Cardboard Close-up

Card Series: Casper

Release Date: 1995

Pac-Man

Name of Card Set: Pac-Man
Production Company: Midway
Distribution Company:Fleer
Year of Production: 1980
Pack Contents: 3 Stickers, 3 Cards, 1 stick bubble gum

Details:

It would be hard to argue that Pac-Man is not the most iconic video game figure of all-time. Released in 1980, Pac-Man mania swept through arcades around the globe. Widely heralded as a landmark game, Pac-Man appealed to a massive amount of players regardless of age or gender. In what comes as a bit of a shock, Topps did not secure the rights to a trading card set based on Pac-Man...rather rival company Fleer stepped in and delivered a fantastic set of cards for children (and adults!) to collect.



The release itself is a refreshing change from the often haphazard Topps releases, and features a good deal of creativity and uniqueness. Each pack contained 3 stickers, 3 cards and a stick of gum. The stickers were oddly enough smaller than the typical 2.5" x 3.5" trading cards...and came in closer to a 2.5" x 2.5" square. This shape makes them much more interesting to look at, and causes them to stick out in any card collection. The fronts of the stickers featured either black-backed character cards comprised of humorous scenes between Pac-Man and the ghosts...or clever Pac-Man facts and artwork. The card backs featured a few details about the set, as well as instructions on what to do with the stickers.



The 'Cards' mentioned on the wrapper were in fact Rub-Off cards (previously introduced on Toypedia in the Donkey Kong entry). This is without-a-doubt the best part of the release, as these cards allowed collectors to play a simulated game of Pac-Man by scratching off the circles on the card. The back of the card detailed the points-system and rules for play. I remember scratching off dozens of these growing up, and found it extremely difficult to not give it a try when scanning the cards for this post!



All-in-all this is a fantastic set to collect. It's full of cool 80's artwork, cheesy one-liners, and enough unique little twists to separate it from the hundreds of other non-sport trading cards released in the 80's. Since Fleer did such a great job, it begs the question of why they didn't get more involved in the hobby and try to give Topps a run for their money?

Grossville High

Name of Card Set: Grossville High
Production Company: Canew Ideas
Distribution Company:Fleer Corporation
Year of Production: 1986
Pack Contents: 5 stickers, 1 stick bubble gum

Details:

“You’ll know where to stick Grossville High” It’s not every day that you run across that type of slogan…yet that’s what the people at Canew and Fleer decided to run with for their set of Grossville High stickers. Released in 1989, it’s fairly easy to see some similarities between this set and the (immensely more popular) Garbage Pail Kids stickers. Fleer dabbled in the non-sport card lines from time to time, but sadly they never really enjoyed the same type of success that Topps, Inc. has.



This release was a fairly standard non-sport release…featuring 25cent packs containing five stickers and a stick of gum. The card fronts featured some fairly over-the-top artwork of supposed High School students. The art was in the same vein as GPK and MAD Magazine, and intended to gross out collectors. Card backs featured a combination of yearbook-styled features, love notes, stories, etc. In terms of production value, Fleer actually did a nice job with some glossy materials and bright colors, but the overall lack of effort seems to radiate throughout the release.



Still, it’s a fun set of non-sport stickers to collect – and you can pick some up for very little cash on eBay, etc.

And did you happen to catch the name of the character on the wrapper above? Norman Nerdwood? Wow...not sure what to make of that.