The earliest references to a card game named Pharaon (French for 'Pharaoh') are found in Southwestern France during the reign of Louis XIV. Variants include German Faro, Jewish Faro, and Ladies' Faro. Popular in North America during the 1800s, Faro was eventually overtaken by poker as the preferred card game of gamblers in the early 1900s. The game of Faro is played with only one deck of cards and admits any number of players. It is not a direct relative of poker, but Faro was often just as popular due to its fast action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds than most games of chance. Winning or losing occurs when cards turned up by the banker match those already exposed. It is descended from Basset, and belongs to the Lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games due to the use of a banker and several players. Men playing faro in an Arizona saloon in 1895įaro ( / ˈ f ɛər oʊ/ FAIR-oh), Pharaoh, Pharao, or Farobank is a late 17th-century French gambling game using cards.
