Suit Systems, National Types and Patterns

Playing cards suits have evolved from the earliest Chinese money-based cards into the suit symbols we find around the world today, including the various European suit-systems (Italian and Spanish, Germanic and Swiss, French and English). There have also been variant, non-standard or experimental suit systems. Articles also include information on different suits used in modern decks, such as those with five suits and variants of traditional designs.

The fact that the “French system” prevailed in the long term is likely due to the fact that it represents a more rational production technique: while the individual acorns and bells, swords and coins etc. had to be printed from woodblocks, the single-colour only form in "French suits" required just stencil printing. This printing method saves the card maker much labour on the forty number cards.

The Rider Waite Tarot was created at the beginning of the 20th century by Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith.

Domino‑suited playing cards are traditional Chinese (and Southeast Asian Chinese) decks whose faces bear the black‑and‑red pip patterns of Chinese domino tiles. Such decks typically have 32 cards (often with high cards duplicated) and use a two‑rank system inherited from the Chinese domino set: a civil (wen‑zi) suit containing all the doubles (top card “Heaven”, 6‑6) and a military (wu‑zi) suit containing the other tiles (top card “Nine” [6‑3/5‑4]). This scheme underlies classic games like Tien Gow (Heaven and Nine) and related regional trick‑taking games, reflecting the cards’ origin directly in domino‑tile gaming.

Madame Lenormand Cartomancy Cards, also known as the Lenormand Oracle or Petit Lenormand, is a deck of 36 fortune-telling cards created in the early 19th century. They are named after Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand, a famous French fortune-teller who was known to have read for prominent figures like Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Josephine.

Although there is no historical evidence that Madame Lenormand herself designed or used these specific cards, they have been associated with her due to her reputation and influence in cartomancy. The Lenormand cards differ from traditional Tarot cards in several ways. The Petit Lenormand has fewer cards (36 as opposed to Tarot's 78) and features simpler imagery based on everyday objects and situations, such as a ship, a tree, a heart, or a letter. Each card is numbered and associated with a playing card suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades), which adds an additional layer of meaning.

In recent years, the Lenormand Oracle has gained popularity among modern fortune-tellers and card readers, with many enthusiasts creating their own variations and interpretations of the original deck.

Pai (牌) is a traditional East and Southeast Asian card type, most closely associated with Chinese money-suited playing cards. The term broadly refers to long, narrow paper cards used in games such as madiao and later regional descendants, with suits based on monetary units like coins, strings and myriads. Known locally by related terms—including pai in Thai (ไพ่) and pai in several other regional languages—the cards spread widely through migration and trade, giving rise to local forms across China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and the Indonesian ceki tradition, and represent an important bridge between early Chinese card games and later developments such as Mahjong.

The term 'Moorish' includes Morisco, Mudéjar and other peoples living within al-Ándalus (Iberian peninsula) since the Muslim invasion of 711 and until the expulsions after the Reconquista in the XV & XVI centuries. The Moriscos were descendents of inhabitants of al-Ándalus, who were born and lived in Spain and had converted to Christianity. The Mudéjares remained in Spain during the late medieval period, retaining their Muslim religion and arts. Mozarabic refers to Christians living under Muslim rule and an associated architectural style.

See also: Arabic►

Ganjifa refers to a family of card games that originated in Persia and spread to India during the Moghul period, An early form consisted of a 96-card pack divided into eight suits, each with ten numeral and two court cards — the king (mir) and minister (wazir).

The term appears to have been used generically for playing cards across a wide region. Although its early history remains uncertain, a 15th century reference by the Mamluk historian Yusuf ibn Taghribirdi suggests that ganjifa (kanjifah) was already known in the Islamic world. The game likely spread from Persia to India under the Mughal Empire, where it flourished in richly painted, often circular formats, while in Persia it declined after being prohibited under Abbas II. Today, “ganjifa” is most often associated with the Indian tradition, while ganjafeh or ganjafa refer more specifically to the Persian form.

The games played often involve trick-taking, and the rules can vary depending on the region and variant of the game being played.

Hanafuda (花札, “flower cards”) are traditional Japanese playing cards comprising a 48-card deck divided into twelve suits, each associated with a month of the year. Every suit contains four cards depicting seasonal plants—such as pine for January or cherry blossom for March—rather than numerical values.

Cards are grouped into four functional categories used across many Hanafuda games: bright (hikari), animal (tane), ribbon (tanzaku), and chaff (kasu), each carrying different scoring weight depending on the game being played.

Hanafuda emerged in Edo-period Japan following repeated bans on Western-style playing cards. In response, makers developed abstract, non-numerical imagery that allowed card play to continue while avoiding explicit foreign symbols. Although the deck itself is a distinct card type, many traditional Hanafuda games make use of Mekuri-style mechanics, in which cards are revealed, compared, and captured rather than played to tricks.

By the 19th century, the now-familiar twelve-month structure had become standardised. The Marufuku Nintendo Company, founded in 1889, was established specifically to manufacture Hanafuda decks and remains historically central to their production and survival.

Nã'ib, the game of lieutenants... these cards are amongst the earliest Arabic playing cards extant.

