Electric Snap

Published October 12, 2020 Updated June 20, 2022

Electric Snap by the South Wales Electricity Board, 1950s.

1950 United Kingdom Wales South Wales Electricity Board Advertising Card Games Snap

Electric Snap printed and published by the South Wales Electricity Board, featuring the latest, exciting and labour-saving domestic appliances available to the upwardly mobile in the 1950s. We can see that washing machines of the 1950s were fully automated top-loaders. All this of course boosted the demand for electricity. The box has the slogan “Snap up to date go electric”. See the Box and Rules

Electric Snap by the South Wales Electricity Board, 1950s

Above: Electric Snap by the South Wales Electricity Board, 1950s. 40 cards + rules in box, rudimentary quality. The back has the slogan “Get up to date go electric!”

South Wales Electricity Board was one of 12 Area Boards created under the Electricity Act 1947. It was bought out in the deregulation of utilities in 1996.

The popular appliances of the 1950s remain common, in more modern forms, in homes today.

Electric Snap by the South Wales Electricity Board, 1950s
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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.

His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.

Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.

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