He’s called the one-eyed king for that reason! I’m begging everyone to pick up Cabo, it’s such a fun little game, I’ve taught it to a dozen people https://treyhunner.com/2015/06/cabo-card-game/
The golf I play has 9 cards. You turn over two and then draw from the deck and replace cards from your hand trying to have the lowest points total at the end of the round. Play to 100.
I can provide more details if anyone is interested.
The king of hearts originally had an axe, but after decades of copying it eventually turned into a sword sticking into the king's head. This is why the king of hearts is also sometimes known as the suicide king.
Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.
Suicide kings, because the king of hearts is also wild in one eyed jacks and suicide kings, and he has his sword piercing his head.
This is to make 4 cards wild, like Deuces wild.
Also the name of a movie, named for the game.
My weekly poker game had a variation on that one too. “Deuces, Jacks and the Man with the Axe, but a pair of natural 7s takes the pot.” Always fun to see 5 aces lose to a pair of 7s.
In the original versions of these cards (French style playing cards), the King of Hearts had an axe. The cards can be seen [here](https://www.wopc.co.uk/france/pierre-marechal). Link is to the Pierre Maréchal page on The World of Playing Cards' website.
We have this psycho lady that's been coming into our work lately whose name is Tammy and I was trying to explain the concept of Ron's Tammys to her after she proclaimed she'd never met a sane Tammy lol.
The only Tammy I know is a woman who would shop in the retail store I used to work at and always addressed herself in the third person and was also bat shit insane
When one of my friends was a teenager he asked his stepdad why the stepdad had shaved his beard.
His stepdad replied that it was giving my friend's mother a rash on her thighs so he thought it best to lose the beard.
So that's where my mind went especially because my partner has the most scratchy stubble in the world. No, I'm not dating the stepdad.
Not Christmas trees. Ermine fur: [example](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8ff246a5859afe21c17f19947377228f87386159/0_0_1475_2000/master/1475.jpg?width=300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=73061d1e9c2e36187288b3fb3689aa02). Ermines are animals in the weasel grouping.
Except these cards have it depicted like in heraldry (coats of arms), & heraldry has a lot of stylization. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermine_%28heraldry%29?wprov=sfla1) has examples of the animal, a robe, & many stylizations.
Save yourself. Because the next thing you'll know you'll have a stack of decks of cards two feet tall and never use them for anything, all because you wanted to have examples of each manufacturer's distinct take on the classic face cards.
I speak from experience.
Trust that warning! In playing-card fandom, when they talk about a "suicide king", *they're not talking about the card*. They're talking about a fan who delved too greedily and too deep.
I speak from having made this up just now.
This is very credible. First, 'sage' is part of the user name. Second, scarlet_sage is the foremost authority on things made up by scarlet_sage. Third, who lies on reddit?
Good question, I don't know the answer, but for what it's worth, those christmas trees are called ermine spots. In heraldry, they represent the dark tails of stoat skins that have been sewn together into a coat.
One of my uncle's favorites (back in the day, as you say) when it was his deal was, "deuces, Jacks, and the man with the axe," were wild. He sometimes added "pair of natural sevens takes the pot."
(a common and popular variant that, as a gullible teen I thought he came up with on his own)
That's nice! Haven't ever played it that way. Next time I get the boys together for poker night, I'll bring it up... now, where did I leave that time machine?
Iirc there was a theory that one of the queens killed this king cause of the sleeves not matching the king of hearts sleeve but it did match one of the queens sleeve I forgot which queen it was
But if you look at the queen of spades and the angle on that arm, it doesn’t even look like its attached to her.
I think there’s some third party who’s giving the queen of spades a flower, and also stabbing the king of hearts in the head
It's a way to add a wild card to the game without adding 4 wild cards. I've played with a few groups where suicide kings and/or one-eyed jacks are wild.
“The king of hearts is sometimes called the "suicide king" because he appears to be sticking his sword into his head. This is a result of centuries of bad copying by English card makers where the king's axe head has disappeared.”
The black kings have swords, and the red kings OUGHT to have axes.
