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You probably have noticed that in every deck of playing cards, the ace of spades is different from the other aces. The central spade symbol on the ace of spades is bigger than any other symbol in the deck. And there's a reason for it.

In past centuries, governments in Europe always put a heavy tax on decks of playing cards. No one could sell a deck of cards without a tax stamp showing that a tax had been paid on the deck.  read more »

No one knows for certain where the game of chess was first played. Most likely, the game began in ancient India, where it was called chaturanga. This word refers to the four members of an Indian army: the foot soldier, the elephant, the chariot, and the horse.

During the 6th or 7th century, the game traveled from India to neighboring Persia, where its name became shatranj. From there it spread to the Arab lands, then moved into Europe sometime around the 10th century.  read more »

No one knows exactly where the game of billiards was invented. Some say it was in ancient Greece, others say China or France, and still others say England. According to the people who think it was invented in England, this is how it happened:

A game called lawn bowling was very popular in England during the Middle Ages. This game was played outdoors, on a patch of grass. But it rains often in England, so bowlers decided to move the game indoors. This meant that the playing court would have to be much smaller, as small as the room.  read more »

The board game called backgammon is one of the most popular games in America today, with more than two million regular players. Yet this game isn't as popular today as it was more than 2,000 years ago!

No one person invented backgammon. It evolved from a number of old games that were played in the Near East as early as 3000 B.C. The ancient Egyptians played a board game, called senet, that was similar to backgammon. A senet board was found in the tomb of King Tut, which dates from 1500 B.C.  read more »

Cubes with numbers or spots on their sides have been used since ancient times by people in almost all parts of the world. Dice are so old that we don't even know when or where they were invented, because they have been around since before man learned how to write!

Primitive people probably made the first dice from the bones of sheep, and used them for predicting the future as well as for playing games.  read more »

Although another bicycle may have been invented earlier, the first bicycles in the world that we know about were built late in the 18th century.

These early bikes, called hobby horses, consisted of two wheels connected by a curved bar. Since these bikes had no pedals, riders had to move their bikes by pushing along the ground with their feet!

In 1838, a Scottish blacksmith invented the first bicycle with pedals. In the -decades that followed, bicycles became very popular, but because they had wooden wheels, the ride was very rough — so rough that bikes were nicknamed "boneshakers."  read more »

Most people think that golf was invented in Scotland, but there's no proof that it was born there. The ancient Romans played a game with bent wooden sticks and a leather ball stuffed with feathers.

In the Middle Ages, the Dutch played a game called kolven on frozen rivers and canals, using a wooden club to hit a ball toward a stake set in the ice. Later, some Dutch people probably began to hit the ball toward a hole in the ground instead of a stake.  read more »

It's possible that the skateboard was invented during the 1940s or the 1950s. But the skateboard didn't really attract any attention until 1962, when a surfer in California attached roller-skate wheels to a board and began selling the skateboards to other surfers, who used them to practice certain moves used in surfing.

But then, many people began to complain that skateboard wheels made too much noise, and that skateboards were very dangerous. So, many cities made the skateboard illegal on city streets.  read more »

Roller skating began around the middle of the 18th century, when an unknown man in The Netherlands made a pair of skates with wooden wheels.

Most likely, the inventor fashioned the skates so that he could practice ice-skating techniques during the warm months.

The first pair of roller skates offered for sale appeared in Belgium in 1760. But it wasn't until the middle of the 19th century, when metal wheels were introduced, that roller skates began to offer a ride that was smooth and comfortable enough to make the pastime of roller skating truly popular.  read more »

Ice skates are a lot older than you might think. The oldest ice skates that still exist today come from Sweden, and were made sometime between the years 700 and 900.

But early Swedish writing, dating from around the year 150, mentions ice skates. And some people think that ice skates may have been in use as long ago as 800 B.C.

The earliest skates were simply cow bones fastened to the foot with leather straps. Skates with metal blades didn't appear until about 500 years ago. But ice skating was already a popular pastime in England, Holland, and other countries by the 12th century!  read more »