Some 7th- to 10th-century manuscripts trace the earliest instance of playing cards to China. The earliest authentic references to playing cards in Europe dates back to circa 1377, and the history of English playing cards dates back to mid 15th century.

Per the basic rules of a card game, when a game is played, the players arrange themselves in a circle around a horizontal surface on which the cards will be played. The players face inwards, and are seated so that they cannot see each other's cards.

A pack of cards is used to play card games. All cards are identical in shape and size, and each card has a two sides; one being the face and another the back. Backs in a pack are indistinguishable and faces may all be unique, depending on the game. In both cases, any card is identifiable by its face. The set of cards is called a pack in British English and deck in U.S. English.

In a number of card games, cards in a pack are grouped in suits. Dealing is done either counterclockwise or clockwise. It is usually assumed that the dealing is clockwise for games from North America, North and West Europe and Russia; counterclockwise for South and East Europe and Asia, also for Swiss games and all Tarot games.

Card games for a solo player are called Solitaire in the U.S and Patience in the U.K.

Some of the popular traditional card games are Bridge, Canasta, Cribbage, Euchre, Hearts, Pinochle, Pitch, Rummy, Solitaire, Spades and Whist.