Business cards News

Kabufuda (, “nine-cards”) are Japanese playing cards used for gambling games such as Oicho-Kabu.

Kabufuda cards, like the related hanafuda (”flower cards”) are smaller and stiffer than Western playing cards. A deck contains 40 cards, with designs representing the numbers 1 through 10. There are four cards for each number.

The object of all kabufuda games is to get a total closest to nine.

External links

• Kabufuda cards (image)
• Kabufuda site (Japanese)

Alternation is a solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. Its tableau (or playing area) is similar to that of another solitaire game, Stonewall.

Forty-nine cards are set up into seven columns of seven cards each. In each column, the top card, the third and fifth cards from the top and the bottom card are face up. The second, fourth, and sixth cards from the top are face down. This results in an alternating OXOXOXO pattern.

The object of the game is to release the Aces as they become available, creating foundations, and to then build up each suit from the Ace.

The top cards of each column are available for play, to be built up by suit on the foundations, or on each other down by alternating colors. A sequence or part of a sequence can be moved as a unit.

When no more cards can be moved, the stock (the remaining cards) is dealt one card at a time. A card that cannot be built on the tableau or on the foundations is placed on the waste pile, the top card of which is available for play.

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations. If this is not achieved, the game ends after the entire stock has run out. There is no redeal.

Gay Gordons is a form of Patience. It is played with a standard deck, with jokers removed. Ten piles of five are dealt face up, with two reserve cards also face up. In both the top card is in play and the piles cannot be refilled or built on. Empty piles cannot be refilled. The aim of the game is to remove all cards by making pairs that add up to eleven (suits are not important). Kings pair with queens, jacks with other jacks, and aces with tens.

Esther Howland (1828 - 1904) was an artist and businesswoman who is responsible for popularizing Valentine’s Day greeting cards.

She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1847 at the age of 19. Howland received an ornate English Valentine from a business associate of her father and began to create and market her own brand of Valentine’s Day greeting cards. She employed friends and developed a thriving business which she eventually sold in 1881.

External links

• Making Valentines: A tradition in America
• Worcester Historical Museum
• American Heritage

In gambling terminology a crimp is a bend that has been intentionally made on the corner(s) of a playing card to facilitate identification.

A card cheat will typically bend some of the important cards during the game. Below are just several of the most popular examples.

In poker, for instance, a cheat may crimp one of the cards to mark off the exact location where he wishes his secret conspirator to cut the deck. Similarly, if the card cheat is not working with a confederate, he may bend one or more cards to force a cut upon an unsuspecting victim. In either case the deck will most likely be cut at the exact predetermined spot in the same way an old book always tends to open at the same page.

Another poker scenario (also popular in numerous other games) is to crimp some of the high-value cards during the early rounds. On subsequent rounds the cheat will be able to identify some of those cards during the deal. This enables the cheat to employ a second deal and deal some of those cards to the desired hand, or simply to identify some of the cards held by other players. In any event, the cheat has a mathematical edge over the other players.

In casino blackjack a crossroader may crimp all the 10-value cards. this will enable the cheat to sometimes identify the dealer’s hole card (the dealer has one card face up, called the up card, and one card face down, called the hole card). In those instances the cheat(s) will know the dealer’s total and play their hand(s) accordingly.

For the Ludacris song, see Rollout (My Business)

Rollout or roll ‘em out is poker jargon used for a game phase in certain poker variants. It is often incorrectly called “roll your own”, to which it has similarities but from which it is fundamentally different.

Poker games with a rollout phase resemble stud poker but have significantly different strategies, because players generally receive all of their cards up front (sometimes with a draw phase), and know the final value of their hand in early betting rounds. They resemble stud poker only in that cards are revealed to other players one at a time for each betting round.

There are the same three variations on the idea as with roll your own, depending on when players are allowed to choose which card to reveal. They can either be forced to arrange the order of their cards before any betting begins (”choose before”), or they can be allowed to choose cards in later rounds based on information found in earlier rounds (”choose after”). In the latter case, the revealing can be made simultaneously or in turn.

