Top Trumps

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For the TV Programme, see Top Trumps (TV Programme).
For the games, see Top Trumps Adventures.


Top Trumps is a card game. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values in order to try to trump and win an opponent's card. A wide variety of different packs of Top Trumps have been published.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

Each pack of Top Trumps is based on a theme, such as cars, aircraft, dinosaurs or characters from a popular film or television series. Each card in the pack shows a list of numerical data about the item. For example, in a pack based on cars, each card shows a different model of car, and the stats and data may include its engine size, its weight, its length, and its top speed. For example, if the theme is about a TV series or film, the cards include all its characters and the data varying from things like strength and bravery to fashion and looks, depending on the criteria.

All the cards are dealt among the players. There must be at least two players, and at least one cards for each player. The starting player (normally the player sitting on the dealer's left) selects a category from his or her topmost card and reads out its value. Each other player then reads out the value of the same category from their cards. The best (usually the largest) value wins the "trick", and the winner takes all the cards of the trick and places them at the bottom of his or her pile. That player then looks at their new topmost card, and chooses the category for the next round.

In the event of a draw, the cards are placed in the centre and a new category is chosen from the next card by the same person as in the previous round. The winner of that round obtains all of the cards in the centre as well as the top card from each player.

Players are eliminated when they lose their last card, and the winner is the player who obtains the whole pack. Some variants of the rules allow 'three card pick', whereby a player who has only three cards remaining is allowed to choose any of their three cards to play with. Typically, this lengthens the game considerably.

[edit] History

[edit] Original games

Top Trumps was a popular children's card game in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s, especially amongst boys, for whom it was a popular playground pastime. The topics tended to reflect this, and included military hardware, modes of transport and racing cars. The packs tended to be priced so that children could collect new packs by saving pocket money for a few weeks.

The original Top Trumps were launched in 1977, with eleven different packs published by a company called Dubreq, also known for the stylophone. Dubreq was taken over by Waddingtons in 1982, and they continued manufacturing packs until the early 1990s. The packs from this period are now collectible.

[edit] Winning Moves

Winning Moves' Top Trumps logo design with the slogan 'Collectable, Competitive, Compulsive!'. In many USA pack releases the slogan was changed to 'The Worlds Coolest Card Game!'

[edit] Modern Relaunch

In 1999 the rights to the game were purchased by Winning Moves, who relaunched the game. The topics covered are more diverse, and include:

Winning Moves' "The Dog" pack

In these new packs a description or biography of the item on each card is included, as well as the statistics and numerical data. The cards may deliver camouflaged learning, or learning through play, as reading about the facts on the cards, and enhancing memory and maths skills through the use of comparing the data, adds an educational benefit.

Many of the packs are, like their predecessors, becoming collectible, especially those sold for limited times (such as those associated with films), or which were specially commissioned as promotional packs.

The Top Trumps Juniors case which has a different style to the other cases

Winning Moves split their packs into categories based on licenses and the age range they are aimed at. The categories used include Classics (packs not requiring a license and those before Winning Moves started categorising their packs) Specials, (sold for more for reasons such as needing a license), Juniors (aimed at a younger audience. These only had 24 cards instead of the normal 30 and the cases are a different shape to normal (right)) and Limited Editions (packs which have a limited stock and are 'For Big Kids').

Winning Moves have also released some Collectors Edition packs including multiple packs in a set. The Collectors Editions include "The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Gift Set" including the three Lord of the Rings decks and nine exclusive Super Top Trumps cards. A "Doctor Who 45 Years Of Time Travel" pack has also been released.

A "Wedding Pack" created for the director of Winning Moves, Tom Liddel, was distributed at his wedding. A very small number was produced, and the sentimental value to the limited owners renders the Wedding Pack the rarest pack.

There are multiple Football packs released each year. Every year, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are released. These are just slightly updated packs from the last one and are usually released with another club pack. In 2005, it was Newcastle United, in 2006 it was Tottenham Hotspur - To Dare Is To Do and in 2008 it is Hull City and Everton.

