| Clubs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | French:Trèfle |
| Deck | French-suited playing cards |
| Invented | 15th century |
Clubs (♣) (French:Trèfle) is one of the fourplaying card suits in the standardFrench-suited playing cards. The symbol was derived from that of the suit ofAcorns in aGerman deck when French suits were invented, around 1480.[1]
InSkat andDoppelkopf, Clubs are the highest-ranked suit (whereasDiamonds andBells are the trump suit inDoppelkopf). InBridge, Clubs are the lowest suit.
Its originalFrench name isTrèfle which means "clover" and the card symbol depicts a three-leafed clover leaf. TheItalian name isFiori ("flower"). However, theEnglish name "Clubs" is a translation ofbasto, the Spanish name for the suit ofbatons, suggesting thatSpanish-suited cards were used in England beforeFrench suits were invented.[2]
InGermany, this suit is known asKreuz ("cross"), especially in the InternationalSkat Regulations. InAustria, by contrast, it is also calledTreff in reference to the French name, especially in the game ofBridge, where French names generally predominate. For example,Cœur is used instead ofHerz.
The symbol for the suit of Clubs depicts a very stylised three-leaf clover with its stalk oriented downwards.
Generally, the suit of Clubs isblack in colour so they can be used in some games as a pair withSpades (suit), likeKlondike (solitaire). However, the suit may also be green, for example as sometimes used inBridge (where it is one of the twominor suits, along withDiamonds).
The gallery below shows a suit of Clubs from aFrench-suited playing cards of 52 cards. Not shown is theKnight of Clubs used intarot card games:
Four-colour packs are sometimes used in tournaments or online.[3] In four-colour packs, clubs may be:
in American Bridge and Poker,[4] English Poker, French and Swiss four-colour decks,[5] in German Skat packs,[5]
in English Bridge and some American packs or
in some other four-colour packs.The symbol ♣ is already in theCP437 and thus also part of WindowsWGL4. InUnicode a black ♣ and a white ♧ Club symbol are defined:
| Preview | ♣ | ♧ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | BLACK CLUB SUIT | WHITE CLUB SUIT | ||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 9827 | U+2663 | 9831 | U+2667 |
| UTF-8 | 226 153 163 | E2 99 A3 | 226 153 167 | E2 99 A7 |
| Numeric character reference | ♣ | ♣ | ♧ | ♧ |
| Named character reference | ♣, ♣ | |||
| CP437 | 5 | 05 | ||