Quote 273 of 497

Card games developed in Asia from ancient form of fortune-telling, but
they did not become popular in Europe until the invention of printing.
Cards originally were large and square, with no identifying figures or
pips in the corners.  Court cards were printed with only one head
instead of double-headed, which meant that players often had to
identify them from the feet--turning the cards around would reveal a
holding of court cards.  Square corners made cheating easy for players
who could turn down a tiny part of the corner to identify cards in the
deck later on.  Doubled-headed court cards and cards with rounded
corners come into use only in the nineteenth century.
		-- Against the Odds, Peter L. Bernstein,
		   p. 13

Tags: europe asia fortune odds invention nineteenthcentury cardgames pips roundedcorners squarecorners printingcards courtcards peterlbernstein