MOTHER GOOSE'S ATTIC - Vintage Card Games

The Car Game by Pepys
(Castell Brothers Ltd)

This pack consists of a wide variety of famous cars illustrated in full colour and based on the drawings of Barry Rowe. 44 cards divided into six classes: Sports, Racing, Record Breaking, Luxury, Touring and Vintage/Veteran with 2 jokers featuring the famous speed record breaking Bluebird.

Barry Rowe is is well know for his accurately researched and painted works and is acknowledged as one of the world's leading automotive artists.

Find the rules for the game here.......

The Card Golf
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

The 1960s successor to the Pepys successful 1930s golf card game Kargo. According to the rule book you don't need to have a knowledge of golf to play this game and that "..every stroke pictured in the cards is an accurate reproduction of a swing ...."

The game is for 2 - 4 players and there are 4 "golf balls", a distance indicator marked off in 20 yard lengths (to show where the balls are at the completion of each stroke) and 54 illustrated cards.

42 Stroke cards made up of:
29 Distance Cards
12 Putts
1 "Holed-Out" Card
and 12 Hazard Cards.

The numbers on the cards indicate yards.

The object of the game is to get the ball into the Hole in the least number of turns.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Channel X.
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

The aim of this 1966 Pepys game is to run a fictitious TV channel by selling advertising and renting out TV programmes.

The game is for 2 – 6 people with 52 large cards, 12 small cards and £300,000 in “Pepys Currency”

24 Programme Cards:
6 each (one for each of the 6 Channels,
the channel numbers are on the top left
corner of the cards)
of Sport, Variety, Thriller & Panel Game
12 Advertisement cards:
2 each of 6 advertised products
Time Cards:
9 0f 60 minutes (time taken for Sport, Variety & Thriller programmes)
3 of 30 minutes (Panel Game)
4 of 2 minutes(Adverts)
12 Small Cards:
6 Channel Cards (numbered 1 – 6)
6 Advertising Company Cards (numbered 1-6)
£300,000 in “Pepys Currency”

The object of the game is to be the first to collect a hand of 5 cards:
3 Programme cards with the same channel number (not 3 of the same programme) and 2 Advertising cards.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Cheery Families
by various Manufacturers

This typical game of Happy Families is very reminiscent of the Victorian/Edwardian era.
There are 52 cards in the pack, 13 sets of 4.

by Thomas De La Rue

This game by Thomas De La Rue of London from around 1900 is the original "Cheery" Families and differs from the other set mentioned here because the cards are printed in full colour.

by The St. Michael's Juvenile Card Games

This game was produced for The St. Michael's Juvenile Card Games around 1910 and was printed in red and black inks.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Cinderella.
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

Produced by Pepys in 1954 to coincide with the Walt Disney Film The game introduces you to the lovable new characters that Disney created for the film, Bruno the puppy, the Bluebirds, the mice-Gus and Jaq, the Ball Dress that the mice and bluebirds made for Cinderella and Lucifer the Stepmother's spoilt fat cat.
The game is for 3 – 5 players with 44 cards in total each of SET CARDS (names in black):
Bruno
Blue Birds
Fairy Godmother
Gus & Jaq
Coach
Ball Dress
Palace
King & Duke
at the Ball
Clock
Glass Slipper
Lived Happily Ever After
2 each of FINAL CARDS (names in red):
Ugly Sisters; Stepmother; Lucifer.
One each of PRIZE CARDS (names in blue):
Cinderella;The Prince.

“The object of the game is to dispose of all your cards in sets and to score as many points as possible while doing so.”

Find the rules for the game here.......

Circus Rummy
by Spears?

This game was probably produced by Spears of Bavaria in the 1920s/30s. All that is written on the box is "Foreign" which indicates it was made (usually in Germany) after the First World War.

There are 36 cards in the pack with 4 sets of 9 cards in each.

The numbering starts at 6 and goes up to 13 and then Ace (although the Ace counts as one when adding up the score at the end of the hand).

The game is played the same way as normal Rummy.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Cities
by All+Fair (E. E. Fairchild Corp.)

This game was produced by the Fairchild Corp. (All-Fair) in the 1940s. It consists of 36 cards, representing 12 different American cities with 3 cards (called a "book") for each city. All three cards of any one " book" will spell out the name of that city.

The object of the game is to collect as many "books" as possible and thereby obtain the highest score. The scoring is based on the population of the city, estimated on 1st January 1945. Therefore New York having the highest population scores 12 points, whereas Pittsburgh being the smallest population only scores 1. The winner is the the person with the highest number of points in any hand or who ever scores the total number of points previously agreed upon.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Colomino
by Waddy Productions

This set of games by Waddy Productions was produced in the1930s? The claim on the front cover of the instruction booklet is that these cards are "Card games based on Colours and Dominoes". According to the instruction book `"There are four distinct games in `Colomino': `Sideways', `Fourways', and `Threeways' are for two, four or six players, using 48 cards.

The game of `Domino' is for two to six players, using all cards".The complete set has 52 linen cards that have a coloured squared pattern on the front and an orange sunburst style pattern on the back.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Contraband
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

c.1960 [also called Rien à déclarer? ;Smuggle; Niets aan te geven. Zoll]
A game based on smuggling goods through customs from Paris to London.

