Some cool card game images:

A FRIENDLY GAME OF CARDS — Geisha’s Day Off in Old Japan


QUIZ : What’s the connection between these four half-naked Geisha and….

The Japanese card game on the floor, a chain of Love Hotels for sex dates, Game Boy, Super Mario Brothers, and the new Wii Game Console ????

ANSWER : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nintendo

Related pictures here : www.flickr.com/search/?w=24443965@N08&q=Hanafuda&…

A HIGH STAKES CARD GAME in OLD CHINA — Those Manchu Babes “…Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When to Fold ‘Em…”


Much better in 3-D ! Cropped-down stereoview version seen here : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3514252428/

Notice the woman standing in back with tea pot and tea service. Also notice that the tea cups have handles (seen more clearly on the "card table), unlike the tea cups of their Japanese neighbors.

Photographed by HERBERT PONTING in 1902 for the stereoview publishing company of C.H. GRAVES.

I once knew a Manchu Mama

Dressed in a chain and choker,

Who lost a lot more than her hat

In a dubious game of Strip Poker.

(The above anonymous poetry was hidden inside a waterproof make-up case discovered off the coast of Alaska as it was floating toward North America. It also contained a lead-based face paint, tainted with melamine. Country of origin unknown)