Curse of Scotland Gurney Benham's book about playing cards, in describing the game of Pope Joan he gives his own explanation for why this card is known as the Curse of Scotland: "The crown of Scotland contained only nine stones, as they never could afford a tenth". Eric Partridge's "Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang" considers: “the various theories are as interesting as they are unconvincing”. "Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland" says for "Curse of Scotland" "This is usually taken to be the nine of diamonds playing card, though explanations differ". The 19th century Tarot of Marseilles is one of the standard designs for tarot
Queen (playing card) Queen (playing card) The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a woman on it. In many European languages, the King and Queen begin with the same letter so the latter is often called "Dame" (Lady) or variations thereof. In French playing cards, the usual rank of a queen is between the King and the Jack. In tarot decks, it outranks the Knight which in turn outranks the Jack. In the Paris pattern, each court card is identified as a particular historical or mythological personage as follows: In the game of Hearts, the Queen of Spades is the