Today, playing cards for fun or financial gain is one of our favorite pastimes. Card playing can be traced all the way back to the second half of the fourteenth century when Arabs introduced it to Europe, leading to the evolution of the suit system. The invention of printing made possible multiple copies and mass produced cards were developed soon after. By about 1500 three main suit systems had evolved: Latin (including Italian, Spanish and Portuguese); Germanic (German and Swiss) and French. These suit systems became the basis for various Standard National patterns, or National Types, which have been virtually unchanged since medieval times. Others, like the English National pattern, have evolved in more modern times. Today, our most popular modern card games, ranging from Poker to Rummy to Old Maid, are based on the English suit system. Contemporary card games vary little from their predecessors and it is testimony to their enduring quality that those around the globe still enjoy playing them.