#255 HERACLIO FOURNIER – ANTIGUO TESTAMENTO / NUEVO TESTAMENTO (1969)

These two decks of cards are the oldest toy-decks by Heraclio Fournier I own. I bought them the summer of 2012 in a flea market for around 6 Euros each. Not very cheap, but these decks are worth having.

First and most notable is the theme of the decks: Sacred History. The first deck covers the Old Testament from Genesis, 1 to the Birth of Jesus, while the second deck covers the New Testament from the Annunciation to Ascension.

Both decks have 4 families (white, yellow, blue, red) of 12 cards each. Cards are numbered 1 to 12, and there are two jokers for each deck.

The instructions explain the game, which is very similar to “sevens” or “Elfer Raus!”, that’s each player must try to get rid of all cards by playing them in order. The first card played must be a seven, and then, in the same colour the 6 or the 8 (or another 7) until the rows are finished. The first player that lay all cards wins, the rest add so many points to their account as they have in their hands. And a new game starts until all player except one are over 100 points.

These are all the cards of the Old Testament's deck:

Genesis and Patriarchs

Exodus and Judges

Kings

Exile and Restoration

The game is not the most important thing in this card deck, but the drawings. There are 48 cards with 48 different passages of the Bible. The selection of the passages as well as the texts in the cards were written by Andrés Ibáñez Arana, Professor of the Northern Spain Divinity school (Vitoria). The two “jokers” are indexes of cards, and also include a chronological list of events.

These are all the cards of the New Testament's deck:

Life of Jesus (I)

Life of Jesus (II)

Origins of the Church

Doctrine of Jesus Christ

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: ANTIGUO TESTAMENTO / NUEVO TESTAMENTO
• Alternative Name: OLD TESTAMENT / NEW TESTAMENT
• Year: 1969
• Company: Heraclio Fournier (Spain)