Naqsh
A banking game from the Ganjifa card tradition, which originated in 15th-century Persia and flourished at the Mughal courts of India — players bet on reaching specific card-total combinations.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Naqsh belongs to the broader Ganjifa family of card games, a tradition of circular, hand-painted playing cards that originated in 15th-century Persia and was later elaborately developed under the Mughal courts of India, where sets could include eight or more suits instead of the familiar four.
As a banking game, Naqsh has one player act as banker while others bet against the bank rather than against each other, with the goal of reaching or exceeding a target card-total combination (accounts describe totals in the range of 17 to 21) similar in spirit to how Baccarat or Blackjack use target-number banking structures.
Historical note: Ganjifa cards and the games built around them were a major part of court entertainment culture across the Persian and Mughal worlds for centuries before European card games (and eventually poker) arrived in the region; Naqsh represents the same "bet against the bank toward a target" logic found independently in European banking games like Faro and Lansquenet (also in this library).
Strategy notes: As with other banking games in this library, there's no bluffing or hand-reading between players — the skill lies in judging when to stop drawing toward the target total versus when the bank's odds favor stopping early.
Common house rules
Ganjifa deck substitution
Authentic Ganjifa decks (circular cards, 8-12 suits) are rare outside dedicated collectors; most modern tables wanting to try this style of game substitute a standard 52-card deck and adapt the target-total mechanic accordingly.
Rotate the bank
As with other banking games in this library, most modern revivals rotate who deals as banker every round rather than fixing one player as banker for an entire session.
A window into a separate card-game tradition
Naqsh's main value at a global-minded dealer's-choice table is showing that banking-style card gambling developed independently in the Persian/Mughal world, alongside (not descended from) the European Faro/Basset/Zecchinetta lineage.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
Basset
A 17th-century Italian banking game, brought to fashionable prominence at the French court, in which players bet on cards turning up from the banker's deck — a direct ancestor of Faro.
Learn the rules →Faro
A once-massively popular banking card game (also called Pharaoh) that dominated American and European gambling halls for over two centuries, simplifying Basset's mechanic into a fast, simple bet-on-a-card game.
Learn the rules →Lansquenet
A German banking game named after 15th-16th century mercenaries, first referenced by Rabelais in 1534 — a direct precursor to Faro and Baccarat, and ancestor of Italian Zecchinetta.
Learn the rules →Zecchinetta
An old Italian gambling card game, close cousin to games like Basset and Faro, in which a banker deals cards one at a time and players bet on whether a matching card appears before the banker's own.
Learn the rules →