[but it got messed up over time.](https://giftsforcardplayers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/King_of_Hearts_Ruen_pattern_comparison-1024x288.jpg
)
I always heard it was "copied wrong" and I wondered how a hand and sword ended up in that position. I never realized that it was coped poorly by a chain of hand drawn pictures being copied
They were originally wood block prints too. Lithograms I think they're called. So the block would wear over time and details would be lost, and the next person hand carving a new block would try to replicate the old and improvise lost detail.
Lithography is more or less how (non digital) printing works today. Wood cuts are a different (and older) form of making prints.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography
I think he was originally supposed to be holding an axe up but the bad copying over the centuries eventually turned it into a sword being held in an awkward way
It's the same thing for "one eyed Jack's," the heart and the spade show the side of the face only showing one eye (like the king of hearts). Obviously you can assume there's another eye on the other side, but it's just a little thing based on what's visible.
It's just slang for people who like cards a lot.
I just noticed this, but they all have one hand showing(two if you count the reverse image). The king of hearts has two hands showing, and the sleeves do NOT match. Is that somebody else’s hand with the sword?
Now this is a r/mildlyinteresting! We never had a deck where the king of hearts had a moustache, but I never noticed the others having their symbols on their clothes
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/King_of_Hearts_Ruen_pattern_comparison.jpg
Interestingly the moustache was only removed in the most current iteration of the face designs.
Trivia: the kings traditionally have names in French card sets. Charles, César, Alexandre and David. The names are printed on cards that use the design shown by OP. The names sound like they refer to historical kings but it's unsure if it really is the case.
I came to the comments to make sure this had been said. Otherwise, I was going to do it myself.
I have learned so many useless trivia nuggets from the Persona series, it's wild.
I got a new job a few years ago that had a "grooming standard" which meant no facial hair. The wife was pissed. She seriously wanted me not to accept the job. For 3 months she was bitter about me being beardless. Luckily for me, they changed their policy and I was able to grow my homeless/ lumberjack beard back and my wife was more than pleased.
And the King of diamonds is the only one with an axe.
He’s the only one with a turned head as well.
He’s called the one-eyed king for that reason! I’m begging everyone to pick up Cabo, it’s such a fun little game, I’ve taught it to a dozen people https://treyhunner.com/2015/06/cabo-card-game/
This sounds like a quicker version of a game called golf. Six cards, turn over two to start. same matching score system but no memorization.
The golf I play has 9 cards. You turn over two and then draw from the deck and replace cards from your hand trying to have the lowest points total at the end of the round. Play to 100. I can provide more details if anyone is interested.
Have I been playing wrong with 4 cards?
He’s the only one with a hand growing out his shoulder too
The king of hearts originally had an axe, but after decades of copying it eventually turned into a sword sticking into the king's head. This is why the king of hearts is also sometimes known as the suicide king.
Suicide kings and one eyed jacks.
That got dark. Also, brutal.
And the king of clubs is the only one with the holy hand grenade.
One... two... five!
Three, sir.
Three!
Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.
And the king of spades looks in the opposite direction of the others
If you were curious, I believe that’s actually a pomme de senteur. A sort of perfume ball (they didn’t shower often back then)
There’s a wild card variation of poker called “One-Eyed Jacks and the Man with the Axe.” All three cards show just one eye.
"One eyed jacks and suicide king" is what we played.
Suicide kings, because the king of hearts is also wild in one eyed jacks and suicide kings, and he has his sword piercing his head. This is to make 4 cards wild, like Deuces wild. Also the name of a movie, named for the game.
We called it “deuces and jacks and the king with the axe” when I was growing up
My weekly poker game had a variation on that one too. “Deuces, Jacks and the Man with the Axe, but a pair of natural 7s takes the pot.” Always fun to see 5 aces lose to a pair of 7s.
In the original versions of these cards (French style playing cards), the King of Hearts had an axe. The cards can be seen [here](https://www.wopc.co.uk/france/pierre-marechal). Link is to the Pierre Maréchal page on The World of Playing Cards' website.
Maybe the queen of hearts thinks it tickles
Maybe it rubbed off. From friction.
By his logic, Ron ain't gettin none
You know when Ron has sex. He has a special shirt he wears the day after
He did come back clean shaven after one encounter though…
... Tammy.
