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Foreign Legion

Published May 06, 2018 Updated July 27, 2022

Foreign Legion published by Pepys, 1960.

1960 United Kingdom Castell Bros Pepys Card Games

Foreign Legion was published by Pepys Games in 1960, with the novel idea of a map separated onto four cards as part of the game. Players are secret agents thwarting rebel activities in the desert. The cards illustrate a series of daring and exciting action situations and are coded with colours, letters and numerals.

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Foreign Legion published by Pepys, 1960 Foreign Legion published by Pepys, 1960 Foreign Legion published by Pepys, 1960 Foreign Legion map cards published by Pepys, 1960

Above: selected cards from ‘Foreign Legion’ card game published by Pepys, 1960.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

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.


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