SpongeBob SquarePants

Published April 16, 2015 Updated July 01, 2022

SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon playing cards featuring SpongeBob and Patrick the star fish

USA Stephen Hillenburg Animation Cartoon Pop Culture

SpongeBob SquarePants is a children’s cartoon series, so wild and wacky that it has also become a cult favourite with adolescents and adults alike. SpongeBob, created by Stephen Hillenburg in 1996, is a sponge, and features on these playing cards along with his best friend Patrick who is a very dim-witted star fish. The deck features thirteen images, repeated across the suits, and two jokers which are renamed “wild cards”. The box (right) doubles as a model of the main character. All in all, a weird deck of cards, for fans of an equally weird cartoon show!

SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon playing cards featuring SpongeBob and Patrick the star fish

Above: SpongeBob SquarePants children’s cartoon playing cards featuring SpongeBob and Patrick the star fish. Images and review text courtesy Matt Probert.

Official SpongeBob SquarePants homepage

• Wikipedia: SpongeBob SquarePants (character)

• Stephen Hillenburg: the naive genius who made SpongeBob a cultural titan

avatar
307 Articles

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

1996 Sea-Dog playing cards

Sea-Dog playing cards

Ships’ prows, figureheads and signal flags promoting Sea-Dog Line marine hardware.

1961 Danao Tiāngōng Puke

Danao Tiāngōng Puke

Children’s playing cards based on the 1961 Chinese animated feature film 大闹天宫 (Havoc in Heaven).

1926 Rap Rummy

Rap Rummy

Rap Rummy made by Parker Brothers in 1926, only 4 years after the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s to...

1971 German Travel Cards

German Travel Cards

A travel-themed educational deck helping American tourists visiting Germany.

1989 Batman® playing cards

Batman® playing cards

Batman playing cards published by InterCol of London 1989.

1984 Can You Believe Your Eyes?

Can You Believe Your Eyes?

“Can You Believe Your Eyes?” playing cards featuring visual illusions & other oddities.

2008 Ben 10 playing cards

Ben 10 playing cards

Characters from the American animated television science fantasy series Ben 10.

2019 Get Decked

Get Decked

Black and white cartoons devised by Sam Wagner with help from artist Lindsay Bevington.

1986 IG Chemie Papier Keramik

IG Chemie Papier Keramik

Promotional pack designed by Karl-Heinz Schroers for a German trade union with comical bears on the ...

1978 Doctor Who Trump Card Game

Doctor Who Trump Card Game

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

2022 Beowulf

Beowulf

Jackson Robinson's Beowulf playing card deck inspired by the Old English pagan poem.

2018 Keith Haring playing cards

Keith Haring playing cards

Energetic graffiti images by the American artist Keith Haring.

1975 The Tarot of Meditation – Yeager Tarot

The Tarot of Meditation – Yeager Tarot

Marty Yeager’s original Tarot of Meditation from 1975, republished later by U.S. Games Systems, Inc....

1988 Adobe Deck

Adobe Deck

The first digitally-produced deck of cards.

1819 Seminole Wars deck

Seminole Wars deck

Seminole Wars deck by J. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia, c.1819.

1972 The UCR Deck

The UCR Deck

Giant-size cards designed by Thomas Sanders to advertise courses and facilities at UCR.