Its Just A Game (Card)

I don't remember exactly when collecting game/sweepstakes/etc. cards went from an appreciation to an obsession.

The first game cards I remember keeping, came out of several 1983 Topps wax boxes I bought when I was working at a small wholesale business back in the early 80's.

Some of you remember the Topps Winning Line Up Baseball Game scratch-offs, where you could win a trip to the World Series. For some reason those scratchers fascinated me, and I saw something unique and artistic in their design. I had an appreciation for the effort that went into creating them.

Worth keeping, to me.

I also ripped a couple boxes of 1983 Fleer, back then, but they didn't have any game cards. What they did have was some pretty cool checklist cards that kinda got me hooked. 

But that's for another post.

Then came 1984 Topps, with an even better, more colorful game card insert.

And there were even different versions with different numbers of runs on each card.

I think there were like five different cards to find (I could easily go grab my 1984 Topps binder to see, but I'm on a roll).

(Thanks to Baseball Cards Come to Life for the cards above.)

Ooh, so 1984 lets me know that now we're talking about building a SET of game cards.

I like building things, I like challenges, building a set randomly pulled from packs?

What could be better?

Anyhow, that's how the seed was planted, back in 1983-84.

It lay kinda dormant, while life took over, but it's always been in there.

It's only really been in the last 5 years or so that the seed to collect game/sweepstakes/etc. cards saw some light and has really taken off.

But MAN there are some really cool cards out there to be chased and collected, and thank you to all those that send them to me, like those above from Nine Pockets.