Winning Moves also released two Politics packs. One in 2007 and one in 2008. These were given out at a Sky News Conference. They have such Politics as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in.

There have been two Ultimate Packs released by Winning Moves. These are the Red and the Black packs. The red one is older than the black and is now out of print. These were not available in shops and were only available by winning the Monthly Prize Draw on the Top Trumps Website.[1]

Many of the newer packs (late 2008 onwards) have a Summit Challenge game on the reverse of the bar code card. These cards have questions with boxes to put your answers in on the information about the pack.

[edit] International Packs

[edit] Exclusives

There are many packs that are only available overseas. These are:

These 2 packs were available in the PTT Shop for a limited time. only 500 of each were imported and sold.

These 2 packs were exclusive to the USA until they proved so popular, they were sold in the UK. There are some variations to the cards in the packs for the American ones and the English ones.

There were 300 of the USA Wildlife in Danger pack imported and sold in the PTT Shop.

[edit] Japan

A number of packs have now been released in Japan. These are sold through vending machines, as are most Japanese cards. They come in Booster Packs from the vending machines, or you can buy boxes of the cards. The packs are:

These cards are unique as some of them are horizontal and some vertical. There are also 55 cards in each set instead of the normal 30. These cards are co-owned by Carddas.[2]

[edit] Iceland

Iceland's Top Trumps are owned by Nordic Games which is the sales department within Iceland. These packs are the same as the Winning Moves releases.

[edit] Scotland

The Scottish packs are exactly the same as the UK packs. There have been some promotional packs given out in the Daily Record which is a Scottish newspaper. The packs so far are: Scottish Football The Club Collection (2007), Heroes of Scottish Football (2008) and Max Speed Supercars (2009). There are 39 cards given away as well as a tuck box in the first giveaway and a 'How To Play' card. Four cards were given away each time.

[edit] USA

USA have had a couple of 'exclusive' packs that have then became available over the world. These are Wildlife in Danger and Sealife in Danger. USA have also made a few booster packs of cards not available any where else as packs. These are: Bugs (x2). These are becoming a pack. Incredible Instruments and Mysteries. These came in booster packs of 8 cards as well as a front title card. They have also had two promotional packs for Zoos. These are the Bronx Zoo pack and the Oakland Zoo pack. Limited numbers of these were produced as they are promotions for the zoos.

[edit] Spain

Goliath Games produce Spain's Top Trumps. They have an exclusive FC Barcelona pack. [3]

[edit] Other Countries

Other Countries that Winning Moves make Top Trumps for are: Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Many countries only sell packs online and not in shops. A common place to buy these packs online is Amazon. A few countries have got Top Trumps shops online. These countries are: USA which delivers to Canada as well, France which delivers to Belgium and Germany as well, and also New Zealand.

Many countries have different cards in the packs that are also available in England. For example, in the US edition of horses, Morgan, Crillo and Mustang replace the cards Exmoor, Paso Fino and Unicorn in the UK edition. The US horses pack also has a totally different style compared to the UK pack. Also, front covers of packs are different. The Skyscrapers pack has a different cover in Germany, USA and the UK.

[edit] Super Top Trump Cards

A number of recent Top Trumps packs also have Super Top Trump (STT) cards issued for them. These additional cards are not available with the original pack, but can be found in related merchandise, events or promotions. For example, the popular US television series 24 has a Top Trumps pack available, but the STT card is only available with the purchase of special-stickered season 4 of 24 DVDs. Also, the popular UK television series Doctor Who has four Top Trumps packs, but the STT cards were only available with the purchase of season 2, 3 and 4 DVDs. One other Doctor Who Super Top Trump card was released with a very special edition of the Beano Magazine (a popular comic magazine in the UK). A number of STT cards were also made available free of charge to members of the Top Trumps club through its website. But in July 2006 membership became free and no further STT's were issued from the website.

