around the world in 80 plays
LITHUANIA
Words by Chad Wilkinson
The next stop on our worldwide tabletop tour takes us across the Baltic Sea and in to Lithuania on its eastern shores. Archaeological data confirms that a Lithuanian interest in European staples such as chess, backgammon, and alquerque has endured since the 13th century, with card games arriving later. Despite a period of bans, card games were headily enjoyed by the wealthy, and later – from the 17th century onwards – by the proletariat. In regard to suits on cards, bells, hearts, acorns, and leaves were used and typically in the colours red and green as opposed to today’s common red and black suits. Often these cards featured full-art images which, oddly enough, became inspirations for 16th century home decor: a furnace tile in the Palace of the Grand Dukes in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, for example, featured artwork from a particular six of spades. Of the card games still popular today, Karusele – a‘fishing’ style game, and the ‘beating’ game Durnius remain notable.