Menko Cards

1 3/8  x  3 1/2 in.

When my daughter brought these cards back from Japan as a gift for me, I had no idea what they were except for being some kind of trading card. What were all these symbols on the backs of the cards? More that just trading cards. Even though these two are from different sets, they share similar symbols on the back. I imagined that these were there to play a similar game but in different ways.

I eventually found out they were Menko cards. They are usually made from heavy paper to heavy cardboard and be many shapes. The images are often from the pop culture of the times, whether it be from sports, anime or manga. They were popular from the 50's to the 70's. There was an even older form of cardboard trading cards called Karuta form a Japanese card game called Obake Karuta of early 19th century featuring monsters from Japanese Mythology.

I think the Menko cards were the precursor to the popular Pokemon card came. The Instructions I post below for playing the Menko game, I got from the net. Why don't you delve into it further as there are many other examples of Menko as well as Karuta cards to be be found. 

2 1/4  x  3 1/2 in.

Players do "Jan-ken" (rock, paper, scissors) to determine who goes first. All players, except the one whose turn it is, lay down one of their menko on the ground.

The first player tries to flip one of the menko over by throwing his own menko at it. If a menko on the ground is flipped over, the thrower keeps it and the loser is out of the game. If no menko flips, the next player gets a turn. Rules vary. In one variation, a circle about one meter in diameter is drawn on the ground. Menko knocked out of the circle are taken. In another variation, players take turns, and whoever flips over a menko first gets to keep all of them on the ground.

Some menko have extra details on them, such as images that represent Rock, Paper, or Scissors. "Gu-choki-pa” (AKA Rock, Paper, Scissors) marks on the back of the menko are played as the classic game of RPS. Players would take out one of their menko to compare with their opponent's simultaneously following a given signal. If they won, they win the opposing menko.

Another extra is "Fighting Numbers". Playing with "Fighting Numbers" is largely the same as Gu-Choki-Pa; trying to outnumber your opponent's menko on certain digits. For example, one player might have a Fighting Number of 58786 on his particular menko and the other might have 96587 on his. If they were dueling with the last digit, then the player with the 7 as his last digit would win and again get the other boy’s menko. There were many more ways to play with Fighting Numbers, but this is just one example.