“The Queen of Spades” is a short story with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. Hermann is an officer of the engineers in the Imperial Russian Army. He constantly watches the other officers gamble, but never plays himself. One night, Tomsky tells a story about his grandmother. Many years ago, she lost a fortune at cards, and then won it back with the secret of the three winning cards. Hermann becomes obsessed with obtaining the secret.