“Happy Families” is a small deck, cheaply printed, and carrying no information on publisher or date. We are only told that it was “Made in Hong Kong.” Obviously, it carries on the tradition of “Dr. Busby” (you remember him, scowling at you from #40 of this survey). The child is meant to collect the four members of the Dose family: father, mother, son, and daughter. Similar games, variously known as “Quartet” or “Seven Families,” are still sold in toy stores across Europe.
(Posted by Doug Skinner)
3 responses so far ↓
1 Gail // Feb 21, 2009 at 9:36 am
Great name for a doctor: “Dr. Dose”! I once got an ear piercing from a woman called “Mrs. Lobe”!
2 Lisa // Feb 21, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Happy Families is mentioned in Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, only he mixes it up with Snakes and Ladders: Happy Ladders and Snakes and Families. Those sound more fun, it’s true.
3 mamie // Feb 21, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I’m recalling an apt name for a specialist doctor I had once. It was quite remarkable. I enjoy the fact that he’s “Mr” – not “Dr”. That’s kind of a dis.