Plastic cards -- From sea shells to electrons -- A land of local banks, awash in paper checks -- The rise of payment cards -- From gourmets to the masses -- Everywhere you want to be, not everywhere they want to be -- Chicken's eggs and other economic conundrums -- System wars -- Issuer brawls -- Puzzles and paradoxes -- The antitrust wars -- Debit takes off (finally) -- And they don't take cash.