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
International Playing-Card Society of standard playing-card design. The IPCS was founded in 1972, as "The Playing-Card Society", with a journal titled "The Journal of the Playing-Card Society". In May 1980 the names of the society and the journal were changed, becoming "The International Playing-Card Society" and "The Playing-Card". A newsletter, which became known as "Playing-Card World", was formerly published as a supplement to the journal, running for 80 issues from 1975 to 1995. Notable members of the Society are or have included: International Playing-Card Society The International Playing-Card Society (IPCS) is a non-profit organisation for those interested in playing cards, their design, and