Miniature Card Dominoes
A miniature set of Goodall domino cards (5.9 x 3.5 cms) still in perfect condition.
Anyone who has read any of my articles will have realised that I am a big Goodall & Son fan. Great designs, wonderful quality and built to last. (Shame about the takeover, but it was along time ago!) This small item demonstrates all three attributes of a Goodall product. It is a miniature set of domino cards (5.9 x 3.5 cms) still in perfect condition.
Above: a miniature set of Goodall domino cards (5.9 x 3.5 cms), 1904.
It carries the Goodall logo on the box which contains the 28 domino cards with characteristic gilt edges and a red and gold patterned back. What I love in particular about this set is the corner indices. It was several hundred years of card players struggling to check their hands before corner indices became established in the second half of the 19 th century. No such problem for players using these domino cards who could happily make a fan and check their holding with ease.
And, as if to underline the quality and concern about detail, the box still contains this tiny slip which encourages unhappy customers to complain and helpfully provides the production date as 13th April 1904.
Jeu de Dominos Grotesques
Above: illustration from “Récréations et passe-temps” by Henry-René d'Allemagne, Hachette & Cie, 1906. Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
By Tony Hall
United Kingdom • Member since January 30, 2015
I started my interest in card games about 70 years ago, playing cribbage with my grandfather. Collecting card game materials started 50 years or so later, when time permitted. One cribbage board was a memory; two became the start of a collection currently exceeding 150!
Once interest in the social history of card games was sparked, I bought a wooden whist marker from the 1880s which was ingenious in design and unbelievably tactile. One lead to two and there was no stopping.
What happened thereafter is reflected in my articles and downloads on this site, for which I will be eternally grateful.
Related Articles
Quaterne
A Victorian quartet-style children’s card game by Goodall & Son.
Double Dummy Bridge
In the early 20th century several firms began to promote whist or bridge as a game for two.
Scientific Whist
“Scientific Whist” : standard cards with instructions for play on the faces by Chas Goodall & Son, 1...
Pastime Playing Cards for the Blind
The “Pastime” Playing Cards for the Blind manufactured by Goodall & Son Limd., c.1910.
So-Lah – A Game of Music
An early 20th century domino-type musical card game by Goodall.
The Evolution of Bezique boxed sets, 1869 to 1990
The first company to register Bezique materials with Stationers’ Hall was Josh Reynolds & Son in Sep...
De La Rue Pocket Guides
The 19th Century saw the production, by all of the major companies, of pocket guides or “mini-books”...
Whist marker boxes
The Camden Whist marker was being advertised by Goodall and son in 1872 as a new product.
Bridge Markers and bridge scoring methods
Bridge Markers and bridge scoring methods 1900-1930
Kuhn Khan and Cooncan: an update
Kuhn Khan and Cooncan are pretty much exactly the same rummy-style game, but packaged and presented ...
Kuhn Khan
There is little information available about the early twentieth century card game Kuhn Kahn. It firs...
Hats-Off!
Hats-Off! miniature card game published by E. S. & A. Robinson, c.1930s.
Patience Cards and their Boxes
Patience Cards and their Boxes by Tony Hall.
Wills Scheme
The W.D & H.O. Wills Playing Card promotion of the early 1930s
Goodall c.1845-60
Goodall’s earliest cards were traditional in appearance but in around 1845 ‘modernised’ courts were ...
Goodall & Son’s Patience & Miniature packs
Goodall & Son’s Patience & Miniature packs came in various styles of box and back design, c.1890-193...
Pigmy Playing Cards
Pigmy Miniature Playing Cards
Anonymous Novelty Cards
Miniature novelty playing cards from the late 1940s or early 1950s with a charm of their own. Probab...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 60 days
