Famous Five
The Famous Five Card Game by Enid Blyton.
The Famous Five Card Game, c.1951
The Famous Five Card Game by Enid Blyton (1897-1968) was illustrated by Eileen A. Soper and published by Pepys Games (Castell Brothers Limited), 14-17 St Cross Street, Hatton Garden, London E.C.1. in 1951. The card game is based on the Famous Five series of adventure books written by Enid Blyton for boys and girls, and depicts stories from four of the favourite books in the series. Blyton's total literary output was of an estimated 800 books over roughly 40 years. Some critics feel that Blyton's stereotyped depictions of gender, race and social class, coupled with a restricted use of language militates against the development of wider literary qualities in her readership.
The game has 44 cards consisting of four sets of 8 “Adventure” cards, four “Danger” cards, two “General Danger” cards and six “All Safe” cards. The object of the game is to be the first player to complete any set of “Adventure” cards by playing the No. 8 card.
The set is complete with an instruction booklet and a letter from Enid Blyton which introduces the new game. See also: Noddy Happy Families Wikipedia article about Enid Blyton
Pepys produced games from c.1938 until 1978. The more popular games continue to be published by Gibson Games.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
Related Articles
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 ...
Dr Sacheverell
Dr. Henry Sacheverell's impeachment in 1710 sparked widespread public unrest and political upheaval,...