Top 10 Secrets

A deck of playing cards may look simple, but hidden among the pips, suits, numbers and portraits are surprising secrets, some of which are hundreds of years old.

That box of pasteboards in bold, primary colors is one of the most recognizable things in the world, but the more we look, the more it seems like those cards are filled with mystery.

Cards are special things. Each deck is a marvel of engineering, design and history, loaded with secrets that have been whispered and distorted with each...