Originally Posted by BobC
Despite being distributed with Sweet Caporal cigarettes, I always assumed they could/would use them to actually play the game of dominoes back in the day. There are a lot of collectibles that are often considered as sort of quasi-cards, that were originally intended to be used for games, and not just as incentives to help sell or advertise cigarettes, candy, gum, or whatever. Burdick gave such game cards their own designation in his American Card Catalog system, as WG cards/items.
There are enough mainstream items (along with some tough and really obscure ones) that you could focus an entire collection on just such game related cards/items, and still have a helluva collection. Alongside these Domino Discs, you have all the WG sets, with the WG-1 game starting things off all the way back in 1888. And then you have the E.R. Williams game the very next year in 1889. There's the uber-rare 1904 Allegheny Card Co. game, with only one of each card in the set ever printed. After that you really get into the WG cards, with two different Fan Craze game series, The National Game, Tom Barker Game, Polo Grounds Game, Walter Mails Game, and the S&S Card Game. Then you have the 1921-30 Major League Die Cuts, which are actually game pieces. And don't forget, the 1951 Topps Red and Blue Back cards are actually to be used for a game. As are the 1961 Topps Dice Game items, 1966 and 1967 Topps Punch-Out game cards, 1968 Topps "Batter-Up" game cards, as well as the 1968 Topps/Milton Bradley game cards, and these are just the ones I came up with quickly off the top of my head.
There are many other game related collectibles, and not all just cards. Like the 1914 "Inside Base Ball" tin lithograph spinner game. It is based on the 1913 World Series between the NY Giants and Philadelphia Athletics, and includes 20 metal game pieces/discs that includes 10 players from each team (all 8 position players and 2 pitchers, per team). The metal pieces/discs are about 3/4" in diameter and include a paper or some type of insert with the player's last names, position, league, and city printed on them (unfortunately no player images though). But it includes these unique game pieces for the likes of Mathewson, Bender, Baker, Plank, Collins, Marquard, and others. You don't see game related items like that for sale every day. Just putting together a type collection of baseball game related cards and items could prove to be a lot of fun, as well as a challenging feat.
Anyway, if interested in learning more, just go to the Old Cardboard site link near the top, on the right hand side of this page, and click the link. Once on their home page, look for and click on the "Card Games" section link near the top to see more info about these card/item related games. And if you maybe want to dig deeper into baseball related games, let me suggest you also check out another site - baseballgames.dreamhosters.com
I won't even try to describe what all you can find on there, but if interested, will leave it to you to have fun checking out the site. It is run by a member on here, Butch7999 (Hi Butch!), who does a fantastic job running that site with a couple buddies of his.
And if this wasn't the kind of info and insight you were looking for, or you already knew all this, my apologies. Still worth maybe thinking about and checking out though. And by the way, have always loved the Domino Discs myself exactly because they are so odd and different. Sort of passively collect and pick them up here and there, when the mood (and price) strikes me. Actually have about 2/3 of the set, if you include all the variations. Good luck.
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