Ma Diao 馬吊 — the oldest card game we can still play

Before tarot, before Europe even had cards, there was Ma Diao — the Ming-dynasty money-suited trick game that is the deepest documented root of the whole playing-card family (China → the Islamic world → Europe → tarot) and an ancestor of Mahjong. Its suits are denominations of money. The cards were calligraphic, so they're rendered here from type. Read about its place in the history of tarot.

Four players, every one for themselves. You sit South. Deal is 8 cards each (eight more form a flipped stock). You lead first.
Lead a suit; highest of it wins. Following suit isn't required — you may play any card. Only the highest card of the led suit takes the trick; anything off-suit is a face-down slough that can't win. The winner leads next.
Take two to be safe. Win at least 2 of the 8 tricks or you pay the banker. (Win 0 of the first seven and you forfeit the last.)
The money suits. Cash 文, Strings 索, Myriads 萬, Tens-of-Myriads 十萬 — and the Cash suit ranks backwards: Zero is highest, Nine the lowest.
文 Cash (Zero·Half·1–9, reversed) 索 Strings (1–9) 萬 Myriads (1–9) 十萬 Tens (20–90 · 百萬 · 千萬 · 萬萬貫)
Rules after John McLeod's pagat.com money-card games, the World of Playing Cards, and Wikipedia. The banker payments, the stock's role and the dealer-cut are simplified to the core trick game.
North
West
East
You (South)
Your hand