Hi Val -- one of the great frustrations in game collecting is finding that after more than thirty years at it,
there's still stuff we've never seen. One of the great thrills, though, is seeing, for the first time, something
completely new to us. We've never before seen Pla-Bal, but thanks to the excellent photos you've provided,
we can tell you at least a little something about it, which might be interesting (it is at least to us).
The thing that jumped out at us was the 1953 copyright credit. Robert Tait jr happens to be the guy who,
forty years earlier, invented Card Base Ball ~ The National Game, made by The Card Base Ball Co.
The following year, 1914, he revised it slightly as a game many guys here are aware of -- All Star Card Baseball,
popularly known as "the Polo Grounds game," source of the "WG4" cards, made by The Card Base Ball Co., Inc.
Now here's Pla-Bal, made by Card Baseball Co. of Washington DC. The earlier games were made in
Lynchburg and Norfolk, Virginia. As you surely know, all three towns are about a hundred miles distant
from one another.
And with only subtle differences in the play mechanic, all three games play very similarly to one another.
We're not absolutely certain -- none of the games mentions a total in their directions -- but we'd be
confident that 108 cards is the correct count for all three games.
Nice find! Shoot us a PM if you're ever interested in selling it.
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