In the game of show five, for example, each player is dealt seven cards before any betting begins, and each of the game’s five betting rounds begins with the players simultaneously revealing one of their cards (”simultaneous choose-after rollout”). Rollout games are frequently played high-low split, and players choose which cards to reveal in order to delay as long as possible revealing which half of the pot they intend to win.

Queen of Italy (also known as Terrace) is a solitaire card game that is played using two decks of playing cards. It is one of those which has the lowest chances of winning because the cards that would potentially block the game is presented at the start.

First, eleven cards are dealt in a row, overlapping each other. These cards form the reserve or “the terrace” (hence the name Terrace). After leaving a space below the terrace for the foundations, four cards are laid out in a row on the tableau. The player will then choose which of these four cards would start the first foundation. Once the choice has been made and the card chosen is placed on the foundation row, the gap it leaves behind is immediately filled with a new card from the stock. Five new cards are then added beside these four to form the tableau.

The foundations are built up in alternating colors, wrapping from King to Ace if necessary. The cards on the tableau are available to be built either on the foundations or on other cards in the tableau. The card on the tableau are built down on each other also in alternating colors, and any gap is immediately filled by a card from the stock. Cards are moved one at a time, and when a column is formed from building cards, only the top card is available for play.

The top card (i. e. the exposed card) of the terrace is the only card available for play and can be used to build only on the foundations.

When there are no more possible moves on the tableau, the stock is dealt one card at a time and placed on the wastepile, the top card of which is available to be built on the foundations or the tableau. The top card of the wastepile is also used to fill a gap on the tableau whenever it occurs. However, when the stock runs out, there is no redeal; the game ends soon after.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations. The game is lost when it is stuck after the entire stock has been dealt.

See also: solitaire terminology

The Acme of Control is a card trick in which the magician shows two cards, inserts them into the deck, allows the spectator to shuffle the deck, takes the deck back, and is then able to produce the two cards in any way he pleases, such as from his pocket.

Method

Assuming that the magician wishes to produce the cards from his pocket at the end, he starts with the five of diamonds and the four of hearts in his pocket before presenting the trick. He then removes the five of hearts and the four of diamonds that are in the deck, and shows them together to the audience. These cards are re-inserted into the deck, which is then shuffled by the spectator. At the end, the magician produces the similar pair of cards that have been in his pocket all along, apparently the same cards which were shuffled into the deck.

Sources

• Erdnase, S.W. The Expert At The Card Table. ISBN 0-486-28597-9

Esther Howland (1828 - 1904) was an artist and businesswoman who is responsible for popularizing Valentine’s Day greeting cards.

She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1847 at the age of 19. Howland received an ornate English Valentine from a business associate of her father and began to create and market her own brand of Valentine’s Day greeting cards. She employed friends and developed a thriving business which she eventually sold in 1881.

External links

• Making Valentines: A tradition in America
• Worcester Historical Museum
• American Heritage

Flower Garden is a solitaire card game using a deck of 52 playing cards. It is not known why the game is called such, but the terms used in this game do have a relation to those in gardening and it takes merit that some skill is needed. It is also known under the names The Bouquet and The Garden.

Thirty-six cards are dealt in to six columns, each containing six cards. The columns are called the “flower beds” and the entire tableau is sometimes called “the garden.” The sixteen leftover cards become the reserve, or “the bouquet.”

The top cards of each flower-bed and all of the cards in the bouquet are available for play. Cards can only be moved one at a time and can be built either on the foundations or on the other flower beds. The foundations are built up by suit, from Ace to King (a general idea of the game is to release the aces first). The cards in the garden, on the other hand, can be built down regardless of suit and any empty flower bed can be filled with any card. The cards in the bouquet can be used to aid in building, be put into the foundations, or fill an empty flower bed.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

In a deck of playing cards, the term face card is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person. Cards depicting persons were developed in Europe, possibly in the late 1300s; it is believed that earlier sets of cards included “court cards” that showed abstract designs, and not persons.

Europeans changed the court cards to represent European royalty and attendants, thereby forming the original face cards: king, chevalier, and knave (or servant).

