French-style playing cards

French playing cards
Designer	various
Manufacturer	various
Released	~1480 - present
Added to Museum	Animal Crossing: June 13, 2019 Rick and Morty: November 24, 2020

French playing cards (jeu de cartes) are playing cards that contain the French suits of trèfles (clovers or clubs), carreaux (tiles or diamonds), cœurs (hearts), and piques (pikes or spades).

They typically come in 52-card sets, with numbered cards in each suit from 2 to 10, and the royal cards valet (knave or jack), dame (lady or queen), and roi (king) in each set as well. The remaining card in each suit is an ace, which can have a point value of 1 or 14.

32-card sets are also popular in France. These cards are identical to the 52-card set, except the cards from 2 to 6 are removed, and cards with the numerical number 1 are stand-ins for the aces.

There are also 54-card sets which contain 2 joker cards, which were originally added as the bowers in the card game Euchre.

History

Playing cards arrived in Europe from Egypt in approximately 1370. The French suit pattern was derived from German suits in approximately 1480.

Nintendo

Nintendo Koppai (Nintendo Cards) was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi on September 3, 1889, following the relaxation of laws against playing cards in Japan. The company was founded in Kyoto, in an area that was well known for Yakuza activity. Yamauchi used this to his advantage, originally producing handmade Hanafuda playing cards, or flower cards. Nintendo's Hanafuda cards soon began to be used in Yakuza gambling parlors.

When demand began to overwhelm his ability to produce the handmade cards on his own, Yamauchi hired a small team to help him create the cards. His cards had become so popular that by the early 20th century, he opened up another card shop in Osaka, Japan.

In 1902, Nintendo began manufacturing and selling French-style playing cards, which were the first of their kind to be manufactured in Japan.

French playing cards in video games

Card games using French playing card decks have remained popular throughout the world and have appeared in several video games.

Poker

Poker, a popular game using French playing cards, involves trying to create combinations of cards. Texas hold 'em is the most popular ruleset for poker, although there are other rulesets, including Omaha hold'em.

Poker has been included in several video games.

Telltale Games created three poker games. Telltale Texas Hold'em and Poker Night at the Inventory, both released only on Windows, included the Texas hold'em rules of poker. Poker Night 2 for iOS, macOS, PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 included both Texas hold'em and Omaha hold'em.

Ryū ga Gotoku Studio included Texas hold'em poker as mini-games in most of their games, including Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, Judgment, Like a Dragon Ishin!, Lost Judgment, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2, Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5, Yakuza 6, Yakuza: Dead Souls, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.