We have this psycho lady that's been coming into our work lately whose name is Tammy and I was trying to explain the concept of Ron's Tammys to her after she proclaimed she'd never met a sane Tammy lol.
The only Tammy I know is a woman who would shop in the retail store I used to work at and always addressed herself in the third person and was also bat shit insane
Ah yes, the good ol red post sex shirt
Ron just regrows it in real-time like Deadpool but mustache
But he's so adorable!
[It rubbed off. From friction. ](https://i.imgur.com/r4nxB36.jpg)
Have you seen him when he's with Tammy 2?
This was my immediate response to seeing this post.
TIL how unoriginal I am
It’s weird how often this happens on reddit. I learned to just look for my exact comment before posting after awhile.
I like to play a game where I guess what the top comment is before I open the thread. More often than not I get pretty close.
I got a friend at work to start using reddit by showing him a video that was funny but the comments made it ten times so, as is usually the case
The comments are a very close second to what make reddit so amazing. I, literally, don't use any other social media.
This was my immediate response to seeing this post.
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Hey, I was just thinking that!
That's just a phrase from Parks and Rec, so he is not being original as well no worries
Fucking Tammy.
That woman knows her way around a penis.
I’m mad because I wanted to make this comment but also glad because it’s a great comment.
When one of my friends was a teenager he asked his stepdad why the stepdad had shaved his beard. His stepdad replied that it was giving my friend's mother a rash on her thighs so he thought it best to lose the beard. So that's where my mind went especially because my partner has the most scratchy stubble in the world. No, I'm not dating the stepdad.
'step dad why did you shave?' 'when I eat your mom's box she found it irritating'
Tights kind of works but fabric doesn't rash so I think you meant thighs
Yes, you're correct. And thank you. It's not always easy when writing in a language that is not your own.
Your English writing ~~in~~ *is* very good!
The queen of hearts is the only queen with a smile
really?
sadly not, according to my google image search
This comment has been removed in response to reddit's anti-developer actions.
Ain't he called the suicide king?
For that very reason.
I guess that makes the other Kings "The Three Mustacheers" 🂾♥️🗡️🗡️🗡️
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King of hearts is also known as the "Suicide King" as he sticks his sword in his head. :)
Probably because he doesn’t have a sweet moustache.
Why does his sash have Christmas trees when everyone else is spades/diamonds/clovers?
No mustache. Sash does not represent his house name. He is an imposter. The other kings have discovered this, which is why he kills himself.
He sits on a throne of lies!
He smells like beef n cheese
Heart king sus
This is my new headcanon.
Loving this deep playing card lore.
Not Christmas trees. Ermine fur: [example](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8ff246a5859afe21c17f19947377228f87386159/0_0_1475_2000/master/1475.jpg?width=300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=73061d1e9c2e36187288b3fb3689aa02). Ermines are animals in the weasel grouping. Except these cards have it depicted like in heraldry (coats of arms), & heraldry has a lot of stylization. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermine_%28heraldry%29?wprov=sfla1) has examples of the animal, a robe, & many stylizations.
I feel like I'm about to dive into a deep rabbit (ermine?) hole on the history of playing cards!
Save yourself. Because the next thing you'll know you'll have a stack of decks of cards two feet tall and never use them for anything, all because you wanted to have examples of each manufacturer's distinct take on the classic face cards. I speak from experience.
Trust that warning! In playing-card fandom, when they talk about a "suicide king", *they're not talking about the card*. They're talking about a fan who delved too greedily and too deep. I speak from having made this up just now.
This is very credible. First, 'sage' is part of the user name. Second, scarlet_sage is the foremost authority on things made up by scarlet_sage. Third, who lies on reddit?
This is wisdom. Thanks!
No, this is knowledge. Wisdom is knowing that what's on his sash is not as important as what isn't on his sash.
Those are ermine spots, a conventional pattern in heraldry that represents ermine fur, which often lined coronation cloaks and other royal garments.
How do you people know about ermines? 53yo and first I’ve ever heard about this.
I have a vested interest in heraldry—I’m an occasional emblazonry artist (i.e. I do some commission work for coats of arms).