Money-suited cards are a family of traditional Chinese playing cards whose suits are based on units of currency—typically Coins (cash), Strings and Myriads—usually numbered 1–9 and often supplemented with higher “honour” cards or special subjects in some regional patterns. Their most famous form is closely associated with madiao and related trick-taking and gambling games, with many decks illustrating heroes from Water Margin on the higher cards—hence the common nickname “Water Margin cards”. Money-suited designs were widely used and adapted across East and Southeast Asia, and are frequently discussed as an important early suit system in the broader history of playing cards.

Ceki is a regional form of Chinese-derived money-suited playing cards used primarily in Indonesia. The name is a local rendering of the Chinese chi chi pai (紙牌), reflecting the game’s origins in southern Chinese card traditions brought to Southeast Asia through migration and trade. Ceki decks retain the long, narrow pai format and monetary suits, but developed distinctive local styling and gameplay, and remain an important example of how Chinese card systems were adapted and preserved outside China.

Hwatu (화투) is the Korean version of the Japanese hanafuda flower-card deck, used especially in traditional Korean games like Go-Stop. It has 48 cards in 12 flower-themed monthly suits of four cards each. Introduced during the early 20th-century Japanese occupation, Hwatu has since evolved its own Korean style: decks are usually printed on thick plastic (often red-backed) with vivid colours, and include local markings (for example, a circled ‘光’ on certain high-value cards) that distinguish them from the Japanese originals.

Âs-nas (آس ناس) are traditional playing cards from Persia (modern-day Iran), most often associated with the Qajar period (1785–1925). Typically small, hand-painted and lacquered, they form a compact pack of 20 or 25 cards made from five repeated ranks rather than four suits—commonly a king (Shâh), queen (Bîbî), soldier (Sarbâz), a dancer/courtesan figure, and an âs card, usually shown with a lion emblem (sometimes with the sun).

Akahachi (赤八, literally “Red Eight”) is a Japanese playing-card pattern developed during the Edo (Tokugawa) period for use in Mekuri games. It emerged after authorities restricted or outlawed gambling with foreign-style cards, including earlier Tenshō and Unsun Karuta. In response, card makers produced decks whose imagery deliberately obscured recognisable suits and court figures.

In Akahachi decks, court cards are rendered as highly abstract forms, with little or no visible suit symbolism. Many cards employ dark or black grounds, sometimes with silver overprinting, further disguising their identity. The name “Red Eight” refers to the red character for the numeral eight, one of the few remaining legible elements within an otherwise concealed design system. Surviving Akahachi decks, most notably those manufactured by Nintendo, are representative of a wider tradition of visual obfuscation in Japanese card production under regulatory pressure.

This game uses a Ganjifa type of pack of playing cards. The term "Dasavatara" refers to the ten avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu. The deck consists of 120 round cards, divided into ten suits, each representing one of Vishnu's avatars. The suits are ordered according to the mythology of the avatars' appearances, starting with the Matsya (fish) avatar and ending with the Kalki avatar. The game involves a complex set of rules and is typically played by four players in two partnerships.

Standard patterns are when a certain design becomes established in a certain region and all local manufacturers produce a version of it. It then becomes traditional in that region or in other regions where it is adopted.

Some modern patterns are descendants of patterns used three of four hundred years ago. For example, the widely-used standard Anglo-American pattern seen today derives from sixteenth century French designs.

Playing cards have a rich and fascinating history, with a wide variety of patterns and designs having been used throughout the centuries. A lot of these early patterns have fallen out of use and are now considered archaic or obsolete. Often only one example is known.

These old, historic patterns are sometimes discovered as stiffener inside old book bindings when these are repaired, or under floorboards in old buildings during restoration. They are sometimes discovered in ancient rubbish tips. They are of great interest to collectors, historians, and enthusiasts alike.

A card player doesn’t like surprises. During the game s/he needs to recognize his or her cards quickly and easily. Mistakes can lead to loss... thus, players prefer standardized patterns that go unchanged by fashions. These cards are printed by most manufacturers,with only minor variations. They are used for a long period, become traditional and belong to public heritage. All others are “non-standard” or fantasy decks, political, educational, advertising decks, and so on.

The early Franco-Spanish pattern goes back to the sixteenth century and had connections with France as well as Spain. Prodigious quantities of playing cards were shipped from Lyon and Thiers into the Spanish peninsular during the 16th, 17th & 18th centuries. Many French manufacturers even emigrated or settled in Spain.

Distinguishing features include the cavalier of coins seen from behind; the king of coins holds a small axe; the ace of swords, and often the ace of clubs and one or two other numeral cards, are accompanied by a naked child; the ‘sota’ of cups might display a heraldic lion and the ace of coins features a Spanish heraldic arms. The central coin of the five often shows portraits of the Catholic Monarchs or else a single portrait. The pattern is now extinct.

See also: Aluette Spanish National pattern►

Trappola, or Trappolier cards, are an Austro-Hungarian adaptation of Venetian cards. They are particularly appealing due to their colourfulness.

The Lyon pattern was initially developed in Lyon, France, during the 16th century. As Lyon was a trading hub, cross-cultural exchange and spread of the designs to Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland naturally occurred. The designs spread abroad, undergoing local adaptations, and survived even after they became obsolete in France.