A recent trip to Ireland led me to the local book shop in search of magazines with unique or odd card inserts included as gifts.  For those that have visited Europe, you'll instantly recognize what I am referring to when you visit an book store or convenience store.  Dozens of different magazines with extra prizes attached to them to try and attract kids.  Some are toys like plastic whistles, small trinkets, or stickers.  Others have cards included like the magazine Kick!...an Irish publication.  My Kick! copy included stickers, a key chain, a photo magnet, a sample pack of Pokémon cards, and the Who Am I card game with 24 cards of the world's famous soccer stars.  If you followed the World Cup this past summer you'll recognize names like Ronaldo, Messi, Kane, Rooney, Neymar, and Mbappe.  Cool stuff!  The game is played by splitting the deck in half and reading a card to your opponent.  If he or she can guess the name of the player from just the top clue, they get 10 points.  If they need two clues to guess the name they only get 5 points.  If it takes all three clues to guess the name they only get 1 point.  You take turns until all the deck is used up and the highest total wins.  I can't imagine you play this more than once, but a pretty cool oddball set nonetheless.

While in Ireland a few months ago, I picked up some packs of these 2018 Irish Cul Heroes Camogie and Gaelic Football cards.  I had never heard of either sport so it was fun to learn about them and watch a few matches on YouTube.  If you click on the links above you can see some examples for yourself.  These cards are produced by Cul Heroes Ltd and come 7 cards per pack with a mix of both Camogie and Gaelic Football players.  Each pack consists of 1 foil card and 6 base cards with 603 total cards in the set.  Needless to say, I don't recognize anyone of the stars, but the cards are interesting and appear to be marketed toward kids.  The fronts have a matte/glossy mixed finish which gives it pretty neat texture.  It looks like kids could engage in some sort of game with the cards.  The can has the team logo and name.  Overall the cards are very vivid with a lot of geometric patterns.

Along the way, I also picked up the trading card folder which included 2 free packs and collectors tin with 50 cards, three of which are the short-printed foil cards.



There you have it.  Anyone else ever seen these types of cards?