The Great Storm
The Great Storm, Israel, 2003
Produced by Mazal Game Ltd., Israel, this pack contains 52 non-standard cards, 2 Jokers and 6 poetry cards. The poems express humorous and critical views of terrorists and an obvious pro-Israeli bias. The production of the pack in 2003 coincided with the Invasion of Iraq and the eventual downfall and execution of Saddam Hussein. See the box►
The four suits represent a different nation or protagonist: Spades incorporate the Eiffel Tower of France; Hearts have the US dollar superimposed; Clubs represent terrorists and have a bomb superimposed; Diamonds portray a crown to represent the United Kingdom. The court cards represent political figures or other “representatives” of the time: KS Jacques Chirac, President of France • JS Kofi Annan, Secretary-General UN • KD Tony Blair • JD James Bond • KH George W. Bush • JH Colin Powell • KC Osama Bin Laden • JC Saddam Hussein • The Jokers caricature Putin and Gerhard Schroeder • The Queens are not identifiable, though the QD may perhaps resemble Princess Diana.
Above: The Great Storm playing cards produced by Mazal Game Ltd., Israel, 2003. 52 cards + 2 jokers + 6 extra cards in box. The two Jokers caricature Putin and Gerhard Schroeder.
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • 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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