Ombre or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented."
L'Hombre (1887), a painting by Malthe Odin Engelstedt. The player in the center is Rasmus Malling-Hansen, Danish inventor of the typewriter.
A Game of L'hombre in Brøndum's Hotel by Swedish artist Anna Palm de Rosa, circa 1885
A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including families of related games. A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules may vary by region, culture, location or from circle to circle.
The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts
Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia
The Card Players, 1895 by Paul Cézanne
Historically, card games such as whist and contract bridge were opportunities for quiet socializing, as shown in this 1930s magic lantern slide photo taken in Seattle, Washington.