/>
Throughout the years the significance of the game increased. There appeared new game contrivances, for example cards. Some researchers argue that the first playing-cards appeared in China. In the Chinese dictionary, Ching-tsze-tung (1678), mentions that cards were created in 1120 (according to the Christian chronology), and in 1132 they were already widely used. Cards at those times were long and narrow plates with numbers from 1 to 14 on them. Four suits symbolized four seasons, and the number of cards (52) corresponded to the number of weeks in the year.
The prototype of the modern deck of cards is the Tarot cards. The first documentary witness that we know of refers to 1254, when Saint Louis issued an edict that forbade card game within France under the fear of punishment with a whip.
Other researchers call Egypt the homeland of cards. The Tarot deck was used for fortune-telling. It had 78 sheets – arkana (22 seniors and 56 juniors). The pictures on the senior arkans correspond to golden tables, which are preserved in the dungeon of the god Tote in Egypt. Their names are as follows: 1. Fool; 2. Magician; 3. Priestess; 4. Hostess; 5. Host; 6. High priest; 7. Lovers; 8. Chariot; 9. Power; 10. Hermit; 11. The wheel of fortune; 12. Justice; 13. The hanged man; 14. Death; 15. Abstinence; 16. Devil; 17. Tower; 18. Star; 19. Moon; 20. Sun; 21. Court; 22. Peace.
It is considered that cards reached Europe in the 10-11th century, during the crusades to the Near East. Other argue that the majority of card games were born in France, which is called the homeland of European cards. The first factory-made deck of Tarot cards included 56 cards of four suits (swords, wands, money and cups).