Rush Hour
“Rush Hour” by Universal Publications Ltd, London, c.1935.
Rush Hour card game depicting different modes of transport published by Universal Publications Ltd, London, c.1935. 52 cards, printed in red & blue.




Above: “Rush Hour” card game by Universal Publications Ltd, London, c.1935. 52 cards in slip case. The rules card gives the company address at 3 Fann Street, Aldersgate, London E.C.1. The 1941 company catalogue gives the address as 9 Inverness Place with the footnote "Formerly at 3, Fann St. EC1" strongly suggesting that this card game was produced prior to the publication of the 1941 catalogue. Strangely the 1941 catalogue makes no mention of this game, though it does say some games were destroyed by "enemy action".

By Matt Probert
Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
Related Articles

Doctor Who Trump Card Game
Game for two players in which Doctor Who and the Legendary Legion join battle with the Alien Hordes....

Disney’s Aladdin playing cards
Characters from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin.

2011 Worshipful Company Pack
Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...

Jockey Club de Buenos Aires
Spanish-suited pack by Chas Goodall & Son Ltd for the Jockey Club, Buenos Aires.

New interest in old games
Games once fashionable are now eclipsed by quicker gratifications.

Polygo™
Cards of irregular, four-sided shape for playing word and colour games as well as more traditional o...

Treasures from the Bodleian Library
Rare books, manuscripts, music scores, portraits, maps, gospels, chronicles and other valuable artef...

Victorian grocer’s scale plate
Large flat plate decorated with highly coloured English cards and royal arms.

Queen of Arts
A wide variety of women artists celebrated on cards with illustrations by Laura Callaghan.

The Glasgow Pack
Issued to celebrate Glasgow’s reign as European City of Culture in 1990, with city views and works o...

Verkeers Kwartet
A helpful quartet game celebrating the 75th anniversary of road safety exams making traffic safer.

Pirritx eta Porrotx
Happy Families card game from the Spanish Basque Country.

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards
54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

Christmas Carols
Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

Pam is the Knave of Clubs
Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...

Question and Answer Games
A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days