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Card games are the games most commonly played by adults. Playing cards originated in the Far East in the 10th century. They may have been invented by the Chinese when they began shuffling paper money into various combinations. The Chinese are thought to have played both for and with this money, and in China today the general term for playing cards means paper tickets. As long ago as the 11th century, the Chinese practiced divination using strips of oiled paper known as strip cards. These bore a remarkable resemblance to present-day playing cards, which some people still use to predict the future.

Cards reached Europe in the 14th century, brought by traders and gypsies. Early 'cards' were made from card, thin strips of wood, metal, ivory, or tortoise shell. At first they were hand-painted, then in the early 15th century the first mass-produced cards appeared in Germany, followed by the rest of Europe. Christopher Columbus took a pack with him on his voyage in 1492 and introduced them to America.

The number of possible card games is practically unlimited, and a vast number of them have been devised. All depend either upon the concept of rank or that of cards in combinations. Some are designed for a specified number of players, a popular number being four; others may be played by any reasonable number. In most games a player's cards are known only to himself until exposed in conformity with the rules.

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The major kinds of card games include trick-taking games, in which players try to take (or avoid taking) specific cards; melding games, in which players try to form winning combinations with their cards; betting games, in which players wager on the outcome; and solitaire games, which are played alone. A new category, collectible card games, became an overnight sensation in 1993 with the publication of Magic: The Gathering. In Magic and similar games such as Pokémon, players buy a starter set of cards that they use to compete against other players. They can supplement the starter kit with additional purchases of random assortments of cards.

Card games for children are simple and are seldom played in a serious frame of mind. Children enjoy them because they can compete with adults with a chance of winning. Popular games include slapjack, casino, concentration, old maid, beggar-my-neighbour, go fish (or authors), and spit.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Card_game"

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