Spanish playing cards (10-12). Since the mid-20th century, they have usually been sold with two "comodines" (Jokers), for a total of 50 cards. Stripped decks have 40 cards and lack ranks 8, 9 and "comodines". The popularity of the stripped deck is due to game of Ombre, which became a craze throughout Europe during the 17th century. The Spanish suits closely resemble Italian-suited cards as both were derived from the Arab cards. The four suits are "bastos" (clubs), "oros" (literally "golds", that is, golden coins), "copas" (cups) and "espadas" (swords). Unlike the suits found in northern Italy, Spanish swords are straight and the
Cartomancy Cartomancy Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Practitioners of cartomancy are generally known as "cartomancers", "card readers", or simply "readers". Cartomancy using standard playing cards was the most popular form of providing fortune-telling card readings in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The standard 52-card deck is often augmented with jokers or even with the blank card found in many packaged decks. In France, the 32-card piquet stripped deck is most typically used in cartomantic readings, although the 52