United States Playing Card Company their standard 404 and the deluxe 606 which had gold edges. In modern use, the Congress brand is used for contract bridge cards and accessories. Congress cards come in an assortment of back designs. Each Congress deck consists of the 52 standard cards, two jokers, and an information card describing bridge scoring. Congress cards are now typically sold in coordinated sets of two decks to facilitate the common bridge practice of alternating decks between hands. Naipes Heraclio Fournier S.A. manufactures many different sets of playing cards, most for sale in Europe. Fournier cards are also common choices for casinos around
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