Earlier Trading Card Games

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I sometimes wonder why it took until the 1990s for trading card games like Magic the Gathering to be created. Your challenge is to create a scenario where a similar trading card game would both be technically possible and profitable earlier in history. If you're feeling audacious enough, you can go before 1900.

The hypothetical game doesn't have to be fantasy; it could have a more realistic "setting" (e.g. military).

(And if I'm totally ignorant of tabletop gaming history, be sure to tell me.)

 

[Neoteros]

It would be relatively easy for a sports-based trading card game to pop up very early on, since trading cards are more than a century old as a concept, and sports cards were among the first to be mass produced.

 

[Nivek]

I sometimes wonder why it took until the 1990s for trading card games like Magic the Gathering to be created.

You forgot baseball card are both Trading and collectible but have little play value(even with fantasy baseball stat-o-matic invented before 90's) maybe someone break it and we've Baseball/Fantasy Card Baseball since the 20's?

 

[nbcman]

Baseball cards did have games on them starting in the 1910s:

https://wrigleyrosterjenga.blogspot.com/2015/12/baseball-cards-and-card-games.html

I had some baseball cards in the 1970s that had a different style of game on them:

Maybe if these games caught on more and were merged with some of the Japanese card tossing games like Menko after WW2.

 

[marathag]

Battleships used to be on cigarette cards, after Fred James had naval rules "The Fred Jane Naval Wargame" in 1898

So how do you keep the card game simplified to keep it popular over the whole 20th Century?

 

[Don Corleone]

Baseball cards did have games on them starting in the 1910s:

https://wrigleyrosterjenga.blogspot.com/2015/12/baseball-cards-and-card-games.html

I had some baseball cards in the 1970s that had a different style of game on them:

Maybe if these games caught on more and were merged with some of the Japanese card tossing games like Menko after WW2.

1951 Topps Red Backs and Blue Backs doubled as a game.

I also remember baseball cards in 1980 or so where you had scratch offs to reveal the result of each play.