Rummy is one of those card games that is famous all over the world and a favourite of crores of people, irrespective of their religion and color. Rummy has been played in India since centuries and was popular among Indians even when we had TV sets of black and white colour. Rummy game develops our skills as we play using the deck of 52 cards in online rummy. Speaking of cards, which colour cards do you see whenever you play rummy? Colour of red and black. Have you wondered why are there only 2 color? Rummy cash game, just like other playing card games, has been played using these 52 cards, whose primary colours are red and black. Let us know more about them.
The History of Playing Cards
The earliest documented cards can be traced back to the year 868 AD in the Tang Dynasty of China. Princess Tongchang used to play card games using cards made of leaves of green color. Rummy or other card games, this is still unknown, but the research is backed by a lot of manuscripts and books. It is believed that the printing of playing cards began in the reign of the Tang Dynasty, as with time, the leaves were replaced by wooden blocks and paper of white color. Rummy game and other card games were being played in Asia by the 11th century as the playing cards became popular by then.
These playing cards were gradually introduced in Egypt and the Arabs introduced them in Europe where they became extremely popular in the 14th century. Because of different cultures, the different European countries made significant changes to the design of playing cards and their colour. Rummy and other games were played with a fresh perspective and interest by this time. But still, the basic deck of cards used to resemble the ‘mamluk deck’ that was popular in Egypt. It had 4 different suits, they were polo sticks, cups, swords, and coins of various color. Rummy and other card games were played using these cards.
These playing cards reached Germany and Italy by the 13th century. The traditional Latin suits were replaced by bells, leaves, hearts, and acorns of some color. Rummy free online game of today’s times will not have such cards. In the year 1480, a healthy combination of German & Latin suit pictures, formed the French suits of tiles, hearts, pikes, and clovers, of some color. Rummy app of not even one platform will have cards like these. But out of all the variations of cards, the ones developed by the French became highly popular.
The modern day cards are of French suits, derived from the German suits, and they are the usual ones you see – Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, and Hearts. The card decks of German, Latin, and Mamluk had 3 male cards as the Face cards, but the French card deck dropped the Knight card and replaced it with a female card, the Queen card painted with multiple color. Rummy app UI of KhelPlay Rummy vividly depicts this.
Meet Today’s Deck of Cards
As we just read that the modern deck of cards are a derivative of the French cards. They consist of 52 cards in total, plus most of them have 1 or 2 Printed Jokers. These 52 cards are divided into 4 suits: Spades, Diamonds, Hearts, and Clubs. Out of these, Diamonds and Hearts are red in color, and Spades and Clubs are black in color. Rummy, Poker, Teen Patti, Solitaire, etc. many such card games are played using these 52 cards. These 4 suits each have 13 cards, they are: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King.
This means, 26 cards are red in color, and 26 cards are black in colour. Rummy online cash gaming happens with these same 52 cards. Out of the 13 cards of each suit, 3 are face cards: Jack, Queen, and King. These cards, besides being in their usual black or red in colour (rummy app open karke ek game khelke dekhna) are also in multiple colours. There are 2 faces in the opposite direction (up-down) of these 3 people: Jack, Queen, and King. They are created in various colour. In rummy gaming, these face cards carry 10 points each.
Color in Rummy
You might be wondering, what is the relation between colours and the game of rummy? It is as close as the words ‘colorrummy’ are! If you have played Indian Rummy, you will know that you have to make quick decisions in your turn to discard a card, it varies from 10 to 30 seconds, but even in this time, you can make mistakes. Players get confused between colours, that’s because 2 suits (spades & clubs) are black in color, and 2 suits (hearts & diamonds) are red in color. In rummy app, while playing at the table, the most crucial thing is to sort your cards properly, otherwise, you may end up discarding a 5 of hearts instead of a 5 of diamonds, because both are red in color! In rummy cash game, this is a disaster that can make you lose real cash.
You should be aware of this while playing rummy. Colour of red and black are contrasting enough to identify easily, but because of 2 suits each of one colour, in rummy online, you have to be careful while discarding. One trick is to group cards of alternate colour in rummy online game. For example, you can group spades, then diamonds, then clubs, and finally the hearts of red color in rummy online.
Besides these, the colour in rummy app also plays a significant role in hooking players to play. Dark red is the prominent color in rummy app of KhelPlay Rummy, and it is the favourite colour of most people. Whereas, some other rummy platforms have green, blue, white, etc. as the main colour in rummy app. Which one is your preferable rummy colour?
Decks of Four Colours!
Yes, this was true once! There were decks of four different colour in rummy game and others. This was one of the solutions to the confusion of the above ‘color in rummy’. J. Y. Humphreys created the first ever four-coloured deck in 1819 in the USA. These decks greatly helped players in minimizing confusion because of 2 suits of the same color in rummy, preventing players from picking or discarding cards of wrong suits.
These decks were more commonly known as the ‘No-Revoke Decks’. They were made to be specially used in Trick-taking games like Whist, Bridge, Jass, etc. They were also used to play rummy. Color of green replaced black in clubs, and the colour of blue replaced red in diamonds. This was just one example of four-coloured decks. There were many different combinations of color. In Rummy and other trick-based games, these decks were extensively used in the 1900s.
Why Red & Black colour in Rummy, why no other colours?
You must be thinking now: wow! Four-coloured decks were awesome, problem solved, but why the world reverted back to the usual two color? Rummy online gaming would have been easier without all the confusion. But the reasons will be explained now. Modern day cards are inked in red and black color (for rummy game and other games) because the red and black inks were easily available, that too at the cheapest rate. On the contrary, it wasn’t easy to procure the inks of blue and green colour. In rummy and other games, the old style of 2 colours returned.
The red ink was prepared using linseed oil and cinnabar, whereas the black ink was formed when linseed oil was mixed with soot, it was that easy to make these 2 color for rummy and other card games. Both these inks didn’t fade away when exposed to sunlight and also, they were extremely durable. The red colour was used because it looked contrasting and prominent on a paper of white colour (rummy app of Khel Play Rummy is also red in colour if you see).
On the other hand, the copper compounds needed to make the green and blue inks were really expensive at that time and they were also not oil soluble to form the colour for rummy and other card games. According to some theories, the colors red and black symbolized the day and night respectively.
Conclusion
Let the cards be made up of whichever colour; rummy online, poker, bridge, Teen Patti, etc. card games will be played with equal enthusiasm all over the world. Of these, the rummy game truly fills our life with much more than just 2 color. Rummy app of KhelPlay Rummy is made exactly for that, dear friends. Fill your life with hundreds of color, in rummy free online game, play lots of cash games and Tournaments, and win lots of real cash and other prizes. Online rummy thrills us, entertains us, develops our skills, and makes our life full of color. Rummy login of KhelPlay Rummy, if you haven’t done it yet, then download the app, make an account and make your life more colourful, by playing with cards of just two colours: red and black.