There’s no end to my love for Nintendo of Japan’s points club, Club Nintendo. Those who know me know well of my addiction to the traditional Japanese card game, Hanafuda (花札), going so far as forming and running a full club for the game. What better way to satiate my love for both than with Mario Hanafuda cards?
After collecting Club Nintendo point cards from friends, I finally accumulated the required 400 points required for the set, and ordered the deck, purely for collection purposes. Opening them shortly after they arrived tonight, I’m surprised to find that the cards are actually of very good quality, almost as good as Nintendo’s famous Daitouryou (大統領) deck. The Mario Hanafuda deck also tries to imitate the famous Daitouryou deck, with Mario even mimicking Napoleon’s posture and pose on the box.
The Club Nintendo deck uniquely replaces parts of the traditional and familiar pictures of hanafuda with characters from the Mario universe, including Mario, Luigi, goombas, and even Bowser. Most interestingly, and subtle in its execution, the kanji on the December Paulownia card has been replaced with the old kanji for the words “Club Nintendo” (倶楽部任天度).
The cards themselves are of good quality, but seem to mimic the quality of Nintendo’s Tengu deck, which is the mid level deck produced by Nintendo. The quality of the cards still do not rival that of the Daitouryou deck, which is not surprising, considering it is largely free.
For now and the forseeable future, Mario Hanafuda cards are only available for sale on Club Nintendo, which is unfortunate for those outside of Japan looking for the novelty set for their collection. Both eBay and Yahoo Auctions are good places to find Mario Hanafuda cards outside of official channels, but by going through auction sites, you end up paying far more than you normally would.
where can i get my hands on the mario hanafuda, i have been looking for any hanafuda with animation on them..
Mario Hanafuda is only available through Club Nintendo, but I’ve heard some people have started selling their Mario Hanafuda cards on eBay. You should definitely check there.
I am working with Delmar Learning to create a series of college textbooks: “Game Development Essentials.” We just underwent a change in ownership, so our website is in a bit of flux, but you can see our current and upcoming titles by searching Amazon for “Game Development Essentials.”
We are working on “Game Level Development,” and would very much appreciate being able to use your photo of Hanafuda cards as part of our introductory retrospective of how games with levels got to where they are today. Part of that introduction is a brief history of Nintendo; this shot juxtaposing classic and Mario cards would be a great illustration for that section.
May we please use your photo? We would of course attribute it as you prefer, and send you a copy of the book when it is published.
Thank you,
David
With an offer like that, how can I refuse?!
Please e-mail me at thetrin@gmail.com and we can discuss the details.
Hi. I am interested hotel key cards. In exchange I can send playing cards (sport, beer, nudes). JANEK FROM Poland. e-mail: jankwiecinski@poczta.fm