We have looked at cool vintage menko cards
on this site in the past, which were Godzilla-themed ones that used photographs, but now here is a large lot of vintage kaiju-related ones featuring paintings!
Just in case you don't know, menko is a very old game played in Japan (with variants all over the world), where the objective is to flip over your opponent's cards by skillfully throwing yours at them (then you get to keep your winnings)!
These cards are all from the 60's and 70's, and many are most likely unauthorized, and can therefore be a little dodgy in their depictions of characters. As you can see in this first group, it's heavy on ULTRA Q and the first ULTRAMAN (and maybe AGON THE ATOMIC DRAGON there in the lower left corner?).
Here are the backs of this first group. I've tried to group all of the cards together with similar reverse artwork, since I have no way of telling you anything about their manufacturers. I can tell you that all of these we will see in this first part are thinner than the normal menko cards, these being about as thick as the backing cardboard on a note pad. Also, it seems to be a tradition for nearly all menko cards to include "Paper/Rock/Scissors" on their backs...I always figured it was the way that kids determined who took the first turn!
What I can't figure out, or find information about anywhere, is the significance of the string of numbers on the backs of most cards. If anyone knows, please leave a comment!
This second group is interesting. It starts off with a pseudo-MARINE BOY, then goes back to Ultra-kaiju (by the way, the Gomora in the bottom left is the same artwork from the first group, but has a completely different back as we will see), then gives us GAPPA, and for some reason,...IT CONQUERED THE WORLD!
And here are the backs. To say these are crudely cut is almost an understatement!
And here is the last of this group. Once again the duplicate cards have completely different backs.
Next time we will look at another great batch of menko cards, by a variety of manufacturers, featuring even more guest stars, from Gamera to Goldar!
