Jaques’ Games

John Jaques & Son (established in 1795) has been a family business for the last six generations. In the early days the company specialised in ivory, hardwood, bone and Tunbridg Wware. The firm was to specialise in the manufacture of wooden items, notably for chess and croquet. Over the years the company has also published a large range of popular parlour games, board games and beautifully illustrated card games, many of which have become classics. After Ogilvy ceased trading in 1879 many titles were taken over by John Jaques. Jaques is possibly best-remembered for being the company that invented Happy Families, the game containing a series of “Grotesque Characters”.

List of Jaques’ games

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 mostly card games:

Anno Domini, Anno Mundi, Backgammon, Birds of a Feather, The Book of Books, Bowls, The Bride, Brides of all Nations, Candid Confessions, Characters from Charles Dickens, Chess, Comic Races, Counties of Britain, Counties of England, Countries of Empire, Croquet, Deck Quoits, Devil Among the Tailors, Dominoes, Draughts, Dr Busby, Enfield Skittles, Entente Cordiale, Epsom Races, Faces, Fireside Fun, Floral Loto, Floral Snap, French for Fun, Frogs and Toads, Geographical Loto, The Golden Goose, Gossima, Great Guns, Halma, The Great Galumphus, Happy Families, Her Majesty's Privy Purse, Hide & Seek with the Kings & Queens of England, Historical Loto, Hook-it, Hunting the Hare, Illustrated Proverbs, Irish Scenery, Kick Off, Kingdoms of Europe, Lawn Tennis, Loading the Donkey, The London Post, Lotto, Ludo, Manifesto, May Day, Minoru, The Moorish Fort, National Gallery: British School - Dutch School, Old Soldier, On Guard, Oppo, On Spec, Parole, Patchesi, Picture Pumblechook, Ping Pong, Poker Roulette, Pontoons, Pumplechook, Quits, Quinks, The Realm, The Reason Why, Reversi, Robin Hood, Russian Draughts, Safety First, Salute!, SAM, Shearing the Sheep, Shove Ha'penny, Skits, Snakes and Ladders, Snap, Sol, Solitaire, Sovereigns of England, Spelka, The Spider and The Fly, St Andrews, Stock Exchange, The Streets of London, Table Billiards, Table Croquet, Table Tennis, The Whitworth Gun, The XVI Century, The XVIIth Century, The XVIIIth Century, The XIXth Century, Tiddley-Winks, Tints, Tip, Tap and Take It, Trente-Six, Ujiji, The Wedding, Weights and Measures, The White Cat, Who Knows, Who’s Sir Roger?, World’s Parliament, Zoological Snap, etc.

The lists of new games included with most game sets offer clues regarding the dates of issue of new games, when titles were added or dropped, etc.

NOTE: J. Jaques & Son became a limited company around 1900 and by 1904 was named John Jaques & Son Limited.

Snap, 1866

Above: 1870s edition of Snap published by John Jaques & Son, London.   See more →

Happy Families

Above: 1880s edition of Happy Families published by John Jaques which included 11 families of four members each.   See more →

The White Cat

Above: cards from The White Cat, c.1865.   See more →

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The XIX^th Century

Above: the XIX^th Century game published by John Jaques & Son, c.1875.   See more →

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The Sovereigns of England

Above: cards from The Sovereigns of England, c.1875.   See more →

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The Streets of London

Above: cards from The Streets of London, c.1880. The complete street cry is printed along the top of each card in the set.   See more →

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On Guard

Above: cards from Jaques' On Guard, c.1880.   See more →

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Quits

Above: cards from Jaques' Quits, c.1885.   See more →

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Illustrated Proverbs

Above: cards from Jaques' Illustrated Proverbs, c.1885. The complete proverb is printed along the top of each card in the set.   See more →

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Kingdoms of Europe

Above: cards from Jaques' Kingdoms of Europe, c.1895.   See more →

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London Post

Above: cards from Jaques' London Post game, depicting important buildings from London in the Victorian era, c.1895.   See more →

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National Gallery

Above: Jaques' National Gallery (British School) game, c.1895.   See more →

Above: Jaques' National Gallery (Dutch School) game, c.1895.   See more →

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Counties of England

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: 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 →

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Skits

Above: “Skits” is a card game published by Jaques & Son, c.1900.   see more →

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NOTE: J. Jaques & Son became a limited company around 1900 and by 1904 was named John Jaques & Son Limited.

The Chastleton Patience Board

For its time and function, the Chastleton Board is a rather clever design, and beautifully realised by Jaques & Son Ltd (22½ x 15¼ x 2 ½ cm)   more →

Above: the Chastleton Patience Board produced by John Jaques & Son Ltd. 61 cm x 14 cm x 6 cm.   more →

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Light Refreshment

Above: “Light Refreshment”, c.1905. 42 cards made up of 24 slices of bread, 5 knives, 12 fillings and 1 bones card. Based on pass a card to the next player rules the object is to make sandwich tricks out of your hand, the higher the value the better, but you can't make a sandwich without a knife in your hand. The bones card is the old maid of the deck as you cannot make a sandwich with a bone. Images courtesy Nick Thomas.

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Candid Confessions

Above: “Candid Confessions” published by Jaques & Son, Ltd, c.1905  see more →

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Weights and Measures

Above: “Weights and Measures” card game published by John Jaques & Son, Ltd., London, c.1910, a reminder of some of our more archaic units of measurement.   See more →

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On Spec

Above: “On Spec”, a round game based on selling stocks and shares, c.1920  see more →

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Counties of Britain

Above: The Game of “Counties of Britain” served by the London and North Eastern Railway, c.1930  see more →

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Countries of Empire

Above: “Countries of Empire” educational card game, c.1930  see more →

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Salute!

Above: Salute! The Four Services promotion game by John Jaques & Son Ltd, London, c.1930s  see more →

French for Fun

Above: French for Fun, c.1930s  see more →

After the destruction of their Kirby Street premises in 1941, new premises were found at Thorntom Heath in Surrey and production continued there although the Happy Families and Snap games were produced under licence by Castell Brothers Ltd.

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