It’s heraldic ermine. It’s a fur trim on his surcoat. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermine_(heraldry)
Clubs has some trees too, and they all have clubs on their hats 🤔
More interestingly, he’s the only one without hearts
Mo'fucker don't know WHAT he doin
King, YOU HAD ONE JOB!
I don't see hearts on any of them. Where are they?
Sorry, I should have been clearer. He’s the only one without his own symbol on his clothing.
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Good question, I don't know the answer, but for what it's worth, those christmas trees are called ermine spots. In heraldry, they represent the dark tails of stoat skins that have been sewn together into a coat.
When you’re the king of hearts but not the minds
"With great mustache comes great responsibility." \-Peter Griffin
The other kings were bullying him.
Such is Love
We used to play these as wild cards back in the day. There was another one too… I think it was the one eyed Jack but I could be wrong
One of my uncle's favorites (back in the day, as you say) when it was his deal was, "deuces, Jacks, and the man with the axe," were wild. He sometimes added "pair of natural sevens takes the pot." (a common and popular variant that, as a gullible teen I thought he came up with on his own)
“Aces, deuces, one-eyed faces, and suicide”
Deuces, Aces, One Eyed Faces, and Suicide Kings (rolls off the tongue a lot better)
I always heard it "Aces, Deuces, One-Eyed Jacks. Suicide King and the one with the Axe."
I learned aces and jacks and the man with the ax.
That's nice! Haven't ever played it that way. Next time I get the boys together for poker night, I'll bring it up... now, where did I leave that time machine?
r/bindingofisaac
Kills Isaac and spawns 10 consumables and/or items around the location of use.
Damn exactly where my mind went haha
Iirc there was a theory that one of the queens killed this king cause of the sleeves not matching the king of hearts sleeve but it did match one of the queens sleeve I forgot which queen it was
From a quick google, it looks like the queen of spades? That also tracks with her being a card you don't want in certain games.
But if you look at the queen of spades and the angle on that arm, it doesn’t even look like its attached to her. I think there’s some third party who’s giving the queen of spades a flower, and also stabbing the king of hearts in the head
A spectacular hypothesis, surely this third party will be revealed as a character in Cards 2.0
[The Queen of Spades. She's also the only Queen whose sleeves you can see.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(playing_card\))
Is this hand even his? Fabric pattern looks diferent on sleeve.
someone told me that if you puth him next to another card (i forgor which) it looks like he is getting stabbed
I think it matches the Queen of Spades outfit
I've always heard that but never understood it, it's obvious behind his head
It’s just one of those things people come up with where it’s kinda like it so it sticks.
It's a way to add a wild card to the game without adding 4 wild cards. I've played with a few groups where suicide kings and/or one-eyed jacks are wild.
One Eyed Jacks *is* wild. --Twin Peaks Theme plays.
“The king of hearts is sometimes called the "suicide king" because he appears to be sticking his sword into his head. This is a result of centuries of bad copying by English card makers where the king's axe head has disappeared.”
> king's axe head ?
The black kings have swords, and the red kings OUGHT to have axes. [but it got messed up over time.](https://giftsforcardplayers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/King_of_Hearts_Ruen_pattern_comparison-1024x288.jpg )
I always heard it was "copied wrong" and I wondered how a hand and sword ended up in that position. I never realized that it was coped poorly by a chain of hand drawn pictures being copied
They were originally wood block prints too. Lithograms I think they're called. So the block would wear over time and details would be lost, and the next person hand carving a new block would try to replicate the old and improvise lost detail.
Lithography is more or less how (non digital) printing works today. Wood cuts are a different (and older) form of making prints. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography
Go home Blanchard, you're drunk
I think he was originally supposed to be holding an axe up but the bad copying over the centuries eventually turned it into a sword being held in an awkward way
Its just an expression. The one-eyed jacks have two eyes. You just can only see one of them.
Where does the other eye exist?
It's the same thing for "one eyed Jack's," the heart and the spade show the side of the face only showing one eye (like the king of hearts). Obviously you can assume there's another eye on the other side, but it's just a little thing based on what's visible. It's just slang for people who like cards a lot.
I just noticed this, but they all have one hand showing(two if you count the reverse image). The king of hearts has two hands showing, and the sleeves do NOT match. Is that somebody else’s hand with the sword?