A deck of modern (Anglo-American) playing cards has the following face cards:

• Jack
• Queen
• King

A deck of Italian playing cards has the following face cards (which are worth 10, 9 and 8 respectively, as there are only 10 cards per suit):

• King - a man standing, wearing a crown
• Knight/Horseman/Cavaliere - a man sitting on a horse
• Dame/Donna - a younger woman standing, without a crown

Significance of cards being face cards (versus a “regular”, “rank” or “numbered” card) varies depending on the particular game being played. Typically they are considered as part of a sequence to be higher than the 10, but often lower than the ace. Many games that ascribe value, or ‘points’ to a face card would make all face cards equal to the 10.

While modern decks of playing cards may contain a Joker (or two) depicting a person (such as a jester or clown), jokers are not normally considered as face cards, although some specific card games may treat them as such.

Monte Carlo (also known as Weddings and Double and Quits) is a solitaire pair-matching card game (using a deck of 52 playing cards) where the object is to remove pairs from the tableau. Contrary to its name, it has no relation to the city with the same name nor to any casino-related game.

Game starts when 25 cards are laid out in such a way that they form a 5×5 grid (one version states that 20 cards are dealt to form a 5×4 grid). The rest of the deck are set aside for later as the reserve.

Cards that make up a pair (such as two Kings or two Sixes) are removed when they are immediately next to each other horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Once all pairs have been removed, the cards are consolidated, i.e. moving cards to the left as if towards the upper left corner to fill any gaps left behind by the discarded pairs. New cards are then laid out from the reserve to form a fresh layout of 25 cards.

This removal of pairs, consolidation of cards, and addition of new cards continue until the reserve cards have run out. After this, removal of pairs and consolidation continues.

The game finishes when all cards have been discarded. The game also ends when it is no longer possible to remove pairs, especially on the finishing stages of the game such as “4-6-4-6.”

Although skill and luck are mostly involved in the game, strategy can sometimes play a part, such as leaving a pair alone to be used to aid freeing a separated pair (e. g. two Queens that are left alone to unlock a Q-7-Q).

Monte Carlo Thirteens

Solsuite has a second version of Monte Carlo where the aim is closer to another solitaire game, Pyramid. In a version called Monte Carlo Thirteens, instead of pairs of cards with the same rank, kings and pairs of cards with values totalling 13 are removed during game play.

The Spelling Bee also known as Cards That Know Their Names, is a magic effect with cards where the magician uses thirteen cards. He then spells out cards one at a time, moving a card from the top of the packet to the bottom for each letter. For example, he spells “Ace”, moving one card from the top of the packet to the bottom as he says “A”, another as he says “c”, and a third as he says “e”. The next card is turned over, and it is an ace. The ace is removed from the packet and the process is repeated for “two”, “three”, and so on, up to “queen”, until the magician is holding only one card. This last card is a king.

Method

Before starting the performance, the magician has secretly arranged the thirteen cards in the following order from top to bottom: 3-8-7-A-Q-6-4-2-J-K-10-9-5 for Ace to King. For Two to Ace it is J-4-9-2-K-8-A-5-7-3-Q-10-6

The trick is then performed just as described above.

Literature

• Jean Hugard, The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks ISBN 0-486-21252-1

Eagle Wing (otherwise known as Thirteen Down) is a solitaire card game which is played with a deck of 52 playing cards. The game takes its name from the tableau which depicts a bird, particularly an eagle, spreading its wings in flight.

First, 13 cards are dealt face down as one pile. They will act as the “trunk” of the eagle, i.e. the reserve. Then, four cards are dealt each to the left and right of the trunk (eight cards in all). They act as the “wings” of the eagle, i.e. the tableau. After these 21 cards are dealt, a twenty-second card is placed above the “eagle.” This is the base of the first foundation and the three other foundations must start with cards with the same rank.

The cards on the wings are available only to be built on the foundations, which are built up by suit and round-the-corner (aces placed on top of kings). Gaps are immediately filled with cards from the trunk, turning it face up.

When there are no more moves to be made from the wings, the stock is dealt one card at a time to be played onto the foundations. Unplayed cards are placed on the waste pile, the top card of which is available for play. The stock can be dealt three times, i.e. two redeals are allowed by picking up the wastepile and turning it face down.

