We have a remarkable ability to see patterns where there are none, to see pictures in clouds, smoke, and rocks.  We’re particularly prone to see faces, perhaps because facial recognition is such an important survival skill.
“Images d’Epinal,” an old French firm that provided popular prints for generations, has long published pictures with hidden images, especially […]

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This pictorial deck is from Creative Card Games.
(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

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“Felix the Cat’s Rummy” contained pictures of cartoon animals, as well as a picture of Felix himself.  Some of the images were also used in other rummy decks, but I hadn’t seen this scootering pig before.
(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

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“Bible Memory Match” — which bears no sign of date or publisher — presented 18 pairs of Biblical subjects, to be matched by the players.  I don’t remember the buzzard in this scriptural passage.
(Posted by Doug Skinner; thanks to Lisa Hirschfield.)

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“Himalaya,” a 1997 game from Charles Wilkins, had a mountaineering theme.  You collected Meter, Danger, and Gear cards on your way to the summit.
(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

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I’m not sure if “Compucards” qualifies as a children’s game; it bills itself as “Playing Cards with Binary Numbers, for the Computer Generation.” It dates from 1983, and was apparently a promotional item for Certacom, a “Telecommunications Equipment Distributor” in the UK.  The standard four suits are used, but the numbers are 1, 2, 4, […]

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The “United States Map Playing Cards,” from UniversalMAP, gives you a great deal of information about the states.  There are 50 states, and 52 cards in a deck — so you also get maps of Washington D.C. and of the world.  And the Jokers are maps of the U.S., with the suit and number of […]

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I found this deck with no box or instructions.  It seems to have a Western theme.  All of the other people depicted are also in jail: they include Dirty Dan, Shifty Sam, Fingers, Big Hawk, Little Lou, Black Bart, and Baby Face.
(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

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“Le Jeu des Provinces de France,” from Editions Dusserre, portrayed citizens of different provinces.  In Auvergne, one goes around with a large hat, wooden shoes, and a hurdy-gurdy.
(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

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On April 1, 1897, the remarkable French humorist Alphonse Allais published his Album primo-avrilesque.  It was a slim volume, containing seven monochromatic paintings (such as “Apoplectic cardinals picking tomatoes by the Red Sea”) and a silent funeral march (because the greatest sorrows are mute).  The march was the first silent piece, preceding similar works by […]

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