European cities

The game lacks its box, but the game looks very similar to John Jaques' Counties of England in its design and style of illustration. The number of cards per set varies: Russia for instance has cards for seven cities: St Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Riga, Warsaw and Sebastopol; Sweden has only three cities: Stockholm, Gottenburg and Carlscrona and Austria has five: Vienna, Trieste, Prague, Pesth and Cracow. It should be kept in mind of course that empires and countries have changed their borders and that the game reflects the state of Europe in the late 19th century. The main card shows the flag and lists the cities that need to be found to complete the set. Of note is that the original owner of the game has amended St Petersburg to read Petrograd: the renaming occurred in 1914 and indicates that the game was still being played at that time.

Card games specifically designed for children began to appear in the latter half of the 18th century, much the same time as the educational board games and dissected puzzles. These were yet another method of 'learning through play'. Many of the same publishers were involved. Many subjects could be taught using cards; geography, history, religion, languages and natural history being only a few.

Then in the 1860s John Jaques & Sons, an established publisher of card games, developed games that were purely for fun, games that are still played today: Happy Families and Snap. Other publishers issued variations and more fun games were developed.

There appeared to be no consideration that these card games were 'gambling' or might lead to children developing that vice. While board games were frequently played with a teetotum or spinner because of the connotations of gambling associated with the dice, children's card games did not seem to carry the same potential.

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