Periquito y Tontín Dominoes

Published January 15, 2021 • Updated December 19, 2024

Periquito y Tontín Dominoes, featuring Feliz and Bonzo, 1920s.

Periquito y Tontín Domino cards with artwork by by F.J. Renedo featuring Feliz and Bonzo.

Felix the cat was created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. Bonzo the pup was first created by George Studdy in 1922 and quickly rose to popularity. Cinema and sport frequently featured in Spanish promotional cards. Spanish chocolate manufacturers, such as Chocolates Juncosa (Barcelona), often inserted collectible cards like these inside each bar. Strictly-speaking, these are not proper playing cards or even proper dominoes, but they probably helped to sell more chocolate!

Above: Periquito y Tontín Dominoes, 1920s. 29 pieces. Cards were given away inside bars of chocolate and collected. This example has blank backs but often they have advertising printed on the reverse.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

United Kingdom • 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.