Chinese chess/xiangqi set ("Butterfly brand")

" 中國象棋 " ( Chinese chess set) , 32 pieces, butterfly brand.

This set is a typical example of the Chinese chess, or xiangqi set. Despite chess and xiangqi having evolved from the same ancestor, or so we are told, the sets are very different

the pieces are as follows. :.
Red pieces                兵      ,   炮      ,    車     ,      馬     ,  相       ,士    , 帥
black pieces              卒      ,   炮      ,   車      ,      馬    ,   象      , 士    , 將
Equivellant in chess  pawn  , ( none) ,   Rook , Knight,  Bishop, ( none), King

Note the fact that equivilant ranks are written differently for the opposing sides

Some pieces, like the 炮 ( cannon) and 士( valet) have no equivalent on chess. The cannon is a most  perculiar piece. It can only make a capture, when there is a piece in between it and the target . The cannon has to "jump" over a piece , so to speak. The Valets are another curious piece. They perform a function somewhat similar to the bishops in chess, moving diagonally within the confines of the "square" in the back of the board.
As can be clearly seen from the above diagram, the pieces are made of roundels of wood, on which are engraved the characters. The characters are then coloured in with paint. The colours used are, in this case, red & black, although I have seen green replace black in some sets.

 

the pieces laid out on the board

 

Chess sets such as this one come in plastic cases, which are in the form of a rectangle with 2 semicircles attached to the short edges. They are almost invariably supplied with a chessboard, printed on a thin plastic, much like the sort plastic bags are made of. In some of the older sets, we find that they are made of paper.

 



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

 

 

 



Circular playing cards-- Fournier

"Circular" -Fournier- 48c. + 2
 Another circular deck, this time from the Spanish maker Fournier. This deck is another example of the circular sort, save that it uses Spanish suits instead of the more common French ones.

 the suit of coins

as with the house of marbles deck, Fournier seems to have come up with more or less an identical solution to the placement of the pips and court figures on the deck. ( for a more conventional spanish deck, see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2011/11/castilian-pattern-by-fournier.html.)

However, unlike the house of marbles deck, which has 6 indexed around the circumference, this one has 4.

The suit of cups-- Again, much as coins.

Batons.

Swords: I find the placement of the swords , with their tips all pointing towards the center, vaguely threatening.

 

For another example of circular playing cards, see:

 

Making a tarot deck

A rather curious way of being able to produce a tarot deck without buying one is as follows.
 I quote the following instructions from the RationalWiki.

You will need two decks of 54 standard playing cards with identical backs and different faces; in the US, a Bicycle Standard or Jumbo Index deck and a Bicycle Lo-Vision four-color deck will do. (This example is based on that combination.)^[4]
Take the cards from the standard deck minus one joker (the other joker will be the Fool). Mix in the A->10 cards from the clubs (blue) and diamonds (green) from the Lo-Vision deck along with the Ace of Spades (black) and the jacks from all four suits; the clubs will be trumps 1-10, the diamonds (because a diamond's worth more than a stick) will be trumps 11-20, the big-index jacks will act as cavaliers,^[5] and the ace of spades will be trump 21. You are now ready to play any tarot game using a standard 78-card deck, and you won't have to frustrate yourself with the artsy-fartsy markings on a cartomancy deck or pay obscene shipping charges to import a playing deck from France or Italy
------------------
4- Total cost approx. US$ 7, depending on supplier
5- You could also use three decks with three different index sizes, making the cavalier-jacks the middle-size index cards, but it's probably a waste of money to tear apart a third deck just for the jacks

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Tarot#cite_ref-1

To sum it up, Here is a little table which breaks down the deck's structure
 ( the Letters in colour represent the cards of the Lo- vision deck, the "C" stands for a knight )

Tarot trump	Fool	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Replacement	Joker	A	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Tarot trump	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Replacement	A	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	A

....

Plain Suits (Tarot)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	J	C	Q	K
Replacement	A	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	J Normal	J (Big in-dex)	Q	K

However, In this blogger's opinion, isn't part of the joy in playing at tarot the beauty of the cards?

[Edited 23rd Dec. 2018, to cure formatting error]

Transparent playing cards ( 1 )

Transparent playing cards- anon- 52 + 2 c.

Transparent playing cards would surely seem to be somewhat of an outright impossibility- How would one play with a deck that would allow light to pass through it, & yet conceal what cards you are holding from your opponents?
  However, such cards are made, and the are perfectly playable. However, it can be said that the makers almost always "cheat" when designing the cards. Firstly, to make them transparent, they ay are printed on thin sheets of plastic.

the cards overlaid on text , showing their transparent nature

As you may observe from the above image, only a certan portion of the cards are transparent, the rest covered with a form of design which is opaque. It is on this design where the face side of the cards are printed on. In this case, the maker has decided to only print the indexes of the cards and nothing else.

a closeup of the above. Note the ornamented borders and centerpiece.

the cards held up to strong light



the same, held up the other way. Note the opaque ovals, on which the indexes are printed

However, at least in this instance, the maker has decided, presumedly for reasons of economy,  not to make the whole of the back design opaque, but only the small oval on which the indexes are printed. This causes the little ovals on which the indexes are printed to stand up when the cards are held up to strong light.

The cards in question were purchased from the Japanese discount store Daiso.  



Irinokichi ( 入ノ 吉) - Nintendo

 

"入ノ 吉 / 入の 吉 " ( Irinokichi) , Nintendo - 48c. + Onifuda + blank 

 

    Another Kabu deck, with the rather pleasing name of "coming-in-luck"  this particular pattern differs from the others by several features.

Firstly, this deck uses the suit of batons, much like the Kabufuda . In fact, one could imagine that the kabufuda evolved from just such a deck, as the pip cards are almost identical.

  Secondly, unlike the other decks, this deck has all 3 courts. However, it is interesting to note that the knave has a rather realistic depiction of a person, unlike the knight and king, which are abstract forms



 

Key to Positions of cards in picture below:

Top row : 7, 8, 9, 10, [ knave] , [ knight] , [king]

Bottom row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

 

 The pip cards.

 

from L-R, onifuda, special ace, special 4

Note the fact that the silver overprints on the cards are nearly transparent with age. The red on the onifuda has streaks on it, perhaps indicative of stencilling?

 

Circular playing cards I- house of marbles

"Circular playing cards/ Round playing cards" - House of marbles, 52c.+2

  Circular playing cards, although unusual, are by no means rare. The Indian Ganjifa cards are mostly circular in shape. This is doubtless due to the relative ease of making circles of regular shape than rectangles ( To make circles, one only needs a pair of dividers or compasses to trace the designs, whilst drawing rectangles calls for much work involving straightedges, which is wont to be inaccurate).
   However, as far as the west is concerned, circular playing cards are more often than not produced as novelties. This particular example is an English pattern. However, some modifications have been made to suit the format.

Spades

 

Notice that the court cards are repeated four times on each card, much like spokes on a wheel. In order for that to be achieved, the figures have to be stripped down a bit, thus making the king of spades look like four skittles!. The indexes are also repeated around the card in a similar fashion

The Joker displays a knight ( St, George?) slaying a dragon.

 

 

 

Diamonds

Note that although the courts have been repeated 4 times, the arrangement of the pips are as with a normal deck.

 

 

Clubs

Hearts.

The pips on the court cards seem to have been inverted