When the trunk is down to its last card, it is turned face up and immediately available to be built onto the foundations without having to wait for an empty space on the wings. Afterwards, any space on the wings may be filled with a card from the stock or the wastepile.

The game ends when all moves have been made after the stock has been dealt the third time. The game is won when all cards are built up in the foundations.

Trade card describes small cards, similar to the visiting cards exchanged in social circles, that businesses would distribute to clients and potential customers. Trade cards first became popular at the beginning of the 17th century in London. These functioned as advertising and also as maps, directing the public to merchants’ stores, as no formal street address numbering system existed at the time.

The trade card is an early example of the modern business card. Some businesses began to create increasingly sophisticated designs, especially with the development of color printing. A few companies specialized in producing stock cards, usually with an image on one side and space on the other side for the business to add its own information. As the designs became more attractive and colorful, collecting trade cards became a popular hobby in the late 19th century, since color images were not yet widely available.

In its original sense, the “trade” in trade card refers to its use by the proprietor of a business to announce his trade, or line of business. By moving into the realm of collecting, trade cards gave rise to the trading card, the meaning now shifting to the exchange or trade of cards by enthusiasts. Some cards, particularly those produced by tobacco companies featuring baseball players, later developed into collectibles and lost their function as a business advertisement.

See also

• Advertising postcard
• Baseball card
• Cigarette card
• Postcard

External links

• Brooklyn Public Library: Fulton Street Trade Card Collection
• Catalogue of heraldic tobacco and trading cards

Compucards was a computer-themed deck of playing cards with special card games designed by entrepreneur Sam Pitroda in 1983. The cards were numbered in powers of two excepting the ace card, resulting in a progression of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16… Other changes included using Bugs for joker cards and replacing the K King card with a P Programmer card whose illustration resembled Pitroda.

External links

• Review of Compucards

A ration card is a card issued by a government allowing the holder to obtain certain rations. They are frequently seen in wartime. They are also used to provide goods to the poor sections of the society at highly subsidized prices.

Ration Cards in India

Ration cards are an important part of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India.
They are of three types:

• Antyodaya ration cards, issued to the poorest of the poor.
• Below Poverty Line (BPL)cards
• Above Poverty Line (APL) cards

On the basis of their economic condition, people can buy goods like food grains, sugar, kerosene, etc. at varying prices, with the help of their ration cards.

Osmosis (also known as Treasure Trove) is a solitaire game played with a deck of 52 playing cards where the object, like many solitaire games, is to put the cards into foundations, although not in numerical order.

Game play consists of a tableau with four piles of four cards each (one face-up card on top of three face-down cards). A seventeenth card is put in the first of four foundations. Cards with the same suit as this card must be moved to this foundation and the three other foundations must begin with cards of the same rank. All undealt cards make up the stock.

The top cards in each pile in the tableau are the only cards in play and must be moved to the foundations. A card can be moved to a foundation if a card of the same value has already been placed in the foundation before it. Once cards have been placed on the foundation, any face-down cards remaining in the tableau are turned face-up. When placing cards from the tableau is no longer possible, one can use the stock, deal three cards at a time, and use its top card to make possible moves. One can redeal the stock as long as there are possible moves from the stock or from the tableau to the foundations.

Here’s an example (foundations only):

Suppose that from the example above, any heart card can be moved to the top foundation. One can also place 10♠ into its foundation, but one cannot put 2♦ yet into its foundation because 2♠ hasn’t turned up yet in its foundation. No club cannot be placed at this time as the 7♣ hasn’t appeared.

The game is won when all cards have been moved to the foundations. But winning any game can rely on where certain cards are placed in the either one of the piles in the tableau or in the stock pile. Because of this, finishing a game of Osmosis is slim if not rare.

Peek

Peek is another solitaire card game using a deck of 52 playing cards. It is played exactly as Osmosis except all the cards on this game’s tableau are face-up.

