52 card deck: This the reason why?

Quote: 100xOdds

So what season corresponds to each suit?

The video game giant Nintendo was founded in 1889 Japan, you guessed it, PLAYING CARDS!

oops sorry to go off topic, somehow speed reading on my phone I got the impression this was a generalized playing card fact thread

Quote: gamerfreak

oops sorry to go off topic, somehow speed reading on my phone I got the impression this was a generalized playing card fact thread

#fail

Quote: mrsuit31

So what season corresponds to each suit?

Spades is winter, because everyone hates it.
Diamonds is spring, because people love it (spring break and all).
Hearts is fall, because it's all romantic and stuff (idk, I'm just making sh*t up).
Clubs is summer, cuz that's the best time to go clubbing.

That isn't true. It's just a coincidence.

Quote: TigerWu

That isn't true. It's just a coincidence.

I don't know... RS offered some pretty compelling evidence here.

Quote: RS

Hearts is fall, because it's all romantic and stuff (idk, I'm just making sh*t up).

But what about valentines day?? And lots of seed planting going on around NYE if you know what I'm saying...

I have always assumed that there were 13 ranks to make the math too difficult to do in your head.

Ace used to be the lowest until the French Revolution decided the lowest of the low still topped a King.

While the Ace did top the King is some pre-revolution games, it became almost universal afterward.

I'd think spades would be death, so winter. Hearts spring, because spring symbolizes rebirth. Diamond summer, because same color as hearts indicating a relationship, then clubs fall indicating a change again foreshadowing coming death. If you had to go with seasons, winter and spring would be perfectly symbolized, then you fill in the blanks. Decks aren't presorted red/black/red/black iirc, but it's all bs anyways.

Scarne provides a history of cards. The origination goes back to witch doctors in prehistoric times with sticks, arrows, and knucklebones used for predictions. The knucklebones evolved into dice, and the sticks and arrows evolved into wooden playing cards. These cards evolved into oiled paper cards, and are still used in parts of Korea. When the Chinese invented paper a couple thousand years ago, they created paper cards. Several hundred years later, during the T’ang Dynasty, they developed suits of coins, string of coins, myriads of coins, and tens of myriads, based on currency. These suits are still in use. In the Fourteenth Century, cards appeared in Europe – probably Italy. (A few months ago, I tracked down an old French dictionary in the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris that described the import of Baccara from Italy to France under Charles VIII, an avid gambler.) The decks had 78 cards, and the suits were swords, coins, batons (clubs), and cups and represented classes of society. In the Fifteenth Century, the number of cards was dropped to 56. And later, 52 or 32 for French cards, 48 for Spanish, and 40 for Italian. (There are other variations.) Columbus brought them to the New World, and Native Americans (many of whom were avid gamblers using implements much like the ancient Asians) adopted them, making them out of sheepskin. The current suits evolved over time, mostly from French and Italian cards.

Note: This is a highly condensed version of the history.