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The oldest full set of cards in the world

This is the oldest full set of cards in the world. They are fascinating. Beautiful even.

These is a cloisters set of 52 cards ad they’re dated at around 1470-1480, meaning they are well over 500 years old. Unreal. They originated in the Netherlands and basically function as any regular set of playing cards you can find today. They are slightly different of course, the cards are based around equipment associated with hunting back in the day, but the king, queen and ‘knave’ remain.

And according to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where these cards are collected, no-one really ever used these cards for anything really. There is a suspicion that these cards were used sparingly for games and were treated more as a collector’s item, right from day one. That accounts for their incredible condition.

500 years old. Man. Takes retro gaming to a whole new level.


Based on this article:
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/01/forget-hearthstone-forget-magic-the-gathering-this-is-the-original-card-game/