Yukon is a version of solitaire similar to standard Klondike solitaire, but with the following additions:

• Groups of cards can be moved; the cards below the one to be moved do not need to be in any order, except that the starting and target cards must be built in sequence and in alternate color. For example, a group starting with a Red 3 can be moved on top a Black 4, and the cards below the Red 3 can differ.
• There is no stock in Yukon. All cards are dealt at the beginning; however, some are face down.

See also

• Solitaire terminology

External links

• Play Yukon
• World of Solitaire - Yukon Free, web based solitaire that does not require Flash nor Java
• Yukon rules

Baroness is a solitaire card game that is played with a deck of 52 playing cards. Also known as Five Piles and Thirteens, it is a game that has an arrangement that is almost like that of Aces Up but with the game play of Pyramid.

Five cards are dealt in a row; they will form the bases of the five piles, the top cards of which are available for play.

In order to win, one has to remove Kings and pairs of cards that total 13. In this game, spot cards are taken at face value, Jacks value at 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. So the following combinations of cards are discarded:

• Queen and Ace
• Jack and 2
• 10 and 3
• 9 and 4
• 8 and 5
• 7 and 6
• Kings on their own.

When gaps occur, they are filled by the top cards of the other piles; but when there are not enough cards to do this (less than five), cards from the stock are used.

When gaps are filled and no kings and/or pairs of cards totalling 13 are present, five new cards are dealt from the stock, one onto each pile. Game play then continues, with the top cards of each pile, as mentioned above, are available. This cycle of discarding and dealing of new cards goes on until the stock has been used up.

The game is successfully won when all cards have been discarded.

This article is about the solitaire game. To know about interregnum, see its associated article.

Interregnum is a solitaire card game using two decks of 52 cards each. The object of this game is to build eight foundations of thirteen cards each, regardless of suit. But building the foundations is unusual compared to most foundation-building games.

The game starts with eight cards dealt in a row. The space below each card is a foundation and the card above the foundation is its last card. Therefore, the foundation must start with a card which is a rank higher than the card over it and is built up from there without any regard to the suits. (E. g. a 5 above a 4, a 2 above an A, an A above a K, etc.)

Below the foundations are eight tableau piles each starting with one card each. The cards on the tableau must be moved to the foundations and there should be no further manipulation within the tableau. When no more moves are possible, a card is dealt from the 88-card reserve (the leftover cards) into each pile, whether empty or having at least one card. The top card of each pile is available for play.

When a foundation has been filled to the twelfth card, the card above the foundation is placed over it as the thirteenth card, closing out the foundation and setting it aside.

The game is over when the reserve has been used up and there no possible moves left. The game is won when all eight foundations have been set aside, each with thirteen cards each.

Sometimes, the first eight cards dealt (as mentioned above) are the foundations and are built the same way as if they are the first cards. Once a foundation is filled with thirteen cards, ending with the card a rank lower than the first card, it is closed out and set aside.

Intelligence is a solitaire card game which uses two decks of playing cards mixed together. It is basically a two-deck version of another solitaire game La Belle Lucie and its game play is somewhat closer to the parent game than its cousins House in the Wood and House on the Hill.

First, 18 piles (or fans) of three cards are dealt. During this deal any ace encountered regardless of where it would end up in the pile will be moved to a foundation and be replaced with another card. As they become available, the other aces are placed on the foundations, which are all built up by suit.

The top cards of the piles are available to be built on the foundations or on each other’s piles on the tableau. When building on the tableau, the cards are built either up or down by suit. Aces cannot be placed over kings, however, and vice versa.

When a gap occurs, it is immediately filled by three new cards from the stock. This is the only way cards from the stock are introduced from the game and the only way spaces are refilled. As in the original deal, any ace that comes up is immediately placed on the foundations.

When all moves have been made and become stuck, even if there are still cards in the stock, the stock and all the cards in the tableau are gathered, reshuffled, and 18 piles of three cards each are redealt, or as many piles of three cards as the remaining ones can allow. This can be done twice and during both redeals as in the original deal, any aces the player encounters are immediately placed onto the foundations.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Sloane Lee and Gabriel Packard’s version of the game (in the book 100 Best Solitaire Games) slightly increased the number of tableau piles to 19 because they think this improves the game.

