I was a hockey card nerd in my teens. I loved the whole collecting enterprise and would work pretty hard at acquiring a whole season’s worth of cards, either through trades or purchases.
Opening the package, the first thing that would hit you was the sweet, pink smell of bubble gum. This dates me, of course, to a time when packaged cards would come with an unwrapped piece of gum. I’d quickly shove the gum in mouth. Once past the chewing gum, I quickly flipped through the cards, mentally discarding cards I already had. I hoped for all-stars, players from the Montreal Canadians, or cards I deemed not worthy of my collection, but which I could trade to my gullible teens.
I do recall some particularly bad-looking cards from the early and mid-80s. Though I didn’t really recognize it at the time, I can now see, as an adult, that someone really should have put a stop to the production of these cards. Some of these cards were marked by awful photos, amateur printing, and misstated statistics on the card back. This doesn’t even consider the design of some of these old cards, whose lettering and color palettes bordered on the technicolored and surreal.
Game cards, though – collectible cards from TV shows, role playing games, fight games, and other such nonsense – passed my by. I think I may have had a few D&D cards – that Monster Manual remains one of the more intense reference books ever printed – but that was it.
Into my blog subscription box came a list of the “10 worst collectible game cards.”
The ugliest card here has got to be this one. Note the striped stockings and sleep cap – so French / new wave / mime – and the dainty escape moves:
Filed under: non-music | Tagged: game cards
