It was printed on heavy paper not unlike that of playing cards and was clearly intended to highlight Nintendo's ability to produce print work of the highest quality.
The six-page catalogue dates from July 22 1983 (printed on the catalogue using the Japanese calendar: 昭和58年7月22日). To put this date into perspective in Nintendo's history: this was one week after the release of the Family Computer. Although Nintendo was very busy conquering the world of electronic entertainment, at the same time it also still carried a substantial range of playing cards (in fact, it still does so today).
The first four pages are used to showcase Western style 'trump' (トランプ) playing cards in many different geometrical designs. The designs are presented in pairs with slight colour variations, intended for games that require two card stocks to play.
Various levels of quality are offered which differ in card material, size and thickness. Prices range from ¥1,200 for the most expensive to ¥500 for the simplest set.
Most of these cards are made from plastic. This is also reflected by their product codes: all cards with codes that include 'NAP' are plastic. 'NAP' is short for 'Nintendo All Plastic'.
In 1953 Nintendo started producing playing cards that were made entirely out of plastic. It was the first company in Japan to do so. Although printing on plastic complicated the manufacturing process - as the ink smears more easily and takes longer to dry - it produced much more durable cards that retain their shape and colour better.
Not all offered cards in this catalogue are plastic though; some of the cheaper sets are made from paper, as indicated with the kanji for paper (紙).
Besides cards with geometrical designs, the Nintendo cards range in the 1980s also included many featuring licensed characters.
The majority of these are based on Disney cartoons and movies, with usual suspects Mickey and Donald taking a prominent role. Nintendo started producing playing cards with Disney figures already back in 1959 and twenty-five years on their popularity clearly had not waned.
Besides Disney, Snoopy was very popular in Japan in the 1980s as well, together with his little friend Woodstock, and Nintendo produced many playing cards based on this famous dog (as well as a number of Game & Watch games).
Although the majority of the licenses used for these cards originate from America (Disney, Snoopy, Popeye), a range of cards of the Japanese artist Ado Mizumori (水森亜土) is included as well. She has a very distinctive, sweet style that was very popular in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.
The last page of the catalogue is dedicated to traditional Japanese card sets called hanafuda (花札) and kabufuda (株札). Although these sets are Nintendo's original product on which the company was founded in 1889, the fact that they only occupy a single page in this catalogue, even the back page, may be an indication of their diminished importance for Nintendo. Western style playing cards and cards with popular licenses on them were more modern and most likely better sellers at the time.
Below all six pages of the catalogue are shown in full.
If you want to find out more about this part of Nintendo's history, check out this previous post about Nintendo's playing cards or these posts about a Nintendo playing cards catalogue from the 1930s, a Nintendo playing cards catalogue from the 1950s and a playing cards catalogue from the 1970s.
Great to hear you appreciate it, so thanks for the comment! And I have no intention of stopping any time soon.
ReplyDeleteInteresting deck there near the top of page; a standard card deck with traditional Hanafuda designs. Peculiar mix of traditions.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, apparently Hanafuda traditionally only has 48 cards, so I wonder how the remaining four cards would be designed...
ReplyDeleteThe aces to queens contain the 48 traditional designs and the four kings have some extra images created specifically for these cards, with Nintendo logo etc.
DeleteI'd wager the only reason traditional cards only got one page was they all kinda have the same back anyway. Essentially they're selling a variety of card backs, like all those backs have different deisngs, but I'm almost certain the majority of their Western playing cards had the same faces.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right, it's only the back that is different for the Western style cards. The card faces are identical, or al least similar. Still, my point remains that the amount of brochure space (and shelf space) offered, and the number of front designs created, is an indication of their popularity.
Deletehi
ReplyDeletehello
Deletenice blog
ReplyDeletethank you!
DeleteMy favorite thing here is that there's apparently a whole deck of cards themed around "Places Woodstock Hates To Eat".
ReplyDeleteThanks helped with my school project about cartoons.
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome!
DeleteHELLO EVERYBODY. Very nice blog but i want to ask some questions... I live in Greece i am 20 and i found some old nintendo playing cards from my grandma. Its in a plastic box and it cost ¥1,500. it has a small label that says that price and the playing cards are in mint condition and it seems very expensive!(gold colour on the side of the playing cards, gold NINTENDO label on the inside of the leather box, fantastic flower paintings on the back of the cards.). i can show you pictures if you want, but also i would like to know how they cost in case i want to sell it. Thank you
ReplyDeleteNintendo has sold so many sets of playing cards in Japan, that most are very common and do not fetch high prices when sold, even though they may be decades old. The exceptions are cards that feature licensed figures from Disney, Ultraman etc, as they are of interest in collectors of those figures.
DeleteI'm traveling on this Blog. Very nice! :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the complement. Hope it enriched your travels.
DeleteMy grandfather use to own 2 of these decks however they are incomplete, do you know where I could buy them?
ReplyDeleteYou would have to search either eBay, or Yahoo Auctions Japan.
DeleteHello, I travelled to Japan recently and found one of the mickey mouse decks in a vintage shop. It is the yellow one and it is in a pretty good state, do you know for how much it is valued? I want to sell it but I don't know how much money it costs.
ReplyDeleteHi Lucas. Unless the deck is in unused condition (still in shrinkwrap), for one from the 1980s (like this one) it will be around US$10 - 20 or so. The price you paid will be a good condition of its value, I expect.
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