Editing Card game (section)

=== 14th and 15th centuries ===
The earliest European mention of playing cards appears in 1371 in a [[Catalan language]] rhyme dictionary.{{sfn|Denning|1996|p=14}} This suggests that cards may have been "reasonably well known" in [[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]] (now part of [[Spain]]) at that time, perhaps introduced as a result of maritime trade with the Mamluk rulers of [[Egypt]].<ref>Ferg, Wayland & Wayland (2007), p. 117.</ref> It is not until 1408 that the first card game is described in a document about the exploits of two [[card sharp]]s; although it is evidently very simple, the game is not named. In fact the earliest game to be mentioned by name is [[Karnöffel]], first mentioned in 1426 and which is still played in several forms today, including [[Bruus]], [[Knüffeln]], [[Kaiserspiel]] and [[Styrivolt]]. [[Ronfa]] and Condemnade are also recorded during the 15th century.<ref>Depaulis (1985), p. 75.</ref>

Since the arrival of [[trick-taking game]]s in Europe in the late 14th century, there have only been two major innovations. The first was the introduction of [[Trump (card games)|trump cards]] with the power to beat all cards in other suits.<ref name=Dummett173>Dummett (1980), p. 173.</ref> Such cards were initially called ''[[trionfi (cards)|trionfi]]'' and first appeared with the advent of [[Tarot cards]] in which there is a separate, permanent trump suit comprising a number of picture cards.<ref name="Dummett173"/> The first known example of such cards was ordered by the [[Duke of Milan]] around 1420 and included 16 trumps with images of Greek and Roman gods.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pratesi|first1=Franco|author-link=Franco Pratesi|title=Italian Cards - New Discoveries|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|date=1989|volume=18|issue=1, 2|pages=28–32, 33–38}}</ref> Thus games played with Tarot cards appeared very early on and spread to most parts of Europe with the notable exceptions of the [[British Isles]], the [[Iberian Peninsula]], and [[the Balkans]].<ref name="Parlett">[[David Parlett]], ''Oxford Dictionary of Card Games'', pg. 300 Oxford University Press (1996) {{ISBN|0-19-869173-4}}</ref> However, we do not know the rules of the early Tarot games; the earliest detailed description in any language being those published by the [[Abbé de Marolles]] in [[Nevers]] in 1637.<ref>[http://www.tarock.info/depaulis.htm ''Regles dv Jev des Tarots''] at tarock.info. Retrieved 4 January 2023.</ref><ref name=Depaulis>Depaulis (2002), pp. 313–316.</ref>

The concept of trumps was sufficiently powerful that it was soon transferred to games played with far cheaper ordinary packs of cards, as opposed to expensive Tarot cards. The first of these was [[Triomphe]], the name simply being the French equivalent of the Italian ''trionfi''. Although not testified before 1538, its first rules were written by a Spaniard who left his native country for Milan in 1509 never to return; thus the game may date to the late 15th century.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vives|first1=Juan Luis|last2=Foster|first2=Watson|title=Tudor School-Boy Life|date=1908|publisher=J.M. Dent & Company|location=London|pages=185–197|url=https://www.archive.org/stream/tudorschool-boyl00viveuoft#page/185/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Maldonado|first1=Juan|last2=Smith|first2=Warren|last3=Colahan|first3=Clark|title=Spanish Humanism on the Verge of the Picaresque|date=2009|publisher=Leuven University Press|location=Leuven|pages=23–59}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pratesi|first1=Franco|author-link1=Franco Pratesi|title=Juan Maldonado: A Writer to be Remembered|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|date=1988|volume=16|issue=4|pages=117–121}}</ref>

Others games that may well date to the 15th century are [[Gleek (card game)|Gleek]], [[Poch]]en – the game of ''Bocken'' or ''Boeckels'' being attested in Strasbourg in 1441<ref name=Depaulis1990>Depaulis (1990), pp. 52–67.</ref> – and [[Thirty-one (card game)|Thirty-One]], which is first mentioned in a French translation of a 1440 sermon by the Italian, [[Bernardino of Siena|Saint Bernadine]], the name actually referring to two different card games: one like [[Pontoon (banking game)|Pontoon]] and one like [[Commerce (card game)|Commerce]].<ref>Parlett (1990), p. 80.</ref>