Added Nintendo mini game # 50 to my collection

This being the first post of 2020, let me start by wishing you the best for this year. Granted, a quarter of it is already over. And with the global virus pandemic in full effect, it probably will not go down as one of the best years ever. But still, I hope you can make the most of it.

The last months I have been able to add some missing items to my collection, and I plan to show these in a few blog posts over the coming weeks, and included some things I have not covered before as well.

Today we start with a game from Nintendo's Mini Game series. The game is called Picture Puzzle (ピクチュアパズル). Like all of theseMini Games, it dates from the first half of the 1970s.

As reported a few month ago, I was chasing the last one of the 50 known Mini Games that I needed to complete the collection of these fun little toys. To my surprise I discovered another one, that I was not yet aware of.

Mini Game Picture Puzzle, the 50th mini game in my collection

This particular Mini Game is very simliar in style to two other Mini Games already in my collection, shown here in the middle and right in the picture below.

These two other games, although appearing to be different, both contain an identical set of three cardboard puzzles. It is just a different one of the three that is shown on top in the blister pack.

On the back of the blister pack, the three puzzles included are shown, with pictures of Little Red Riding Hood (赤頭巾ちゃん), Jack and the beanstalk (ジャックとまめの木) and a birthday party (おたんじょうかい). In the list of all known Mini Games, I have counted these together as one entry.

Another picture puzzle mini game I already owned also comes in multiple variants, counting as one in the list.

These both contain the same set of three puzzles, shown on the back.

Included in this set of three are 101 Dalmatians (101匹わんちゃん), Bambi (バンビ) and a Bullet train (新幹線).

The puzzles in all these sets are simple card board affairs, with around twenty puzzle pieces each.

With the recent discovery, the number of Picture Puzzle Mini Games is now up with one, from two to three.

This third one contains another trio of puzzles: seven little goats (七匹の子やぎ), kagome kagome (かごめかごめ) which is Japanese children's game, and an express train (特急電車).

So although I was able to add a 50th Mini Game to my collection, the list of known games now expanded to 51! Check the full updated list here.

(Still looking for a copy of Space Ball in Mini Game variant).

Update 2023: I found another version of Picture Puzzle, bringing the total list to 52!