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After their invention in Central Asia and their subsequent travel into the Moslem world, playing cards made their way to Europe. The variations of playing cards throughout the world today show the vastly different ways the decks evolved in the different areas of the world.

Like their origins, the way that playing cards found their way to Europe is a matter of theories. For many years, it was assumed that playing cards made their way to Europe from India, through the Gypsies. Historians have proved the error in this theory because playing cards are known to have been in Europe hundreds of years before the Gypsies first appearance anywhere in the world.

The common held belief today is that playing cards came to Europe through the Mamelukes, slave soldiers used by Muslims. To avoid the prohibition against Muslims fighting Muslims, Islamic rulers in Egypt and, throughout the Moslem world, would train non-Islamic captives as the soldiers for their armies. In addition to this logical conclusion, an almost full deck of playing cards from a Mameluke was discovered in the Istanbul Topkapi Museum in 1939. The deck dates back to the 13th century.

For many years, throughout the Christian world, card games were also called 'Moorish games', further supporting this theory. Therefore, because of these and other factors, historians now believe that these soldiers are how the playing cards came to Europe, from Egypt. Spain was partly occupied during this time by Islamic conquerors, known as 'Moors.'

This theory is also validated by the fact that the earliest references to playing cards in Europe came from Spain. The first of many written references to playing cards in Europe also occurred in Spain. Theories about earlier written references abound but the one from Spain is the first accepted reference by the academic community.

A group of dissenters from this theory believe that the origins of playing cards in Europe can be traced through Italy, not Spain. Italy was in control of the major trade routes during this century and they believe this is the more logical choice of where the playing cards entered Europe.

Playing cards, supported by further references, quickly traveled throughout the entire Christian world, during the late 1300's and into the 1400's. In less then two decades, between 1371 and 1390, solid references to playing cards appeared in Spain, then Switzerland and made their way across the continent and appeared in the distant cities of Florence, Paris, Brabant, and Basle.

Whichever way they entered, we do know that once in Spain, their spread across Europe and to the rest of the world was rapid.