MOTHER GOOSE'S ATTIC - Vintage Card Games

Dan Dare
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

1953 This game was produced by Pepys with the permission of "Eagle comic" for boys.

It shows Dan Dare and other characters from the “Eagle” comic strips along with colourful illustrations depicting futuristic ships & worlds.

The game for 2 – 6 players has 44 cards depicting Dan Dare and other characters from the “Eagle” comic strips.

4 sets of 11 cards:

Air Transport (green circles) 1 – 11
Weapons (red circles) 1 -11
Land & Sea Transport (blue circles) 1 – 11
Animals (yellow circles) 1 – 11

In all the sets:
No. 11 cards are Dan Dare
No. 10 cards are Miss Peabody & Sir Hubert Guest
No. 9 cards are Digby

The aim of the game was to skillfully collect the cards during the first half of the game so that you win the most tricks in the second half of the game.

Created for the "Eagle" comic by illustrator Frank Hampson in 1950 Dan Dare Pilot of the Future went on to air as a serial on Radio Luxembourg from 1951 - 1956. The part of Dan Dare was played by Noel Johnson who was also the voice of Dick Barton in the BBC radio serial Dick Barton Special Agent

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Dartex

This game was produced in 1938 and is based on a darts match. The game was for 2 - 4 people and has 52 cards.

As with a game of darts you have to start with a DOUBLE card plus a number card or else you could use 2 number cards of the same value.
But unlike the game of darts the highest possible score for one throw is TREBLE, TREBLE & BULL which equals 450.

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Davy Crockett
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

This game was published by Pepys under license from Walt Disney. A colourfully illustrated game with the Settlers & Indians of frontier America.

The game is for 2 – 6 players with 44 cards, 4 sets of 11 cards each.
Red, Yellow, Blue & White.
The cards of each set are numbered 1 – 11
each sets numbers are coloured differently.
Numbers 8 – 11 in each suit are the
“character” cards.
These cards have borders around them
of the colour of the set they belong to:

No. 8 Red Stick
No. 9 General Jackson
No. 10 George Russel
No. 11 Davy Crockett

The object of the game is to take tricks containing “character” cards.

Davy Crockett was played by Fess Parker for both the Disney series 1954/5 and the spin off film “King of the Wild Frontier” 1955 which spawned a merchandising craze both sides of the Atlantic.

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

Derby Day
by Parker Games, London

This game from Parker Games London, dates from around 1910 has 48 beautifully illustrated race cards, with wonderful images of a turn of the 20th century Derby Day.
Along with the cards is a special rules folder and some play money.

This game came in a special draw-slide box.

Disney Dominoes
by Pepys (Castel Brothers)

These dominoes were made in the 1950s by Pepys with the permission of Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Ltd.
They show the pictures of the favourite Disney characters of the time.

The game is for 2 – 6 players and the complete set has 21 card dominoes, numbered 0 - 6::
0 Thumper
1 Pluto
2 Dopey
3 Donald
4 Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket
5 Gus & Jaq
6 Mickey

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Dr. Busby
by Various Manufacturers

This game was invented by Miss Anne W. Abbott of Beverly, Mass. in 1843 and One of the first ever recorded card games in America was THE IMPROVED AND ILLUSTRATED GAME OF DR. BUSBY published by W & S. B. Ives.

This game has 20 cards all with coloured illustrations. There are usually 5 cards to each suite: The male character (Dr. Busby etc.) , His Wife, Their Child, A Servant and a card denoting their profession. Also in the top left or top right hand corner (depending which version you have) there is a symbol. In the case of the Parker Brothers game the Doctor's suite is depicted with a gold coloured mortar and pestle

Towards the end of the 19th century many manufacturers brought out their own versions.

The Parker Brothers version states in the rules that they have the only authorized version of the game having bought the rights to it. But this didn't stop Milton Bradley who published a version in 1905, to get around this they amorphosised most of the characters for example the Butchers family are Cattle and the Fishermans are all fish.

It is played like Happy Families the Object of the game is to capture all of the different groups of families and the player who first succeeds in so doing wins the game.

There might be some confusion because in the 1950s? Milton Bradley bought out a version of Old Maid where one of the characters is Dr. Busby.

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Dumbo
by Pepys (Castell Brothers Ltd)

This game was published by Pepys in the c.1940s under license from Walt Disney and has all the characters from the 1941 animated film on beautifully illustrated coloured cards

The game is for 2 – 4 players (if 4 people 2 packs are needed) .There are 45 cards, 4 sets each Square, Circle, Diamond & Star( each suit is numbered 1 – 11) and 1 Dumbo Joker card.

This game is a form of Rummy. The game is won by the player or side who first scores 50 or more points.

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