Bobs y’r Uncle

Described on the box as a “new card game, a riot of fun, a million laughs,” Bobs y’r Uncle is a nursery rhyme game designed by Frank H. Simpson for John Waddington Ltd. in 1935. The game is clearly designed with children in mind. The cards have scenes from nursery rhymes and six cards are needed to make up each rhyme in a set. Games turned out to become an important part in the progress of Waddingtons, who eventually acquired the rights to Monopoly in the UK, and then published Cluedo, opening the way for their supremacy in the toy industry.

Above: “Bobs y'r Uncle” nursery rhyme card game designed by Frank H. Simpson for John Waddington Ltd. in 1935. The pack contains 54 cards plus nursery rhyme leaflet + rules in a box.

The game was re-published in 1963 with a new box and back design. See the Rules►

Above: “Bobs y'r Uncle”, 1963. Images courtesy Matt Probert.

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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Curator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.