Russian playing cards

Russian playing cards are cards that used predominantly in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. Unlike the internationally known standard French 52-card deck, most Russian card games employ either the 36 card (games such as Durak) or the 32 card (particularly Preferans) decks.

Playing cards were first introduced into Russia at the beginning of the 17th century from Western and Central Europe (supposedly from Germany and Poland). But they were soon banned, Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649 mentioned card games as one of the "thief's crimes" punished by lashing, however, since Peter the Great the ban was usually ignored. In spite of many attempts by the Russian government to restrict card games, many Russians, especially the Russian nobility, played cards in a significant scale during the 18th century.

Before the 19th century practically all playing cards were imported from Western and Central Europe, and since 1765 all imported cards had to be stamped and the high import duty had to be paid (that was supposed to limit card gaming). However, in 1819 the restrictions were lifted, but at the same time the import of playing cards was also forbidden and the state monopoly was created. The production of own Russian playing cards started in the Imperial Card Factory of the Imperial Paper Mill in Aleksandrovo (now a part of Saint-Petersburg).

The design of the Russian card decks were derived and influenced by the German card decks as well as the French card decks. Russian cards in the market were divided into three or four categories, depending on the quality of paper and printing: from cheapest decks for laymen through medium quality decks for the Russian middle class to high class decks for the imperial court and the higher nobility. The middle category was covered by talcum powder, its cards were smooth and easy to shuffle, hence the term satin cards (Russian: атласные карты). In 1862 the renown Russian painter Adolf Charlemagne (Russian: Адольф Шарлемань) created a new unified design. Very soon his design became the most widespread and recognizable and it is still widely produced and used in Russia. Apart from that nearly fifty card designs were devised by various Russian artists during the 18th–20the centuries.

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