Super Top Trumps come from lots of places. Since they have stopped giving them out free to club members, they have been in DVDs, comics, magazines, newspapers, at special events and given out in promotions.

Grandmamma from Roald Dahl pack preview

Some STT cards are rarer than others. Most of the STT cards made available via the web tend to be relatively common, although some earlier ones from popular pack titles, such as the Nazgûl (Lord of the Rings series) can attract relatively high prices. Cards made available in other promotional ways can be exceptionally rare. An example is the Grandmamma STT card for the Roald Dahl pack. It was only given out, free, to Scouts at a charity sleepover event in 2004. Very few of these are in circulation and they are difficult to obtain even through online auctions. Apparently even the owner of Winning Moves, Tom Liddell, does not have a copy of this card. It is thought by some members of the Top Trumps forum that the Grandmamma was never actually released, and that none are in circulation. Tom Liddell has refuted this belief. General consensus for years was that no information other than a blurry preview of this card existed, however in February 2008, the original designers of the card, Guppi, posted it much more legibly on their website under 'Specials' in their Top Trumps Portfolio. The Grandmamma card is often spelt as "Grandmama" but this has been disproved and it has officially got a double 'M.[4]

Super Top Trumps are not only released in the United Kingdom. There have been many overseas STTs released. There have also been booster packs of 2-10 cards given out.

In America, Super Top Trumps are called Supercards.

[edit] Top Trump Books

Main article: Top Trumps Books

In 2006, and working in conjunction with the Haynes publishing group, Winning Moves launched a line of books under the Top Trumps brand, based around the design and concept of the card game. The Books are often written by experts in their appropriate field. Subjects included Sharks, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Racing Cars, Motorbikes, Fighter Aircraft, Cars, Doctor Who (Series 1 and 2 together, and Series 3 & 4), Dinosaurs, Airliners, Marvel Heroes, Animals, Tanks, Transformers and Football.[5]

[edit] Top Trumps LIVE

A number of card sets can be played online against a computer opponent at the Winning Moves web sites, including two sets which is unavailable in shops. Games made include: Horror, Skyscrapers, ODI Stars (Unavailable as packs), World Football Stars, NBA 2K9, Sharks and Star Wars, Armchair General (Unavailable as packs) and Bratz.

Two LIVE games appeared on other websites. Nascar appeared on the Nascar website [6] and The Boat That Rocked appeared on Facebook. [7] Both are not available as packs. You have to log into both websites to play though.

There is also a German Star Wars: Clone Wars game and upcoming Sealife in Danger and Wildlife in Danger.[8]

[edit] Mobile Top Trumps

Top Trumps is available through a mobile gaming service, in which users can play single player against the computer, compete against up to three friends on one mobile, or with a single opponent via a bluetooth connection. Games made include: Football Legends, Star Wars, Gumball 3000 and Moto GP and Doctor Who.[9]

[edit] Top Trumps Adventures

Main article: Top Trumps Adventures

A series of Top Trumps video games were released in 2007, under the title Top Trumps Adventures. Some of the packs that have been turned into games are "Horror", "Predators, "Dogs", "Dinosaurs and "Doctor Who". This series is also known as Top Trumps Console.

[edit] Top Trumps TV

Main article: Top Trumps (TV Programme)

Top Trumps TV is a UK television programme based on Top Trumps, shown on Five in late 2008. It is hosted by Robert Llewellyn and Ashley Hames.

