John G. Saxe takes his rightful place in the canon, in this 1874 edition of “Vignette Authors” from Selchow & Richter.  His colleagues are: Washington Irving, W. C. Bryant, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Bayard Taylor, W. M. Thackeray, J. F. Cooper, J. G. Whittier, Wilkie Collins, Revd. H. W. Beecher, J. Russell Lowell, J. G. […]

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“Black Peter” is a popular game in Eastern Europe; here are three other examples.  This one was published by Grafika-Grafoprint, in Zagreb, Croatia, as “Crni Petar.”  In this case, Black Peter is not the traditional African or chimney sweep, associated with Christmas, but a hunter; and the other cards are the hunted.  And here is […]

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There have been other card games that adapt non-card games: baseball or bowling, to name two.  This 1959 offering from Russell, “Tail the Donkey,” reworks the old party favorite.  Players compete to collect a complete donkey — in a specific order, to make it trickier.  No blindfolds or sharp objects are required.  The design on […]

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Ah, we have another “Old Maid.”  This one is undated, and published by E. E. Fairchild.  As the box says, it features “Characters from Nursery Rhymes and Folk Tales.”  It appears to be a revised version of this one. And here’s the Old Maid. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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The “New Testament Game,” published in 1899 by The Fireside Game Company, was a variation on the popular game of “Quartets.”  The deck contained 52 scenes from the life of Jesus, divided into groups of four, which the player then collected. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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We have here another early edition of “Authors”; I found it without a box, so can offer no information on date or publisher.  Dickens seems to be sporting unruly hair and beard in this portrait.  The other writers in the pantheon this time are: Longfellow, Irving, Cooper, Scott, Holmes, and Burns. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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This early edition of “Authors” dispenses with the writers’ portraits, offering instead these colorful and decorative designs.  The authors represented are Ouida, Thomas Carlyle, Wilkie Collins, and George Eliot. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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This edition of “Animal Rummy” was published by Whitman.  There’s no date, but I guess it was from some time in the ’60s.  Merry Monkey, Zippy Zebra, and other brightly colored anthropomorphic animals urge you to collect them in groups of four. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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“Slap Jack” is one of those enduring children’s games that seem to quietly survive under the radar.  Of course, you can play it with a normal deck; but you may as well let a designer have fun with it.  This 1965 Whitman version uses paisley and other patterns for most of the deck, and a […]

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“The Cheerful Game of Porky the Pig,” first published by Parker Brothers in 1946, got a makeover in 1961.  The original ’40s graphics (here) were replaced by the more stylized design popular in the ’50s.  Here, for comparison, are the two Porkies as well. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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