life-style of the Pythagoristai on the streets of Athens pictured in 4th century Attic comedy.
  Contrary to the hypothesis of the northern or "shamanistic" origin of the ancient Greek doctrines of the reincarnation and immortality of the soul, a completely new theory of Aegean origin is argued in this work based on the fact that all four of the earliest representatives of this tradition  either were directly related to Crete (Epimenides) and the Cyclades (Pherecydes of Syros), or had significant religious and philosophical contacts with the Cretan mantics (Onomacritus, the author of the ancient Orphic Theogony according to Aristotle) and the cult of Apollo Hyperborean on Delos (Pythagoras), which allowed only "bloodless" sacrifices, the religious and moral justification of which was the belief in the kinship of all living beings and reincarnation with the consequent prohibition of any bloodshed and animal sacrifice. A typology and an attempt at diachronic filiation of early versions of the doctrine of reincarnation are given. It is hypothesized that the “classical” Orphic-Pythagorean version was created by Pythagoras of Samos in the last third of the 6th century BC in Magna Graecia: it was a synthesis of the ancient Aegean version of Epimenides’ Theogony (c. 600 BC going back to the Aegean Bronze age doctrines of ‘rebirth’ reflected in the so-called Cycladic idols), which did not associate reincarnation with "punishment" for sins, but understood it as a continuation of eternal life in this world, and ancient Egyptian eschatology: the judgment of the soul in the afterlife, the osirification of the deceased, etc. Pythagoras based his doctrine of the human nature (immortal soul and mortal body) on a metaphysical substance dualism of peras and apeiron. The court diviner of the Peisistratidai in Athens in the late 6th century B.C. Onomacritus, who was probably a Pythagorean himself, according to the reliable evidence of Aristotle, expounded it in a mythopoetic form (the myth of the sparagmos of the divine child Dionysus by the evil Titans) in the Orphic Theogony which he ascribed to the mythical singer of times immemorial Orpheus. It was this Pythagorean (ethicized) version of the doctrine that was adopted by Plato, the Platonic tradition and - in an expurgated form – by the Church fathers who admitted only the post-mortem immortality of the soul, but rejected its pre-existence and reincarnation (except Origen).

ROMa:/-iRSmi! ;vi DE c: rA'ti so.; J -; , ,K 5;DIU a lafi 2006 Cuprins Lucrefiu Mihailescu-Btrliba, Les professions des affranchis privis en Dalmatie, Pannonies et Mesies 13 Ligia Ruscu, Zum Icult des Mithras an der Westpontischen Kilste 22 Alexandru Madgearu, Urban Unrest and Centrifugal Actions in Thessaly (1066) 32 Miria Pakucs Willcocks, Negustori practici comerciale in relafiile de schimb dintre Sibiu }i Jara Romdneascd, secolele XIV-XVl. Intre istoria economics }i cea sociald 42 Petronel Zahariuc, Aspecte din viala necunoscutd a Sultanei, fiica lui Mircea Ciobanul 69 Laurentiu Ridvan, Catolicii din orasele Jdrii Romdnesti din secolul al XVI-lea pdnd la jumdtatea secolului al XVII-lea 81 Liviu Pilat, Nicoard PrSjescu si anturajul sdu Ill Violeta Barbu, De la zvon la informafie: nagterea opiniei publice in l&rile romdne 119 Constanta VintilS-Ghitulescu, Vecini, reputajii }i control social in societatea romdneascd (secolul al XVIII-lea) 144 Sorin Mitu, Domnl, preo[i, dar mai ales fdrani: reprezentdri ale statutului social la romdnii ardeleni, la tnceputul epocii moderne 174 Maria Magdalena Szfikely, Bucate ji leacuri de altddatd 205 Dan Dumitru lacob, Sociabilitate si divertisment in Principatele Romdne din prima jumdtate a secolului al XlX-lea. Jocurile de cdrfi 237 Mihai Cojocariu, Al doilea proces de presd in Moldova: Jean Alexandre Vaillant tmpotriva redacfiei jurnalului Steaua DunSrii 283 lonela Biluti, L'iducation -facteur de 1'imancipation fiminine dans la seconde moitie du XIX^ slide roumaln. Etude de cas: Constanfa Dunca-Schiau 321 Laura Sitaru (Bucuresti), Une tentative d'iquivaloir quelques concepts identitaires europiens modernes en arabe 351 Dorin Dobrincu, Sfidarea Securitdlii in Bucovina. Grupul de rezistenld armatd anticomunistd Gavril Vatamaniuc (1949-1958) 363 * * * Gheorghe Laz&r, Testamente negustoresti din Jara Romdneascd (secolele XVIl-XVIII) 413 Paul Cernovodeanu, "Vizitatia'' misionarului franciscan Blasius Kleiner in Jara Romdneascd, Banat si Sudul Transilvaniei (1764) 436 Mircea Ciubotaru, O curte boiereascd la Negresti (judeful Vaslui). Indicii de civilizajie romdneascd la mijlocul secolului al XVIII-lea 485 Ion Donat, $erban Papacostea, Tinuturile dintre Carpaji }i Siret intr-o descriere austriacd de la sfarjitul secolului al XVIII-lea (III) 491 Andi Mihalache, Raportul de politie -o Itteraiurd de observatie sociald. Cazul Nicolae lorga 535