Sly Fox is a solitaire card game played with two decks of 52 playing cards each. It is probably named because the player has to be “sly as fox,” so to speak, to win, if played correctly.

First, one king and one ace of each suit are removed. The aces are placed vertically on one side of the tableau, the kings are placed on the other side. These form the foundations.

The rest of the cards are shuffled and twenty cards are placed between the ace-foundations and the king foundations. These 20 cards form the reserve and are available to play only onto the foundations. The aces are built up, while the kings are built down, all by suit.

Gameplay is divided into three phases.

The first phase involves moving the cards from the reserve to the foundations for building only. When a card leaves the foundation, the gap it leaves behind is immediately filled with a new card from the stock. When all possible moves are made, or when the player had done all the moves he can make, play moves to the second phase.

The second phase of gameplay involves dealing 20 cards from the stock, one at a time, to any of the 20 piles (the cards already there serve as bases) on the reserve. It does not matter where each card ends up; a pile can contain more than two cards while a pile would end up with just one card. In this phase, no building is allowed until all twenty cards are deal. Once the twenty cards are dealt, gameplay moves to the third phase.

The third phase is similar to the first phase, moving cards from the reserve to the foundations. The top cards of each reserve pile are available for play. This time though, when gaps occur, they are not immediately filled. Furthermore, the cards on the reserve are not built on each other; they can only be transferred to the foundations, and cards on the foundations cannot be moved once built. When all possible moves have been made, or when the player has made all moves one can make, gameplay moves back to the second phase.

During this deal of 20 new cards, the player has the discretion of filling the gaps left behind during the third phase. When all twenty cards are dealt, gameplay shifts to the third phase. The second and third phases are repeated until the stock has been used up.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations. As mentioned earlier, if done correctly, it can be won; but chances of doing this are low.

This is the article about the solitaire game. For the rock band, see The Plot (band).

The Plot is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards.

First, thirteen cards are dealt, squared up, and turned face up. This pile makes up the reserve. Then a card is placed as the first foundation. Then, below the reserve, twelve cards are dealt in three rows of four cards each.

As they become available, the seven other cards of the same rank as the first foundation card are placed in the foundations as well, and all are built up regardless of suit until each contains thirteen cards. For example, if the card dealt after the reserve is formed is a seven, the other sevens should start the other foundations. But the other foundations cards are subject on this restriction: The first foundation must be built up first until it has thirteen cards. When the first foundation is finished, the other seven foundations can be started and built at the same time.

The top card of the reserve is available for play only on the foundations. The top cards of the tableau piles (initially containing one card) are available for play both on the foundations and on the reserve. The tableau cards are built down regardless of suit, and only one card can be moved at a time. Building in this case is round-the-corner, i.e. an ace is ranked between a king and a two.

Spaces in the tableau are filled using only from the wastepile or the stock (never from the tableau), but not immediately; the player can leave a space as long as one likes. During the restriction, while the first foundation is still being built, only a card that is the same rank as the first card of the first foundation are placed is placed on it; foundation cards cannot be built or built upon, in the tableau. Once the first foundation is finished (i.e. contains thirteen cards), any card from the wastepile or the stock can be placed on a space.

The stock can be dealt one at a time and unplayable cards can be placed on the wastepile, the top card of which is available for play. There is no redeal.

The game ends when the game goes on a standstill after the stock runs out. The game is won when all cards are built in the foundations.

Obviously, because of the restriction, the player is advised to built on the first foundation as fast as possible so when that is done, the player can proceed in the building the other foundations. Also, the use of the reserve is suggested in every opportunity, and the use of spaces must be maximized, since they may not filled immediately.

See also

• Solitaire terminology

Raise the Roof is a construction strategy card game for 2 to 4 players.

The game is played by drawing cards in turn and playing them to build your house. Room cards used to build your house range in value from 100 to 400. You can stop other players from building their house, take parts from their house, and even take cards from their hands. The game ends when a house is completed. All players must then add up the value of their respective houses and subtract the value of the cards in their hands (with the exception of the player who has a completed house). The player with the highest score wins.

Raise the Roof was created by Henard Industries in 1982 and was discontinued after only a few years of print.

Sources