They were originally played with Spanish playing cards and later with cards made expressly for the game, known as Monte cards, as well as modified standard decks. The two-card version Mexican monte, and the four-card version Spanish monte, are card games played in Spain before coming to Mexico and then the American Southwest. The term 'monte' has also been used for a variety of other gambling games, especially varieties of three-card poker, and for the swindle three-card monte. It ultimately derives from basset, where the banker (dealer) pays on matching cards. Monte Bank, Mountebank, Spanish Monte and Mexican Monte, sometimes just Monte, is a Spanish gambling card game and was known in the 19th century as the national card game of Mexico. John David Borthwick, a Scottish artist portrayed the gambling element of Monte in this lithograph.