The complete set has 54 cards in full colour
& £10,000 of "Pepys Currency",
Contents:
7 Sets of Four Cards,
(each set depicting an article liable to custom duty)
24 Cards, each of similar design.
2 Special Cards (Diplomatic bag & Crown Jewels.)
£10,000 of "Pepys Currency":
50 x £5
50 x £10
25 x £20
25 x £50
25 x £100
25 x £200 The aim of the game is to smuggle Contraband through the Customs, by avoiding payment of duty on articles of luggage represented by the cards.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Convoy
by Tree Brand

A great naval themed game from 1939 by Tree Brand with cards representing Cruisers, Submarines, torpedoes, etc and a compass card. Also includes folded instructions plus an extra four score cards making 49 cards in total.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Corner
by ? made in Australia

This game seems to be from the 1920s and is an Australian game similar to Pit. The game is advertised on the front of the 2 part box as "An entertaining pastime and an educational sport".

The game consists of 56 cards and is for 3 - 6 players.
The 6 ( there are 9 Cards in each) categories of goods are:
Wool. Sheep, Wine, Lead, Hides & Tin. There are also 2 other cards: The Broker and the Corner King.

The object of the game is to "corner" the market in one of the sets of goods for sale by collecting all 9 cards.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Counties of Britain
(Served by the London and North Eastern Railway)
by John Jaques & Son Ltd

This game produced by John Jaques & Son Ltd around 1932 is similar to their popular Counties of England game. Unlike Counties of England this game also included Scotland. According to the rules leaflet the counties mentioned in this game were all served by the London and North Eastern Railway Company and all the pictures on the cards are reproductions of Famous Railway Posters with descriptive details of each town or District.

The object of the game is for a player to collect the greatest number of completed sets (key card & picture cards).

It has 45 cards split into 8 English counties and Scotland. The counties mentioned are: Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Counties of England
by John Jaques & Son Ltd

This game was originally published in 1870 by John Jaques & Son of London. The 3 packs that make up the first edition of this game were sold separately or you could could buy the complete 183 cards in a deluxe edition wooden box.

The game proved so popular that in the 2nd and 3rd editions of 1900 and 1930s the series was expanded to 4 packs of cards with a total of 192 cards in the complete editions and 176 cards in the 1950s edition.

You can tell which edition you have by the population shown on each of the town cards. It is believed that this population figure was taken from the 10 year census of England.

Over the 80 years the game was in production and although majority of the "town" cards stayed the same, it should be noted that some of the cards were changed, as some of the places declined and others found prosperity.

The first 3 editions of the game from 1870 - 1930s were all presented in 2 part boxes ( an inner sleeve & an outer one) and the cards were more square shaped than the 4th edition which are a similar size to playing cards and came in a one piece box.

Find the rules for the first edition of the game here.......

Find the rules for the sencond edition of the game here.......

Find the rules for the third edition of the game here.......

1st Edition 1870

Number of cards in each pack of subsequent editions

The object of the game is for a player to collect the greatest number of completed sets (key card & picture cards).

Countries of Empire
by John Jaques & Son Ltd

This 1930s game by John Jaques & Son Ltd is similar to their popular Counties of England game. There are 53 cards in the game consisting of 12 sets and a key card.

The cards comprise of reproductions of famous Empire Marketing Board Posters with descriptive details of the principle industries of each Country.

The object of the game is for a player to collect the greatest number of completed sets (key card & picture cards).

The Countries mentioned are: Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, East African Dependencies, Malaya, British West Africa, British West Indies, India Burma & Ceylon, Irish Free State.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Countries of the World
(or Round the World with Cards)
by H. P. Gibson & Sons Ltd

This game by H. P. Gibson & Sons Ltd was produced about 1920.

It contains 64 cards. There are 11 countries represented in 12 sets of cards (China has 2 sets : China and Manchuria)
Each set of cards has a keycard with a map of the country and relevant facts with the other cards in the set detailing the major cities, their population, industries and other interesting information.

The countries mentioned are: Poland, India, China, Manchuria, West Africa, Rhodesia (North & South), Union of South Africa, Canada, United States, Mexico Brazil and Argentina.

Cow and Gate Happy Families

This card game was devised as an advertising ploy by the food firm Cow & Gate in 1928. The happy smiling face of the baby "Smiler" became one of their most famous trade marks. There are 48 cards in the pack consisting of 12 families of 4.Their names are:-

Crickard
by Charles Goodall & Son Ltd, London

This Game by Charles Goodall & Son Ltd was produced in the 1950s and has a black & white photo of the England & Essex cricketer Trevor Bailey on the back of the box.

There are 52 cards, a rule booklet and a fold-out miniature score sheet.

The Crime Club Game
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

By Peter Cheyney c. 1935 published by Pepys. This first edition has a purple padded box and the card back is purple.


50 cards, 6 suits of 8 cards (split into 3 detective and 3 crook suits) 2 jokers & 4 Value Slips.

As seen in the photo below the 2nd edition of this game was produced in green, so there should be no confusion as to which edition you have.

Peter Cheyney was a British author of detective fiction. One of a few of the top crime mystery authors of the 1930s/40s that was personally involved in creating card and board games which are now very collectable.

The images of Lemmy Caution and Carlotta in the game are lifted straight from artist John Pisani’s book illustrations for the covers of “This Man is Dangerous” and “Poison Ivy”, two of the first Cheyney books published by Collins. They defined the readers’ image for both the male and female Cheyney architypes.

Find the rules for the game here.......

Crown the Queen
by John Waddington Ltd (invented by Elaine Burton MP.)

This game was invented by Elaine Burton MP. around about the time of the Queen's coronation in 1953 (hence the title).

There are 54 cards in this pack and at least one set of rules.

The object of the game was to be the first player to present the Queen for crowning by completing the Queen's procession.
To form the procession the cards had to be placed as:

1 Policeman; 1 each of Soldier, Sailor & Airman; 1 Royal Coach; 1 Page;
1 Archbishop and 1 Queen

Find the rules for the game here.......