[edit] Other items

Winning Moves have released other Top Trumps related items. These include:

  • "Top Trumps Displayers" which can display up to ten packs.
  • Top Trumps Ultimate Football Challenge DVD game which contains two packs; Football Legends 1 and World Football Stars as playable packs on the DVD. The DVD game comes with two video pack, trivia quizzes, a video countdown and a Football Managers Top Trumps game. This last item proved to be a popular pack, and Winning Moves released it as a standalone deck.
  • Lunar Jim Top Trumps cover card released for the Space and Space Phenomenan decks. Little is known about this though.
  • Gunmetal Holder which is a metal Top Trumps case only available to club members who win the monthly prize draw.
The Gunmetal Top Trumps Holder
  • 24 Gunmetal Hoder. 24 of these 24 Gunmetal Holders were given out in a competition on the main website. These had the inscriptions 24 and a number out of 24 (e.g. 1/24) on the back. Only 24 of these were made.
  • A Top Trumps Pen was made. It had the words Top Trumps and the old website, www.playaday.com written on it.

[edit] Pack exclusives

A few exclusive items came with packs. These are:

The TARDIS case for the Doctor Who 45 Years of Time Travel Pack

[edit] Top Trumps 3D

At a toy fair, Winning Moves revealed that they had started to make a Top Trumps 3D in which the pictures on the cards became 3D. A number of titles have been scheduled for release like this. You have to download the software[10] and then use a Webcam to show the cards to. This brings a 3D image of the image on the card. You answer questions to show the 3D image. There are a number of packs coming out like this, the first was Bugs released in May 2009.

[edit] Non-Winning Moves Packs

Several unofficial copies of the game have been made, both as commercial card games and online gaming sites. The BBC web site has Top Trumps variants with themes of snooker, Buffy, Doctor Who and EastEnders. Top Mates is a popular variation that allows you to make and order your own packs. Citadel Combat Cards were a similar card game from early 1990s with photographs of various Games Workshop models. Originally based on Warhammer Fantasy Battle models, later included Warhammer 40K cards as well.

There are also at least three educational variations of the game: Cell Trumps from Centre of the Cell, Tree Trumps from Forestry Commission (as an interactive exhibit in the Glenmore Visitor Centre and as a card game available in some Forestry Commission Scotland giftshops) and Timber Trumps from Napier University. Timber Trumps was, for the first few days, originally called Tree Trumps and is currently listed under this name on Channel4's Games website.

Other variations include card games that include data about specific topics. Safari Pals packs include animal data on each card so that trump style games can be played in addition to other traditional game variations included Rummy, Quartets (card game) and Go Fish.

There have been lots of other packs before Winning Moves took over. These have been made by Waddingtons, Dubreq, Ace and many other companies up until 1999. These packs are usually rarer than the newer Winning Moves packs as they are much older.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Top Trumps club winners". Top Trumps. http://www.toptrumps.com/club_winners.asp. 
  2. ^ "Top Trumps". Carddas.com. http://www.carddas.com/toptrumps/. Retrieved on 14th March 2009. 
  3. ^ "Top Trumps Spain". Goliath Games. http://goliathgames.es/top_trumps_fcb.htm. Retrieved on 26th March 2009. 
  4. ^ "Reply to question from Tom Liddell". Top Trumps. http://www.toptrumps.com/asktom.asp?ID=2276. Retrieved on 14th March 2009. 
  5. ^ "Planet Top Trumps – The Official Top Trumps Website". Top Trumps. http://www.toptrumps.com/club_news.asp?ID=196. Retrieved on 14th March 2009. 
  6. ^ "Nascar LIVE Game". Nascar. http://live.toptrumps.com/splashnascar.aspx. Retrieved on 26th March 2009. 
  7. ^ "The Boat That Rocket LIVE". Facebook. http://apps.facebook.com/theboatthatrocked/. Retrieved on 26th March 2009. 
  8. ^ "Planet Top Trumps". Top Trumps. http://germany.toptrumps.com/play.asp. Retrieved on 14th March 2009. 
  9. ^ "Top Trumps: Doctor Who". Eidos. http://www.eidos.co.uk/mobile/tt_drwho/index.html. Retrieved on 12th March 2009. 
  10. ^ http://www.toptrumps.com/index.asp

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Trumps"
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