Banner (playing card) Banner (playing card) The Banner is a playing card used in Swiss-suited cards. In German, "" means “flag” or “banner” and is pronounced . It is grammatically neuter and its plural is the same: Banner. In German-speaking Switzerland, to the east of the Brünig-Napf-Reuss line (the German-speaking part of Switzerland corresponding to the centre and east of the country), the most popular card deck is a pack of 36 cards with the Swiss suit symbols of Acorns, Bells, Roses and Shields and numbered as follows: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or Banner, Unter, Ober, King and Deuce". While the pip
Curse of Scotland cards. It contains a "Pope" card (and, indeed, a "Popess") but there seems to be no connection with the Pope Joan card game, even though the popess may have derived from the mythical Pope Joan. The expression "Curse of Scotland" is sometimes used simply to refer to an occasion of bad luck at cards and can also refer to generally unwanted situations in Scotland, such as swarms of midges. There is a theatrical superstition, sometimes called the "Scottish curse", that speaking the name "Macbeth" in the theatre brings bad luck. Hence "the Scottish Play" is used to refer to Shakespeare's