Playing card

Playing cards were most likely invented in Tang China around the 9th century, closely tied to woodblock printing, though whether they descend from the old "leaf" game described by the Song scholar Ouyang Xiu is disputed. The route west runs through Egypt. Cards were spreading across Asia by the 11th century and later reached Egypt, where the Mamluks played with four suits of polo sticks, coins, swords and cups. Europe's cards most likely came from those Mamluk decks, and the earliest European mention, in a Catalan rhyming dictionary of 1371, points to Spain as the entry point. The exact steps between Chinese cards and the Mamluk deck are not recorded, but the direction of travel is clear.