Radio Banker
Radio Banker by John Waddington Ltd for Marconiphone Co Ltd.
Radio Banker by John Waddington Ltd for Marconiphone Co Ltd, c.1930. The pack is divided into two sets of cards, one used by the Banker (16 cards with photograph of Marconi House London) representing a number of broadcasting stations, the other by the players (37 cards depicting various types of Marconiphones and names of UK cities) representing wireless receivers of varying power located at different distances from broadcasting stations. The object of the game is for players to stake upon their chance of receiving the Broadcast Station turned up by the Banker. See the Rules►
Broadcasting Stations (Banker)
Wireless Receivers (Players)
Above: Radio Banker by John Waddington Ltd for Marconiphone Co Ltd, estimated date late 1920s or c.1930. 53 cards plus 1 blank card in box + rules. The purple bordered cards are the 16 Banker cards, the white bordered those of the players. Note: Marconiphone wireless sets came into use from 1925.
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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