Poker Combi-Nation
‘Split’ cards with English pattern designs at both ends.
Split cards are sometimes used in Skat or Jass tournaments to make it possible for players used to different suit systems to play together. Much less common are packs such as this one where cards of the same suit system (in this case French) are split horizontally, with a different card value at each end. The combination, however, is not random: A/K, 2/Q, 3/J, 4/10, 5/9, 6/8, 7/7, etc., and always a black-suit card at one end and a red-suit card at the other. The cards were marketed by a Swedish company (SECUR INTERNATIONAL AB), hence the distinctly Swedish-looking double-ended Joker. The blue back pattern is repeated on the back of the box
For what purpose were these cards created? That is not clear as there is no accompanying leaflet. Maybe the idea was that a player could decide which end to play, i.e., the end that was the more useful or advantageous in the game. The date of production is uncertain but it must be before the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992.
Above: Poker Combi-Nation playing cards printed by FORUM, Yugoslavia. Published by SECUR INTERNATIONAL AB, Hägersten, Sweden, c1980. 52 cards + 3 identical Jokers in tuck box. Size: 58 x 91 mm.
I have a few of these packs for sale.
By Roddy Somerville
France • Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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