This essay considers how a historical legacy of printed games dating back to the sixteenth century in Italy laid the foundation for modern board games like those produced by Milton Bradley. The technology of print and the broad publics it reached enabled the spread of a common gaming culture- one built upon shared visual structures in game boards. Modern board games, of course, relied upon similar rules and replicated the ludic functions of their Renaissance progenitors. But perhaps more importantly, they built upon and perpetuated entrenched narratives about how fortune and morality contributed to lived experiences, presenting their viewers and players with a familiar printed imagination of the game of life.

This note investigates the path that led to the creation of the Chariot trump of the Tarot “of Marseille” (fig. 2). The track originates from a drawing by the Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini showing a triumphal wagon pulled by two horses (fig. 3) and probably made in the context of the competition organized in Ferrara shortly after 1441 to select an artistic project for an equestrian sculpture. This sketch appears to have inspired a Ferrarese tarot card, dated around 1450, and presenting an allegorical figure on a chariot (fig. 1). Probably due to the participation of Toscan artists in the contest, it seems that the design leaked to Florence, as revealed by a niello engraved by the Florentine Maso Finiguerra before 1464 that presents striking similarities to the Ferrarese card (fig. 4, on front cover). Finally, the Chariot card of the tarot “of Marseille” obviously borrows characteristics common to its three ancestors, but also some features specific to each one. Given the very scarce circulation of the three images until recent times, this leads to conjecturing that the Chariot of the tarot “of Marseille” might have been originally created in Florence sometime between 1460 and 1473.

A son tour, Detlef Hoffmann reprenait ce cavalier d'épée dans son livre Le monde de la carte à jouer (Leipzig, 1972), . Bien que ces cartes aient été régulièrement mentionnées (par Cicognara, Cibrario, Kaplan et d'autres) comme des tarots, Michael Dummett émet de sérieux doutes :

CARD GAMES AND DIPLOMACY AT THE COURT OF KING CAROL I OF ROMANIA. Card games are part of parlour games, commonly defined as activities involving several people and having entertainment as their main aim. Card games were present at the court of King Carol I, together with other activities that can be considered, at least partially, as parlour games: billiards, cotillion, tableaux vivants, seances. AlI of these were cultivated by the members of the Romanian royal household during the reign of Carol I, either at the residences in the country (in the palace in Bucharest, at Cotroceni or in Sinaia), or during the visits to Germany, in Sigmaringen (the residence of the King's parents) and in Neuwied (the residence of Queen Elisabeta's parents). Card games are the most typical of parlour games, as long as they are not played for any material gain. Oftentimes, the games of piquet and whist - only these two games were played at the court - involved people from outside the restricted circle of the royal household: politicians, army officers, diplomats, members of other royal or princely courts. An analysis of documentary sources (letters, memoirs, diaries) points to the conclusion that parlour games were encouraged at the court of King Carol I not just for entertainment, but also as a means of communication and socialisation. The King used the atmosphere of the games in order to collect information, to send messages of his own, or merely to consolidate relationships.

Как известно, карты Таро отличаются от обычных игральных карт наличием т. н. Старших арканов, или Триумфов, помимо номерных карт и карт двора. Со времён итальянской эпохи Возрождения, когда только появились карты Таро, они приобрели высокую популярность среди людей разных социальных классов, первоначально использовавших их для азартных игр. Во Франции карты Таро, привезённые из Италии, приобретали свой собственный шарм, характеризующийся реалиями общества, в котором они распространялись. Из французских Таро наиболее известны колоды из Лиона, Авиньона, Марселя и Безансона, но именно шаблон "Марсельское Таро" рассматривается, согласно исследователю Тьерри Деполи, «как само слово Таро, как его истинная суть или как его абсолютный прародитель». Изобразительные особенности французских Таро, по мнению другого исследователя, Ж.-К. Флорнуа, можно считать аутентичными, поскольку мы находим похожие образы в скульптурах, барельефах и витражах романских соборов, а также в литературных памятниках Европы.

