Top Trumps
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Top Trumps is a card game. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the game is played by comparing these numbers. A wide variety of different packs of Top Trumps have been published.
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[edit] Gameplay
Each pack of Top Trumps is based on a theme, such as cars, aircraft, dinosaurs or characters from a popular film or television series. Each card in the pack shows a list of numerical data about the item. For example, in a pack based on cars, each card shows a different model of car, and the data may include its engine size, its weight, its length, and its top speed.
All the cards are dealt among the players. There must be at least two players, and at least one card for each player. The starting player (normally the player sitting on the dealer's left) selects a category from his or her topmost card and reads out its value. Each other player then reads out the value of the same category from their cards. The best (usually the largest) value wins the "trick", and the winner takes all the cards of the trick and places them at the bottom of his or her pile. That player then looks at their new topmost card, and chooses the category for the next round.
In the event of a draw, the cards are placed in the centre and a new category is chosen from the next card by the same person as in the previous round. The winner of that round obtains all of the cards in the centre as well as the top card from each player.
Players are eliminated when they lose their last card, and the winner is the player who obtains the whole pack. Some variants of the rules allow 'three card pick', whereby a player who has only three cards remaining is allowed to choose any of their three cards to play with. Typically, this lengthens the game considerably.
[edit] History
[edit] Original games
Top Trumps was a popular children's game in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s, especially amongst boys, for whom it was a popular playground pastime. The topics tended to reflect this, and included military hardware, modes of transport and racing cars. The packs tended to be priced so that children could collect new packs by saving pocket money for a few weeks.
The original Top Trumps were launched in 1977, with eleven different packs published by a company called Dubreq, also known for the stylophone. Dubreq was taken over by Waddingtons in 1982, and they continued manufacturing packs until the early 1990s. The packs from this period are now collectible.
[edit] Modern relaunch
In 1999 the rights to the game were purchased by Winning Moves, who relaunched the game. The topics covered are more diverse, and include:
- Vehicles: (Supercars, Racing Trucks, Motorbikes and Scooters)
- Military Hardware: (Warships, Ultimate Military Jets) (fighting units of the British army)
- Scientific: (Space Phenomena, Dinosaurs)
- Engineering: (Skyscrapers)
- Wildlife: (Predators, Sharks)
- Pets: (The Dog)
- Sports: (World Football Stars, WWE wrestlers (x2), Celtic F.C., Manchester Utd FC (x3), Liverpool FC Champions League Winner, 2005 England Cricket Stars, Snowboarders)
- Entertainment: (Movie Stars, Punctuation, Smash Hits Pop Stars (x3))
- Book Characters: (The World of Roald Dahl: Goodies and Baddies)
- Comics: (The Beano, Marvel Comic Heroes (x4), DC Super Heroes (x2))
- Television Series: (The Simpsons (x3), 24, Top Gear, Little Britain, Buffy, Doctor Who (x2))
- Films: (The Lord of the Rings (x3), Star Wars (x4), Da Vinci Code, High School Musical, Shrek 2, The Incredibles, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter (x3), Transformers)
- Themed: (Horror)
In most new packs a description of the item on each card was included. In the case of the wildlife and scientifically themed packs this may provide some educational benefit.
The success of the recent series has led to a "junior" version of the game being produced, with topics such as Disney Heroes, Thomas the Tank Engine and Postman Pat. There is even a more adult pack on FHM Covergirls.
Many of the packs are, like their predecessors, becoming collectible, especially those sold for limited times (such as those associated with films), or which were specially commissioned.
A number of packs have been released outside the UK, in countries including Germany, France, Spain, Turkey, Australia and the USA.
[edit] Super Top Trump Cards
A number of recent packs have also featured Super Top Trump (STT) cards. These additional cards are not available with the original pack, but can be found in related merchandise. For example, the popular US television series 24 has a Top Trumps pack, but the STT card is only available with the purchase of season 4 on DVD. Also, the popular UK television series Doctor Who has 2 Top Trumps packs, but the STT cards were only available with the purchase of season 2 and 3 DVDs. One final Doctor Who Trump card was released with a very special edition of the Beano Magazine (a popular comic magazine in the UK). A number of STT cards have been made available free of charge to members of the Top Trumps club through its website. But in July 2006 membership became free and no more STT's will be made and given out from the website.
Some STT cards are rarer than others. Most of the STT cards made available via the web tend to be relatively common, although some earlier ones from popular pack titles, such as the Nazgûl (Lord of the Rings series) can attract relatively high prices. Cards made available in other ways can be exceptionally rare. An example is the Grandmamma STT card for the Roald Dahl pack. It was only given out, free, to Scouts at a charity sleepover event in 2004. Very few of these are in circulation and they are difficult to obtain even through online auctions. Apparently even the owner of Winning Moves, Tom Liddell, does not have a copy of this card. It is thought by some members of the Top Trumps forum that the Grandmamma was never actually released, and that none are in circulation. Tom Liddell has refuted this belief. General consensus for years was that no information other than a blurry preview of this card existed, however in February 2008, the original designers of the card, Guppi, posted it much more legibly on their website under 'Specials' in their Top Trumps Portfolio. The Grandmamma card is often spelt as "Grandmama" but this has been disproved and it has officially got a double 'M..[1]
[edit] Top Trump Books
In 2006, and working in conjunction with the Haynes publishing group, Winning Moves launched a line of books under the Top Trumps brand, based around the design and concept of the card game. Subjects included racing cars, motorbikes, fighter aircraft, cars and Doctor Who (Series 1 and 2 together, and an extra Series 3 book).[2]
[edit] Top Trumps Live
A number of card sets can now be played online against a computer opponent at the Winning Moves web sites, including at least one set which is unavailable in shops.
[edit] Mobile Top Trumps
Top Trumps is available through a mobile gaming service, in which users can play single player against the computer, compete against up to three friends on one mobile, or with a single opponent via a bluetooth connection.
[edit] Top Trumps Adventures
A series of Top Trumps video games were released in 2007, under the title Top Trumps Adventures. Some of the packs that have been turned into games are "Horror", "Predators", "Dogs", "Dinosaurs" and "Doctor Who".
[edit] Other versions
Several unofficial copies of the game have been made, both as commercial card games and online gaming sites. The BBC web site has Top Trumps variants with themes of snooker, Buffy, Doctor Who and EastEnders. Top Mates is a popular variation that allows you to make and order your own packs.
There are also at least three educational variations of the game: Cell Trumps from Centre of the Cell, Tree Trumps from Forestry Commission (as an interactive exhibit in the Glenmore Visitor Centre and as a card game available in some Forestry Commission Scotland giftshops) and Timber Trumps from Napier University. Timber Trumps was, for the first few days, originally called Tree Trumps and is currently listed under this name on Channel4's Games website.