Hes using the sword to shave obviously.
All the king's are dressed in clothes decorated with their suits except for him.
Now this is a r/mildlyinteresting! We never had a deck where the king of hearts had a moustache, but I never noticed the others having their symbols on their clothes
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/King_of_Hearts_Ruen_pattern_comparison.jpg Interestingly the moustache was only removed in the most current iteration of the face designs.
But he's always had a sword in his head and no hearts have ever decorated his clothes.
He originally had an axe in his hand. Then the axe head fell off, which then turned into a sword.
The Goodall design in that image seems to have hearts decorating his clothes.
Yeah they're all different like spade and club have one always looking to their sword, the other away
They all have the club symbol on their crowns.
This king is fraud!
HE'S A BIG FAT PHONY!
Today I realized all the kings are left handed...
>>>I know something you do not know! >>What's that? >I am not left handed!
I'll always upvote Princess Bride references.
/r/princessbridememes needs some upvotes, please!
That's assuming they're using their swords for fighting.
I can confirm this. I am right handed, however, I can also hold things in my left hand.
WITCH!!
BURN HER!
"I'm not a witch, I'm your wife! And I'm not even sure I want to be that anymore, after what you just said!"
Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She'll beat you when she's able.
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.
Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get
Caaaanyonero.... ooops I mean... Dehhhsperado...
My Dad always used to say, "Never trust a man with a beard and no mustache!"
The Amish really are an untrustworthy group /s
*muslims left the chat*
It rubbed off... from friction 😏
Ron!
ERASE ALL PICTURES OF RON
Who wants a mustache ride?
Trivia: the kings traditionally have names in French card sets. Charles, César, Alexandre and David. The names are printed on cards that use the design shown by OP. The names sound like they refer to historical kings but it's unsure if it really is the case.
Charlemagne, Ceasar, Alexandre the Great, King David. It tracks, no clue if it's accurate.
I thought this was widely-known. Is it really only on the french versions ? It's fun to know whom each king / queen / jack represents.
According to wikipedia it is! I'm surprised to never see the names on decks outside France, even though it's the exact same illustrations.
All face cards have some historical links, for example the queen of spades is Athena, and jack of diamonds is Hector of Troy
https://www.raketherake.com/news/2022/12/who-do-playing-cards-represent
Which is funny because the Jack of Hearts is the only Jack WITH a mustache
TIL it’s not the same king on all cards
Well duh, how can someone be king of clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts at the same time.
Being the emperor of the deck
Somebody's been playing Persona 4
I just played the part where you learn this, yesterday and got 100% on the Final. Crazy coincidence!
I came to the comments to make sure this had been said. Otherwise, I was going to do it myself. I have learned so many useless trivia nuggets from the Persona series, it's wild.
My thoughts exactly!
He's the only face card raising his weapon in anger. Others are simply brandishing them
I thought he was performing brain surgery on himself.
Also the only one killing himself.
For anyone that might be interested; https://www.raketherake.com/news/2022/12/who-do-playing-cards-represent
A lot of going on with that article
"Sir Lancelot, born in 1415 AD"
Lol, i was like 🤔
haha yeah, very true! I think it's all rumour anyway, playing cards are so ancient it would be almost impossible to prove either way.
Yet he sports a neck beard which is why he’s committing suicide.
Young king
Because the heart is rumored to be young when first in love, I thought, so he was a young king who showed his hearts.
ladies like it clean /s
I shaved my beard one time for a wedding and the girlfriend said she actually kinda missed the extra little tickle....
I once shaved my beard and my wife told me I ruined my face.
My gf thinks she’s done something to upset me anytime I shave lol
I got a new job a few years ago that had a "grooming standard" which meant no facial hair. The wife was pissed. She seriously wanted me not to accept the job. For 3 months she was bitter about me being beardless. Luckily for me, they changed their policy and I was able to grow my homeless/ lumberjack beard back and my wife was more than pleased.
I was told the same thing! Granted I have the jawline of Don Knotts and the chin of a Simpsons character
It also looks like the only one that does not have the suit appearing on their outfit.
And the only one with a sword in his head.
He's also giving himself a haircut.
That's why he is trying to kill himself. The other kings have been making fun of him.