Russian playing cards some famous Russian writers, particularly Alexandre Pushkin who wrote "The Queen of Spades". Because the 6 is the lowest card of the Russian deck, Russian slang uses the derogatory word "shestyorka" meaning "underling, lackey". 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
Transformation playing card should be considered a transformation deck, due to these differences. The Dean and Son deck remained the only deck to manipuate the pips until the 1970s, when the practice gained some popularity. Today, cards that do not strictly adhere to standard pip placement, size and color are referred to as semi-transformation playing cards. An article entitled "Playing Card Squiggles." was published in the December 1910 issue of "Strand Magazine". Several "Cotta" cards were pictured, erroneously attributed to an unnamed French artist. "Strand" subsequently asked its readers to submit their own designs for card squiggles, which the magazine periodically published. John