Most people in the United States think of Tarot cards only as a tool for fortune-telling. But they were used for playing card games long before being used for cartomancy (fortune-telling with cards). There is evidence of using layouts of … Continue reading →

Ask the Groomporter

Tarot Card Evolution

Game historians have shown that playing cards first seems to appear in Europe in the 1370s. But the riddle has been where did they originate? There are four common theories:  Cards appeared first in China, and gradually found their way … Continue reading →

The Origin of European Playing cards

A look at the symbolism of the illustrations on the deck of 16th century German cards.

16th Century Satirical German Playing Cards

I just put together a little video look at the rules of our Ringo game.

Ringo

Since we use glass drops as game piece for some of our portable fabric games we often have people think a couple of our games have something to do with the game Pente which was sold with glass drops as … Continue reading →

So how old is Pente?

I’ve put together another short video about one of the games we sell. This one covers the basic rules for 12-Man Morris as we prefer to play it. Our board was designed to be used either for 9-Man Morris, or … Continue reading →

12-Man Morris

Do the kings, queens and jacks in a deck of cards represent specific people? Well… Sometimes… Examples above scanned from Playing Cards The History and Secrets of the Pack, by W. Gurney Benham.   Submit an audio question by clicking … Continue reading →

Who are the kings & queens on playing cards?

Until I finish my next question episode here’s the first of a series of short videos I’m working on covering the basic rules for Fidchell, one our more obscure games.

Fidchell an Ancient Irish Game

What does that term mean  “Groomporter?” Since we’re in the business of researching and selling games of the past I started using Groomporter many years ago as an online nickname especially on history-related internet forums. For my first full episode I explain the term’s … Continue reading →

What’s a Groom Porter?

Just a test episode so we can get things started. The first episode will be coming out shortly. ITunes does not add new podcasts until you have three or so episodes streaming online so this it my attempt to game … Continue reading →

Test episode

Ask questions about the history of games.

hubhopper

Ask the Groomporter

hubhopper