Donkey Kong

Name of Card Set: Donkey Kong
Production Company: Nintendo of America, Inc.
Distribution Company:The Topps Company, Inc.
Year of Production: 1982
Pack Contents: 3 Rub-Off Cards, 3 Stickers, 1 stick bubble gum

Details:

Serious card collectors can agree that non-sport trading cards are some of the best collectibles around, but when Topps decided to work with the almighty Nintendo – the results were pure magic. One of the first releases from this geeky power-couple was the Donkey Kong trading card set. As you can see on the package above, this was the “#1 Video Game” at the time, so this set was extremely popular.



Perhaps the most unique part of the Donkey Kong trading card set were the “Rub-Off Cards”. Honestly, the people at Topps, Inc. had to get a little chuckle about marketing “Rub-Off Cards” to 11 year old boys…but regardless, the cards were a hit. Each card featured a lottery-ticket-style scratch-off material on the front of the cards, and game instructions on the back. The collector could scratch off the circles in an effort to rescue the “Beautiful Girl” from Donkey Kong…as well as gain prizes to increase their score.



Aside from the scratch-off cards, the rest of the stickers featured cartoon likenesses of the characters of the game on the front, and puzzle pieces on the back. Thankfully for collectors, the Donkey Kong set was just the start of the relationship between Topps and Nintendo. Stay tuned to Toypedia, as we will no doubt be sharing the details on other sets in the near future!