Pips
Encyclopedia
Pips are small but easily countable items. The term is used to describe the dots on dominoes
, dice
, denote suits
, and is the name for the small seeds of some fruit
s. It could be used as a synonym for dot in most situations, for example morse code
.
In playing cards, pips are small symbols on the frontside of the cards that determine the suit
of the card. A standard 52-card poker deck consists of four suits of thirteen cards each: spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Each suit contains three face cards - the jack, queen, and king. The remaining ten cards are called pip cards and are numbered from one to ten. (The first card is almost always changed from "one" to "ace" and often is the highest card in the game, followed by the face cards.) Each pip card consists of an encoding in the top left-hand corner (and, because the card is also inverted upon itself, the lower right-hand corner) which tells the card-holder the value of the card. The center of the card contains pips representing the suit. The number of pips corresponds with the number of the card, and the arrangement of the pips is generally the same from deck to deck.
Many of these 52-card poker decks contain a variation on the pip style for the Ace of Spades
, often consisting of an especially large pip or even a representative image, along with information about the deck's manufacturer.
On dice
, pips are small dots on each face of a common six-sided die. These pips are typically arranged in patterns denoting the numbers one through six. The sum of opposing faces traditionally adds up to seven. Pips are commonly colored black on white dice, and white on dice of other colors, although colored pips on white dice are not uncommon; Japanese dice often have an enlarged red single pip for the "one" face, while the dice for the game Kismet
feature black pips for 1 and 6, red pips for 2 and 5, and green pips for 3 and 4.
franchise Star Trek
, from Star Trek: The Next Generation
onwards, the rank insignia used by Starfleet
were a series of small, circular pips displayed on the right collar. A single gold pip denoted an Ensign, a Gold pip and black pip denoted a Lieutenant Junior Grade, two gold pips denoted a Lieutenant and so on.
Dominoes
Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...
, dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
, denote suits
Suit (cards)
In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...
, and is the name for the small seeds of some fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s. It could be used as a synonym for dot in most situations, for example morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
.
Playing cards
Suit (cards)
In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...
of the card. A standard 52-card poker deck consists of four suits of thirteen cards each: spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Each suit contains three face cards - the jack, queen, and king. The remaining ten cards are called pip cards and are numbered from one to ten. (The first card is almost always changed from "one" to "ace" and often is the highest card in the game, followed by the face cards.) Each pip card consists of an encoding in the top left-hand corner (and, because the card is also inverted upon itself, the lower right-hand corner) which tells the card-holder the value of the card. The center of the card contains pips representing the suit. The number of pips corresponds with the number of the card, and the arrangement of the pips is generally the same from deck to deck.
Many of these 52-card poker decks contain a variation on the pip style for the Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades
At least in English-speaking countries, the ace of spades is traditionally seen as the highest card in the deck of playing cards, although the actual value of the card varies from game to game...
, often consisting of an especially large pip or even a representative image, along with information about the deck's manufacturer.
Dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
, pips are small dots on each face of a common six-sided die. These pips are typically arranged in patterns denoting the numbers one through six. The sum of opposing faces traditionally adds up to seven. Pips are commonly colored black on white dice, and white on dice of other colors, although colored pips on white dice are not uncommon; Japanese dice often have an enlarged red single pip for the "one" face, while the dice for the game Kismet
Kismet (dice game)
Kismet is the trademarked name of a commercial dice game introduced in 1964. The game's name is the Turkish word for "fate". E.William DeLaittre holds the trademark on the game, originally published by Lakeside Games, and currently produced by Endless Games. Marketed as "The Modern Game of Yacht",...
feature black pips for 1 and 6, red pips for 2 and 5, and green pips for 3 and 4.
Star Trek
In the Science FictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
franchise Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
onwards, the rank insignia used by Starfleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
were a series of small, circular pips displayed on the right collar. A single gold pip denoted an Ensign, a Gold pip and black pip denoted a Lieutenant Junior Grade, two gold pips denoted a Lieutenant and so on.