Nintendo Takarazuka playing cards (宝塚 トランプ) from the early 1950s

In this post, we will take a look at one of the first, possibly the first, set of Nintendo playing cards with licensed figures.

These cards from the early 1950s (1952 or before) feature popular actresses from the so-called Takarazuka Revue. This is a musical company based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.

What is special about this group, is that it is all-female. Actresses play either female or male roles. The group was established in 1913 and is active and well known in Japan to this day.

These actresses can be considered the idols of their time, and Nintendo brought out playing cards with pictures of the most famous and popular stars, in a deck called Takarazuka playing cards (宝塚 トランプ). It cost 300 yen.

One these actresses, Kaoru Yachigusa (八千草 薫), can be seen endorsing the Nintendo Takarazuka playing cards in the ad below:

"Your destiny. Fortune-telling with Nintendo Takarazuka playing cards." (あなたの運命を。任天堂宝塚トランプで占ひませう。)

The design of the back of the cards includes musical notes around the edges, and the logo for the Takarazuka Revue in the middle, with the letters "TOC".

Nintendo "Venice" playing cards from 1950s

In today's post, we will take a look at a pair of vintage Nintendo playing card sets dating from around 1953.

The cards come in clear plastic cases. At the time, plastic was a modern material, and using plastic for this kind of purpose was still relatively new.

A Nintendo logo and the company name ("Nintendo Playing Card CO.") are embossed on the front.

On the back of the case, an image is embossed that depicts the four card suits (clubs, hearts, diamonds, spades).

The case opens with a hinge.

Inside we find the card deck and a little booklet.

The image on the back of the cards shows a painted view on the Grand Canal in Venice (Italy), with the famous gondoliers and the church of San Geremia in the back.

Playing Nintendo Laser Clay (レーザークレー) in the early 1970s

The Laser Clay Shooting System (レーザークレー射撃システム) was an innovative arcade game, developed by the Nintendo R&D team in the early 1970s and released by Nintendo's subsidiary Leisure Systems (任天堂レジャーシステム) in 1973.

Light gun games had been around already for long, including Nintendo's own Kôsenjû SP and Kôsenjû Custom series for home use.

Nintendo Kôsenjû SP series (1970)

The new element introduced with Laser Clay was the projection of flying objects (clay birds) on a large screen, combined with a clever mechanism that detected if these objects were 'hit' by the player from a rifle that could be held freely in hand. In previous shooting games, the target had to be in a fixed spot for the detection to work, with limited options to move. Laser Clay allowed for an experience that was much closer to real shooting sports, with challenging game play, because the location and trajectory of the targets were more unpredictable.  

The instruction leaflet shown below explains how Laser Clay was played.

Nintendo Laser Clay leaflet (front)

Nintendo sold Laser Clay systems to operators, who installed these at former bowling alleys, that became vacant when bowling took a dive in popularity, and other leisure locations.

Nintendo leaflet in 1975 toys trade magazine

In a recent post we explored the catalogue of Nintendo products as it was back in September 1971, at which time Nintendo had completed the shift from card manufacturer to toy company, with an expanded range of products that was made up of traditional games, Nintendo's own innovations and licensed (as well as copied) existing toys and games.

In today's post we move to 1975, were we find Nintendo more established as toy company, with a product range that has evolved a bit further, but very much still in line with the products it offered four years earlier.

Nintendo was on the doorstep for further expansion, into the era of (home) video games (starting with the Color TV Games series in 1977, followed by the launch of the Family Computer in 1983) and handhelds (Game & Watch in 1980), but let's not get ahead of ourselves and see what they had to offer in the mid 1970s.

We travel back in time through the help of Toys Trader Gangu Shoho (玩具商報) magazine, in particular issue 12 from 1975. As the name suggests, it's a magazine intended for the toys trade, aimed at toy shop owners and toy buyers. The magazine consists of editorial content, describing new trends, toy fairs and related gatherings, interviews with figure heads and other information relevant to professionals in the toys business, mixed with advertisements by toy producers and wholesalers.

One of the more eye-catching ads is a fold-out leaflet by Nintendo, one of only two of such fold-outs in the magazine (the other one for a company selling jigsaw puzzles). It is printed in full colour, while most of the magazine, including most of the advertisements, are in black and white. Nintendo clearly was willing and able to spend big on marketing.

The fold-out is about 35 by 26 centimeters, and printed on both sides. It is dated June 1975.

1975 Nintendo leaflet - front

The message at the top of the front states that Nintendo's "idea products" (任天堂のアイデア商品) are "Lot's of fun" (たのしさがいっぱい).

Let's go through the various sections of the leaflet, starting with the top left corner of the front. This shows a selection of board games, that are bigger, more elaborate and more expensive than those offered a few years before.