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Published October 15, 2012 Updated December 03, 2022

Roodles

Roodles by A J Patterson, 1912.

1912 USA Flinch Card Co Arthur J. Patterson Swastika Card Games Add to Collection
Roodles by Arthur J Patterson, 1912

Roodles card game was devised by Arthur J Patterson (1869-1948) and copyrighted in 1912. The set contains 57 cards comprising 1-14 in each suit of wishbones, horseshoes, shamrocks and swastikas plus a Roodles joker card who juggles all the suit symbols. The game is played similar to Rummy and the aim is to get rid of all cards in hand. See the Rules

Patterson was an avid card player and in 1901 he invented a new game called “Flinch”, subsequently running the Flinch Card Company, Kalamazoo, to sell the game. Roodles was invented in 1912 and marketed by the same company.

See the Box

Roodles by A J Patterson, 1912

Above: Roodles by A J Patterson, 1912. 57 cards + rules in box. There are 14 cards in each of the 4 suits (Patterson’s copyright on every card) plus a Joker juggling with the suit signs.

Flinch Game advert 1903 Roodles by A J Patterson, 1912
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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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