In celebration of the Cars, Cards, and Carbines Kickstarter (and in hopes you will go check it out!) Sam Knight (that’s me!) has gathered a few eclectic things that might interest you…
We all know what a card is, right? Well, I started to post Google’s definition, but that would spoil the fun here! I will comment that it could be a noun or a verb, but we are just going to stick with nouns.
Greeting cards! We’ve all seen these, and we all love them, right? Actually I find them to be a source of misery. I hate the necessity of going and getting one, finding the right one, worrying what the person will think you meant by what was said in the not-quite-perfect sentiment… sigh. I was actually blamed for friends having twins once because of a card. I couldn’t find a good card for their wedding, so I bought one that said “Congratulations, Twins!” and I wrote in it “Or am I too early?” Guess what they had. I got blamed.
Gift Cards! Another kind of card I don’t much care for! Follow the link on the photo to a recent news story that backs me up on this. I don’t like being locked into buying at one place. Sometimes it’s all right, but, come on! All of my book stores keep shutting down! Also I really hate when stores refuse to refund in anyway other than a gift card. That is bordering on theft, as far as I am concerned.
Credit cards! Another card I hate! Do I really have to explain why? You can follow the link for one of many reasons why. Are there any kinds of cards I like! Golly!
Why yes, yes there is a Card I like. Lance Card. He’s an artist who has done cover art for my upcoming novels Lucid Nightmares and A Whisky Jack in a Murder of Crows. As of this writing, I haven’t put out that artwork yet, so don’t blame him for what you find on those links. Suffice it to say I like what he did a lot more than what I had done…
More cards I didn’t like. Computer punch cards. Chances are you’re not old enough to remember these. Lucky you.
Finally! Another card I kind of like! Computer cards! Well. I like to use them anyway.
ID Cards! Anyone who ever had a fake one loved them! Everyone else feels like they are a pain the @$$.
So far each of these cards or (Card, if you include Lance) have been pretty different. I mean, there are variations on each type, but they pretty much do the same thing. Now we move into the most common type of card, but it has the largest variation, I think. The playing card.
Originally many games were played with tiles, or chits, but the advent of paper allowed a lightweight way to transport the games, as well as a quicker way to produce them. (Much faster to draw than to carve).
Today, I couldn’t even begin to guess how many types of card games there are.
Some have spawned whole sub-cultures with people gathering from all over the world to participate.
The most famous of all is, of course, Poker.
This game is featured in more stories and movies than any other, as far as I can tell. Fortunes have been made, lives have been lost. Nearly everyone has heard of a ‘Dead Man’s hand‘.
But did you know that back in the Old West, they didn’t play Poker? Poker slowly evolved and spread across the United States during the late 1800’s, but the game of choice during what we think of as the Wild West was actually Faro (or Pharaoh). The game was played in a fashion that resembles Black Jack and Texas Hold ‘Em crossed with Roulette. Rules can be found here. A quick video to give you an idea of how it was played can be found here.
I suspect Poker was used in all of the movies for the dramatic tension that it adds that Faro doesn’t have.
And finally, what is likely the least favorite card for most people who have encountered it:
I honest-to-goodness still have dreams that I have forgotten to punch my card for a whole week and am not going to get paid.
Anyone who was “old schooled’ in video games hates red, yellow, and blue key cards. I’m not even going to find an image on those. I got frustrated just thinking about them. Yeah, I’m old. Old enough anyway. Old enough to wonder what kinds of cards will show up in the Cars, Cards, and Carbines Kickstarter.
Go check it out. See if it interests you. Maybe throw them a bone or two.