Some of my warmest childhood memories are of playing cards with friends and family; evenings devoted to lengthy game sessions or wet camping holidays rescued by the familiar yet slightly mysterious faces of the fifty-two cardboard rectangles. The longstanding favourite game in our family is Racing Demon, a high-speed, adrenalin-inducing strategy game which gets all the more demonic the more players that join in. Strangely, I've never met anyone outside of our family who knows this fantastic game, but maybe others call by a different name.
I think that part of the allure of the playing cards is the nomenclature of the games themselves. Names like Rummy, Whist, Beggar-my-Neighbour, Solitaire and Canasta, to me as a child, seemed derived from other worlds and times, and held a certain magic. Words and phrases associated with the cards brought an added element of intrigue for me: concealed hand, flush, meld and wild card. The dazzle of the various shuffling techniques had me hooked from an early age too and I would watch in awe while older player players showed off their skills and the cards rippled in their hands. I must have invested a significant amount of childhood hours in trying to master new ways to shuffle the cards in style!
In our family, the learning of certain games is almost a rite-of-passage; this summer I was thrilled to be able to teach my six-year-old how to play Canasta, deeming him 'ready' for the complexities of the game, even though he lacks the strength or dexterity to hold the cards fanned in his hands, and still has to hide and arrange them behind a cushion or large book. Were it not for COVID spoiling plans of travel, he would now be able to enjoy this game with his grandparents, having earned his seat at the card table.
The sheer number of games that can be played with even a single pack of cards is mind-boggling and its appeal cuts across all ages. For anyone who feels that the playing of cards is merely frivolous or possibly iniquitous, they might wish to learn of the many benefits the popular pastime holds. Turn-taking and losing gracefully are skills to be learnt from game-playing and card games themselves offer opportunities to develop strategic thinking and memory capabilities. Some card games rely on quick-thinking or rapid decision-making, using logic and mathematical probability. Others build skills of recognising sequences or sorting, and many have a point-scoring element so totaling the score at the end of the game offers a great way of approaching addition, skip counting and sometimes subtraction and place value. Many classic games can be adapted to practice certain mathematical skills such as addition or multiplication and children can be remarkably creative in designing or adapting games themselves.
Beyond games, there is the thrill and frustration of building card houses. Patience and steadiness of hand are necessities for the budding tower builder and the ability to control one's emotions to a mere yell when the painstakingly-stacked construction comes crashing down. And of course, for the aspiring magician there are tricks galore to be mastered. I've delighted in passing on the secret of one particularly impressive card trick to my son which was taught to me by my uncle years ago. (Obviously, the Magician's Code prevents me from divulging the technique here! 😉)
Lastly, the most prosaic of playing cards' attributes may simply be their portability. A pack or two can be popped in a handbag or rucksack and produces such happiness when their presence is remembered; their weight is far surpassed by their value. Boredom-busters, serious playthings or objects of magic, cards have held significance across time and space and undoubtedly their role will continue to grow and flourish.
Here are a couple of links to useful playing card resources I've found helpful as a parent and as an educator:
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