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
Playing card before the 1500s, the French permanently picked it up and placed it under the king. Packs of 56 cards containing in each suit a king, queen, knight, and knave (as in tarot) were once common in the 15th century. During the mid 16th century, Portuguese traders introduced playing cards to Japan. The first indigenous Japanese deck was the named after the period. Packs with corner and edge indices (i.e. the value of the card printed at the corner(s) of the card) enabled players to hold their cards close together in a fan with one hand (instead of the two hands