O-Shlemiel card game
O-Shlemiel card game with Yiddish words and phrases.
Published in the USA by Originals Only Co., New York in 1974, this pack has different indices on three corners of each card: in the lower left, a letter A-Z; upper right, a number 1-52; and a standard suit sign upper left / bottom right. In the centre, a Yiddish word or phrase, with its English translation is presented. There are also 2 jokers with no letter or number but including Yiddish phrases. The pack is designed to play any normal card games, but also the 30 word games, maths games, and combination games described in the accompanying 24-page rules booklet, which also includes a brief history of Yiddish. 15 of the games are intended for adults, and 15 for children (see booklet index). There is a separate leaflet on How to play Tsuris – one of the games briefly described listed in the accompanying booklet
Above: O-Shlemiel card game published in the USA by Originals Only Co., New York in 1974
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.
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