Hanafuda

[nintendodork]

Talk about Hanafuda (And the rest of pre-electronic Nintendo) here!

[PatMan33]

Does anyone have figures on their current place in the playing card business in Japan? I did some poking around to see if they had any offers on standard playing cards. My interest in the subject came from playing Wario Ware Smooth Moves, of all things. There was a game in it and for two seconds they showed a pack of Nintendo cards.

Now I think they could make a killing on marketing standard decks of cards to everyone. When I asked the basic answer was no. To be specific, they said this:

While the Please note that Nintendo neither produces nor markets standard playing cards.  However, we may have some information on our website (www.nintendo.com) to help you find what you are looking for.

Go to the "Customer Service" area of our site, enter the "Where to Buy" section, and then link to "Licensed Merchandise."  Below, I've included a direct address to this page on our site:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/retail/licensee_merchandisers.jsp

As noted on this page, most of the companies listed don't sell directly to the public.  However, they should be able to help you find a store in your area that carries their products.

And if you go check their card index and card store all you're going to find are highly specialized cards like the things for the e-reader and whatnot.

Come to think of it, the only time I've seen any other type of card marketed for an English speaking audience was a couple DAYS ago when Club Nintendo opened its doors in North America. They offer Hanafuda cards, and two sets of "regular" cards in a Mario Party flavor and a Animal Crossing flavor.

Sorry, I kind of went off on their entire card lineup. My general thing is that I don't see why they don't more readily offer a standard deck of cards. And I mean one that isn't covered in Mario and Animal Crossing. A nice, respectable deck of cards that maybe has the Nintendo logo (the red one, please!) stamped onto it somewhere.

[nintendodork]

Yeah, I thought that those "flavored" cards were a stupid idea...

If Nintendo were able to put the original cards as Club Nintendo Prizes, or start selling them again...

I would buy them

I'm not sure if they can do that though...just because of Gunpei Yokoi being no longer with us  or maybe because of rights I don't know....I don't know anything about that kinda stuff...all I know is...

I want me some damn, good ol' Nintendo Hanafuda cards and I want  'em NOW!

[manuel]

As far as I know Nintendo also sells normal playing cards (htey call it "trumps"). I don't own a pack, but I have 3 packs of their Hanafuda cards, one of them from Club Nintendo.

[nintendodork]

I have 3 packs of their Hanafuda cards, one of them from Club Nintendo.

Where did you get the ones that weren't from Club Nintendo?

[PatMan33]

Also, any idea where I could get (or see) these trump decks?

[nintendodork]

Here's a deck of the Trump cards on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/Club-Nintendo-Mario-Party-Trump-Playing-card-Japan-New_W0QQitemZ370125578338QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081206?IMSfp=TL081206123009r9929

[PatMan33]

Hmm... thanks!

But I can get those at Club Nintendo. I'm on a quest to find some regular non-gawdy playing cards made by Nintendo.

[manuel]

I have 3 packs of their Hanafuda cards, one of them from Club Nintendo.

Where did you get the ones that weren't from Club Nintendo?

They are sold e.g. in toy stores or stationery shops. They're expensive, though. Hanafuda cards are over 20$, normal playing cards over 12$.
Maybe I'll post pics some time later.

[nintendodork]

Wow.....That is expensive....

Are the Hanafuda Cards the ones from the 1800's Nintendo?....or do they continue to make new ones?

[manuel]

They still make new ones.

If I could get my hands on cards from over 100 years ago... that would be great, but nearly impossible.
The first cards from Nintendo were made from some tree bark, which isn't especially known for its longevity. 

[nintendodork]

Well, I guess I figured they still made them...

But what you're saying is that there are no more Nintendo ones right?

[manuel]

Where did I say that?

Nintendo still makes cards, but now from paper and plastic.

There are of course other makers, too. You can get Hanafuda cards in some 100Yen shops for example. Those aren't as nice as those from Nintendo.

[PatMan33]

You think you could get me a line on some Nintendo trump cards that aren't plastered with Nintendo characters?

[nintendodork]

Oops...my bad...

The thing I don't get though...is, if they don't make the original ones anymore, they should really do something about that display in the US Nintendo World Store

I wish Nintendo would still make their old products...for like a week, they could call it... "OLD PRODUCTS FROM NINTENDO WEEK" (It took me a whole half a second to come up with that name)

I would buy like...5 of all of their old stuffs