Life playing cards: tobacco education
‘Life playing cards: tobacco education’ anti-smoking deck, USA, 2003.
Produced in 2003, this is the third pack in what became known as the “Life or death” series of playing cards. The earlier packs, both produced in 1985, as part of the original “Death” series were Death on drugs and Death cigarettes. Unlike the earlier packs these cards were published by Estero Bay Graphics, Morro Bay, California. And while the earlier packs repeated the same cartoons on each suit, this pack presents different amusing and colourful cartoons on the 52 cards and the 2 jokers, with brief snippets of health advice and warnings below each. There is an additional information card which challenges the user to spot the differences between the illustration on the box and that on the back of the cards. See the box and extra card►
Above: ‘Life playing cards: tobacco education’ published by Estero Bay Graphics, Morro Bay, California, 2003.
By Peter Burnett
Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
Related Articles
Historic Shakespeare
“Historic Shakespeare” playing cards featuring Shakespearean characters by Chas Goodall & Son.
Rap Rummy
Rap Rummy made by Parker Brothers in 1926, only 4 years after the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s to...
German Travel Cards
A travel-themed educational deck helping American tourists visiting Germany.
Can You Believe Your Eyes?
“Can You Believe Your Eyes?” playing cards featuring visual illusions & other oddities.
Get Decked
Black and white cartoons devised by Sam Wagner with help from artist Lindsay Bevington.
Baraja de Juan Martín Zamorano
Deck inspired by El Pendón de los Zamorano, a military pennant dating from 1501, published by Priego...
Beowulf
Jackson Robinson's Beowulf playing card deck inspired by the Old English pagan poem.
Keith Haring playing cards
Energetic graffiti images by the American artist Keith Haring.
More Menthol Filter Cigarettes
Elongated cards with designs by Wong Yui Man advertising More cigarettes.
The Tarot of Meditation – Yeager Tarot
Marty Yeager’s original Tarot of Meditation from 1975, republished later by U.S. Games Systems, Inc....
Adobe Deck
The first digitally-produced deck of cards.
Seminole Wars deck
Seminole Wars deck by J. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia, c.1819.
The UCR Deck
Giant-size cards designed by Thomas Sanders to advertise courses and facilities at UCR.
Fredericks & Mae playing cards
A rainbow pack from the design team of Fredericks & Mae and Benjamin English.
Verkeers Kwartet
A helpful quartet game celebrating the 75th anniversary of road safety exams making traffic safer.
Red Hat Society playing cards
Society that encourages women in their quest to get the most out of life.
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days
