“Easy 3’s” — a 1959 confection from the Ed-U-Card people — offers a somewhat startling design.  A variety of familiar cartoon characters are depicted in black and white, trisected, against bright color backgrounds.  Once you assemble three of a kind, you can piece together your cartoon pal, much as Isis did Osiris. The selection of […]

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What could be jollier than a rousing round of “Bible Action,” a 1994 game from the All Church Technical Service, in Fayetteville, AR?  There were two decks, one per Testament; as the booklet says, you can also combine them “to form a much larger and somewhat more difficult game that includes all Bible books.” (Posted […]

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It’s another version of “Authors,” this time an undated deck from Whitman.  This one not only has dignified portraits of the selected writers, but a thumbnail sketch illustrating the book in question.  A charming extra touch, I think. (Posted by Doug Skinner.)

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The Ullage Group is particularly fond of the work of Richard Shaver, and likes to return to it from time to time.  This is one of those times; we’ll be posting a few items on Shaver this week. For those unfamiliar with him, I’ll say (briefly) that he was quite active as a pulp writer […]

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We have here another Japanese deck: a regular deck of 52, with two jokers, all illustrated with cartoony animals.  The copy on the box is in Japanese, so I can’t tell you much about it.  Mixed in there, though, are the indications “Poplar” and “2008,” which I assume are the publisher and date.  You seem […]

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I’ve avoided the many children’s card games that tie into toys and other franchises — simply because the graphics must, by definition, follow the pattern established by the franchise, offering little elbow room for the designer.  The “Jellibee Card Game,” however, is such an odd creation, both graphically and conceptually, that it has earned a […]

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We have another look at the fine old game of “Authors,” here in an undated deck from Russell.  I particularly like that ribbon.  Has anyone out there read this one? (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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“The Cheerful Game of Porky the Pig” was one of three games in the set “Children’s Hour,” a 1946 offering from Parker Brothers.  The others were “Peanut the Elephant” and “ABC Fishing.” Porky had no connection with the familiar character from Warner Brothers; I suspect there were numerous pigs called Porky over the years.  The […]

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Salt and pepper packets occupy a strange position in our strange society.  In a country that monetizes everything, they’re free.  Everybody knows and uses them; and they pass unnoticed.  Other condiment packets contain commercial products familiar to the condiment-eater: the ketchup and mustard look like the bottles in the store.  Salt and pepper are also […]

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