It is the card of death. The Ace of Spades, that is. The Death Card. Why? Because after the development of the Gutenberg press, the cost of printing dropped like a stone. Suddenly cards were no longer a game only played by the rich. It did not take long for royalty to realize card games were incredibly popular and the government was not making a penny on the craze. So the kings allowed the printing of the cards BUT the printer had to pay a fee to the crown for each deck sold. Proof of payment was the king’s stamp of approval on the Ace of Spades. Should the printer counterfeit the king’s stamp of approval, the price was death. Thus the Ace of Spades became the “death card.”