Were playing cards printed in Ferrara in 1436?
In an important article published in 1996 Pr. Gherardo Ortalli has highlighted the intensive production of playing cards that the Este family, who ruled Ferrara, had organised during the 15th century. Among various features he has pointed out the introduction of woodcut, and with it, the use of a “printing press” (torchiolo da carte) as early as 1436. The present writer disagrees with this interpretation and contends that this torchiolo da carte was not a “printing press” – a decisive device in the process of movable type printing, whose invention is traditionally credited to Gutenberg around 1450 – but a “paper press”. Indeed, woodblock printing does not need a press, and examples found in inventories of 16th-century French cardmakers’ workshops show that presses were used for a quite different usage: pressing together the layers of paper that formed the cardboard for playing cards.

I have cataloged almost 200 films incorporating cartomancy scenes, including 150 with Tarot trumps (and/or the Fool). Discussion chapters address the history of the cards, with special note taken of those that make film appearances, the role of cartomancy scenes in film, and also the attributes and qualities associated with filmic cartomancers. The longest chapter addresses the traditional and revised meanings assigned to the Tarot trumps and Fool in film contexts.

Cartomancy and Tarot in Film 1940-2010 is now available for purchase from Intellect, UK, and various on-line distributors.

The game of Tarot reached a peak in France between 1570 and 1650. Many writers of the time referred to Tarot, and some are particularly detailed when they mention the rules of the game. In his amazing book Les Bigarrures du Seigneur des Accords (1583), a collection and "grammar" of puns and double-entendres, three stories deal with the game of Tarot. They are both amusing and enlightening.

Bei Sanierungsarbeiten an einem 1847 erbauten Haus in Dormagen-Stürzelberg wurde im Fundamentbereich ein Dominostein aus Ebenholz und Elfenbein/Walknochen gefunden. Wahrscheinlich wurde er zur Zeit der französischen Besetzung des Niederrheins bzw. der Befreiungskriege (1798–1815) von französischen Soldaten mitgebracht.

Когда в Петергоф пришла настоящая снежная зима со жгучим морозом, свершилось открытие музея-спектакля «Дом игральных карт». Это действительно знаменательное событие для тех, кто очарован историей и символизмом карт, кого тяготит азарт или страсть к фокусам, или для тех, кто любит всякого рода представления. Интерактивность, тематическое убранство залов музея, «ожившие» исторические персонажи-гадалка, крупье, императоры (Николай I и Александр III) и императрица (Екатерина II) - делают посетителей участниками и свидетелями различных жизненных сценок, связанных с картами.

Die Geschichte des Dominospiels in Europa ist bisher wissenschaftlich nicht bearbeitet worden. Die ältesten Nachweise stammen aus China. Frühe archäologische Funde aus Nordwesteuropa reichen bis an die Grenze des Mittelalters zurück, sind aber außerordentlich selten. Ein Import über den Seeweg aus China kommt aus chronologischen Gründen nicht mehr in Betracht. Etwa ab 1760 gibt es schriftliche Belege aus Frankreich und Deutschland. Während sich aber in Frankreich darin ein Interesse der Oberschichten an wettkampfmäßigem Spiel manifestiert, handeln die deutschen Belege zunächst von einem Kinderspiel. Erst mit den militärischen Erfolgen Frankreichs um die Jahrhundertwende steigt die Reputation des Spiels in den europäischen Oberschichten. In dieser Zeit sind neben Spielsätzen aus Hartgeweben auch Kartenspielsätze geläufig. Der Name leitet sich vermutlich von dem französischen Wort für Buntpapierherstellung ab, unter dem auch die Kartenmacher zu subsumieren sind.

This study aims to show the life history of playing cards as a fascinating interplay between cultures and concepts. That interplay concerns the cultural meaning that is not given but created and developed when human and non-human agents act conjointly. Playing cards as non-human agents have been for long present in people's lives. By tracing back to their early history, it is possible not only to understand how their form has changed but also which were the different meanings that playing cards conveyed at those times. Proceeding in time playing cards' have shifted from a dependent to an independent agency that enabled them to gradually alter the meaning with which they have been connected to, and became powerful mediums, conveying other meanings often disguised as metaphors. Being an exchangeable commodity, an agentively entangled object and a fetish while being able to move constantly through these modes of being, playing cards reveal their potential to create distinct sociocultural 'places' and mediate the experiences of the subjectivities that emerge within them.

This article examines when and how playing cards were introduced in Russia and links the adoption of card playing in the Russian Empire to the process of Westernization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author examines the role of card playing in noble culture and in the context of wider historical problems: the transition from medieval to modern culture; the translation and perception of cultural novelties; and the relationship cards and card playing had with other forms of celebration and leisure. The article is based on various sources, including Russian laws, import-export (cus¬toms) records, private sources in noble family archives, and literary works.