Australian Toy cards 3: Old maid

"Old maid", anon. 36+1+ instruction card.

This particular deck of cards is for playing the game of "old maid". Like the other cards in this series, they were purchased in a remote australian town, near Phillip island.
 These cards are entirely typical of their genre, featuring cartoon images as their subjects. The names of the personages are altilerative, something that might appeal to their young users.

   This deck seems to be a fairly egalitarian one. With the exception of old maid, there are precisely nine female subjects and nine male subjects. 

  The inclusion of a "Running back Randy" suggests an American origin of these designs, as does the legend "US MAIL" on Mailman Manny's bag. The caricature of the old maid, meanwhile strikes me as more vicious than other examples of the genre. 

Australian toy cards 2: Hearts

"Hearts" Anon, 36c+1,
This deck was purchased as a set of three in a remote town in Australia. These cards display several unusual features. These arise from a need for economy, and attractiveness. This deck is by far the most unusual of the three.
  Hearts is a game that is typically played with a normal deck of 52 cards. The aim of the game is to avoid capturing cards with the suit of hearts, and the queen of spades. However, it appears that printing a full set of 52 cards was well beyond the budget of its maker. A deck of 36 cards was all that they could afford. So what was one to do?

One solution would be to stick to the structure of a standard deck of cards. Instead of 13 ranks in 4 suits, print 9 ranks in a 4 suits. That would result in a deck of 36 cards.
But if one did that, the scoring system would no longer work. There would not be enough cards.
Instead, the maker chose to print a deck with Three Suits .

 Each of the three suits contains 12 cards..The three suits are clover-leaves (seen above), yellow diamonds and Red hearts.   

 Apart from the indices, all the cards of each suit are identical. In the middle of each card, is a cutesy cartoon animal. A pig for the clovers, a bear for the diamonds, and a rabbit for the hearts.  

The suit of hearts, It is interesting to observe, that the cards are all double-faced. 

The additional card, known as the "Jinx". This card takes the place of the Queen of spades in the normal game of hearts. But because the card is on itself, the resulting deck has 37 instead of 36 cards. This might playing the game somewhat complex...  

The rules for the game are given on a card, printed with this deck. I transcribe it below.

The heart deck has three suit ( hearts, clovers and diamonds) of twelve cards each, including a number 6 star card which is the Jinx card. 

The object of the game is to avoid taking tricks containing the hearts or the Jinx card. 

1. Dealer shuffles and deals one card at a time, face down. an equal number of cards to each player. The remaining cards, if any are placed face down, and taken in by the player who takes the first trick. 

2. Each player selects two cards from his hand, and passes them to the person on his left. 

3. Dealer starts the [play by leading any card except a heart. after the frist trick is taken, any suite [sic] including hearts may be led. 

Play moves to th left, everyone following suite. If the player cannot follow suite, he may discard 3 hearts, the jinx card, or any card he chooses.

Highest card of the suite [led] takes the trick.

The player taking the trick with the highest card leads a card for the next round. 

Winner: is the player with the least points.

Each heart counts one point, and the jinx card counts 6 points. 

Note: Contrast this scoring system with the standard game. Each heart scores one point, the queen of spades 13 points. 

Australian Toy cards 1: Fish

"Fish card game", Anon, 36c+1

 The following set of cards was purchased at a thrift shop in a remote Australian town. These cards came in a pack of three. All of these cards are designed for the express purpose of a particular game. Although they were purchased in Australia, they might have been printed in America. 

 Let us speculate for some moments on why this deck was produced.  Most of the games that are played with this set of three cards can be played with normal playing cards. However, owing to the shady associations of normal playing cards, parents might be hesitant to allow them to fall into the hands of children. 

   Hence, manufacturers would be more than happy to manufacture "non playing cards" for the purposes of children. In any case, it would also be economical for manufacturers. Why bother to invent a new game when you can simply design new cards for an old one? 

****

The present deck is intended for a game normally called "Go fish". This game involves players capturing cards in a central "pool" with cards in their own hand. In most versions, whoever captures the most cards wins.

  In this deck, the maker has taken a hint from the fishy name of the game. All nine subjects of the deck are fish. Each of the subjects is repeated 4 times to generate the deck of 36 cards.  

The illustrations of the deck are clearly interned to appeal to children.  Each of the cards has a border of a distinctive colour. Perhaps this acts in a similar fashion to the indexes of normal cards?

Most of the subjects of the deck are oceanic creatures. Perhaps the "pool" would be more properly called the "ocean"?

Crooked playing cards- US games systems

" The Crooked deck "- US games systems - 52c. + 3 jokers
We have here another of the species of novelty cards. These cards ( of which there are many makers, ) possess the feature of being cut into a curious shape

As you may see from the picture, not only are the cards themselves bent into this curious shape, but the images upon them are also distorted in this fashion. This is particularly prominent in the court cards.

One of the three jokers has the following inscription upon it. I find it worthy of being quoted here in whole:



THE CROOKED DECK

What some of our delighted customers have said about the CROOKED DECK...
"This is the best deal I've had in years..."Hot Hands Herbie, Poker Flats, Idaho
"Will add a new twist to your card parties..."
Mrs Zelda frobishier, Crooked creek, Pa.
"You will get ine fast shuffle from the CROOKED DECK ...'
Arnold freed, President, A.freed novelty inc.

Guarantee

In view of the age old truths that all glitterings are not rhinestones nor iron birds a cage make; then we cannot in all justification refund part or whole of purchase under any conditions which.

***

Rather surprisingly, given the odd shape, these cards are surprisingly easy to hold and grip, at least much easier than the circular decks.

 

The cards in hand

 

 

 



Miniature cards ( English)

Miniature cards - anon ( english maker) , 53c. +joker
 
 Another miniature deck, probably from the 1940s-50s.It is ( apparently ) made in England. I wonder why this would be considered worth mentioning, as the deck is printed in a rather crude fashion; with some cards not aligned properly.
   However, it is a pretty little thing - observe the curious illustration on the back , depicting a pair of dogs on leashes, being walked as snow falls. The same design is reproduced on the wrapper
   Another curious feature is the black band that seperates the two halves of the courts. I thing that this was intended to be filled in with a customer's name (but given the poor quality of the printing , the name may not have been legible)
 Lastly, the deck contains a pair of two-of-diamonds. I have no knowlege how that card got there

joker, back,  and wrapper

the other side of the wrapper.

"Jie mi pu ke"

"Jie mi pu ke" ( 解密撲克)[ mystery solving poker"] -- "卡之王" ( "kazhiwang" , "king of cards") 54c.

 The following children's deck is a testament to Chinese ingenuity. Aldough the deck is printed on poor quality cardboard, and the printing is much off register, the maker managed to squeze six seperate decks into the space of a patience sized one .

as you may see, the majority of the card is taken up by a depiction of a superhero . however, notice that, beside the index signs, there are a pair of dice values.  there is also a circle, in which contains one ofthe symbols for "rock-paper-scissors".

to illustrate these features [and more] more clearly, I have labelled them bellow:

1- the standard index-signs

2- a pair of dice-values. evidently used as a substitute for dice

3- "rock paper scissors" symbols. - as above

4-"defence power"  - evidently used for a sort of comparing game

5- "attack power" - see above

6- a series of stars, each card hsving a diffrent number. Perhaps used for a comparing game?

The box that contains the cards, bears the legend:

" Jie mi pu ke must not be used for gambling"

This is all for a very good reason, as the cards come supplied with a little plastic sheet. if you place the backs of the cards to the plastic sheet, their value may be discerned.

note the faint "3 ❤"