Card playing games occupy a significant segment of a rather large group of „table“ games. It is an area that as of yet has not been a subject to a systematic study. Two separate topics (playing cards and their use) come into focus during the research for this study as part of the same issue in question. Both topics are divided into several groups (cartomancy, gambling, social games, games for children and the young) according to their purpose and the chronology of their appearance. A separate group from playing cards used as auxiliary tools in education. For the purpose of researching the structure of playing cards and the associated decks I used my own extensive and quite unique collection. Beside researching the structure of playing cards and decks, the existing theories on the genesis of playing cards, with regard to the „Egyptian theory“, were aslo taken in the view. This included a detailed research of the manufacturing playing cards on the Croatian territory from the 17th century to present day. A separate topic was the use of varius playing cards on the Croatian territory. Two civilization circles clearly reflected on playing cards and their use. The Mediterranean area was dominated by the influenceof the Dubrovnik Republic, while Zagreb dominated the Middle European Parts. The two influences began to merge with the rule of the Habsburg dinasty on our territory. Since playing cards mostly occurs during free time, especially during leisure, I widened the research using the aviable sociological methodology such as: sociological description, sociological discovery and sociological interpretation.