Jaques' Games
John Jaques & Son (established in 1795) has been a family business for the last six generations. The company has published a large range of popular parlour games, board games and beautifully illustrated card games, many of which have become classics. Jaques is possibly best-remembered for being the company that invented Happy Families, the game containing a series of “Grotesque Characters”.
Learn more about Jaques of London - the oldest games company in the world →
Above: cards from an 1880s edition of Happy Families published by John Jaques which included 11 families of four members each. See more →
Most of Jaques' parlour games were of considerable educational and instructional value, involving skills such as numeracy, general knowledge or spelling and promoting conviviality. From amongst the dozens of games published over the years, the following are typical examples: Anno Mundi, Backgammon, Birds of a Feather, Bowls, Brides of all Nations, Candid Confessions, Characters from Charles Dickens, Chess, Comic Races, Croquet, Deck Quoits, Devil Among the Tailors, Dominoes, Draughts, Dr Busby, Entente Cordiale, Epsom Races, Fireside Fun, Floral Snap, French for Fun, Gossima, Great Guns, Halma, Happy Families, Her Majesty's Privy Purse, Hide & Seek with the Kings & Queens of England, Hook-it, Hunting the Hare, Illustrated Proverbs, Irish Scenery, Kick Off, Lawn Tennis, Lotto, Ludo, Manifesto, May Day, Minoru, Old Soldier, On Guard, On Spec, Parole, Patchesi, Picture Pumblechook, Ping Pong, Poker Roulette, Quits, Quinks, Reversi, Robin Hood, Russian Draughts, Safety First, Shearing the Sheep, Shove Ha'penny, Skits, Snakes and Ladders, Snap, Sol, Solitaire, St Andrews, Stock Exchange, Table Billiards, Table Tennis, The Book of Books, The Bride, The Counties of England, The Golden Goose, The Great Galumphus, The Kingdoms of Europe, The London Post, The National Gallery, The Realm, The Reason Why, The Spider and The Fly, The Streets of London, The Sovereigns of England, The Wedding, The White Cat, The XVI Century, The XVIIth Century, The XVIIIth Century, The XIXth Century, Tiddley-Winks, Tints, Tip, Tap and Take It, Trente-Six, Ujiji, Weights and Measures, Who Knows, Who's Sir Roger?, Worlds Parliament, Zoological Snap, etc.
Above: five cards from Jaques' Illustrated Proverbs, c.1885. The complete proverb is printed along the top of each card in the set. See more →
The most popular of Jaques' geographical card games, Counties of England, was published in four series which saw several editions over the years. The cards in each set contained key facts about the town, its history, local industry and inhabitants, etc. The first series comprised the northern counties, the second series Midland Counties, the third series Eastern Counties and the fourth series Southern Counties.
Right & below: two different boxes and four cards from the 1st series of Jaques' Counties of England card game, depicting Northern counties served by the London and North Eastern Railway. The left-hand box has the original retail price of 1/6d marked in pencil. The sides of the orange box describe the game as "Of Highly Instructive and Educational Value". An advertising leaflet reads: "...containing exquisite illustrations in colours of the chief towns in each county, their products, notable buildings, etc. 1s. 6d." See more →
See also: Golden Egg Game Jaques' Happy Families Jaques' Illustrated Proverbs The London Post Jaques of London website →
Note: For further reading see: The English Playing Card Society Newsletters, Vols 12/13, Nos 48-51, May 1995-Feb 96. If any viewers have old Jaques Card Games and would like to contribute images for The World of Playing Cards, these will be gratefully added to the site with full acknowledgements.
