Five Suit Decks

Decks of playing cards with five suits have existed for more than 500 years. Here
is a chart illustrating the suit symbols of several five suit decks, followed by a
description of each.

History of decks of playing cards with five suits

History of decks of playing cards with five suits
Master PW Deck

The Unter of Hares

This deck of round playing cards in five suits was created in Cologne circa 1500 by
a master designer known only by the initials “PW.” The suits are hares, parrots,
roses, carnations, and columbines. Each suit has ten pip cards and four court
cards: King, Queen, Ober, and Unter. The court cards of each suit are represented
by royalty of different nationalities. The hares are Turks, the parrots Moors, the
roses English, the carnations Germans, and the columbines Spaniards. There is also
a title card and a memento mori card, for a total of 72 cards in the deck.

Tarot Decks
Evolution of Tarot cards
Evolution of Tarot cards
Though many people today are only acquainted with Tarot decks through their use in
fortune telling, Tarot cards were invented for playing games. The game of Tarot,
also known as Trionfi (triumphs), Tarocchi, or Tarock, has been played from the
15th century to the present day. It is now one of the most popular card games in
France, second only to Belote.

Tarot decks have five suits: four traditional suits and a suit of trumps or
triumphs. Tarot developed in Italy, and many decks include the four Italian suits
of cups, coins, clubs or wands, and swords. In the most common type of Tarot deck,
the four regular suits include 1 through 10, Jack, Knight, Queen, and King. The
trump suit is numbered 1 through 21, with an additional card known as the Fool,
sometimes numbered zero. There are 78 cards in total. Originally, each card in the
suit of trumps was decorated with a symbolic image. These included figures such as
the Sun, the Moon, Death, and Fortune. A variation known as Minchiate had an
expanded trump suit that included the zodiac signs, the four virtues, and the four
elements.

In the 16th century, Tarot cards began to be used in a storytelling game called
Tarocchi Appropriati, in which players compared each other to cards from the trump
suit in a poetic fashion. In the 18th century, the cards took on a mystical meaning
for some, and began to be used for cartomancy. Occultists named the trump suit the
Major Arcana, referring to the four regular suits as the Minor Arcana.

Meanwhile, the game of Tarot continued to be played. In the 19th century, the Tarot
Nouveau deck was developed in France. The allegorical symbols of the trump suit
were dropped in favor of scenes depicting groups of people engaged mainly in
leisure activities. The French suits of spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds were
used, and the trump suit was decorated with an ornate black and white pattern. This
is the deck most commonly used for playing French Tarot today.

Royal Deck

Contract bridge was invented on October 31, 1925, by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt,
who made changes to the game of auction bridge. For the next few decades, bridge
would become tremendously popular. In 1937, Walter Marseille and Paul Stern
published rules for bridge with five suits. A London company began selling Royal
decks with a fifth suit of blue crowns. With the addition of a complete fifth suit,
the deck contained 65 cards.

Eagle Deck

Five of a kind with the Eagle Deck, including the suit of dark green Eagles.
The Eagle deck was published in the United States shortly after the Royal deck. It
also had 65 cards due to the addition of a complete fifth suit of green Eagles. By
1939, the brief fad of playing bridge with a five-suit deck had come to an end.
Contract bridge is already an intricate game, and the added complexity of a fifth
suit did not have staying power.

Five Crowns

Five kings from the game of Five Crowns.

Five Crowns is a card game published by Set Enterprises. There are five suits of 11
cards each, with pip cards from 3 to 10, Jack, Queen, and King. There are no Aces
or Twos. Three Jokers are included in each 58-card deck, and the game is packaged
with two decks. The game play is very similar to Three Thirteen, a variation of
Rummy. Each of the traditional suits has a different color, and Stars is the fifth
suit.

Estate Cards

Estate Playing Cards are a unique deck. The suits represent a modern interpretation
of the ancient estates of the realm: Hearts represent the Church, Spades the
Military, Diamonds Corporations, and Clubs Community. The fifth suit is the suit of
Waves, representing the fifth estate of the Media. The waves are a symbol of radio
or television transmission waves. The card values include Ace through 10, plus Man
and Woman. There are two Imperial cards: the President and the Pope, for a total of
62 cards.

5th Dimension

The 5th Dimension deck (stylized as 5° Dimension) has a fifth suit of Stars. The
suit values include the Ace, a 1 card separate from the Ace, 2 through 10, Jack,
Princess, Queen, and King. There is also a Joker for each suit, for a total of 80
cards in the deck.

Stardeck

The Stardeck adds a fifth suit of Stars to the traditional 52-card deck. The Stars
suit is both red and black. The deck contains 5 suits of 13 cards each, plus two
Jokers, for a total of 67 cards in the deck. The Stardeck was published in the
2010s but is currently out of print.

Deck of Shields
Deck of Shields Aces
Five Aces from the Deck of Shields.
I designed the Deck of Shields because I wanted to play cards with a deck of five
suits and there were none currently being produced. I have made it available for
purchase for anyone else who would like to play cards with five suits. I included
only the usual rankings of Ace through King, and added a complete fifth suit of
Shields, which are blue. There are also two Jokers and three instruction cards, for
a 70-card deck. The cards are available for purchase.

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