#743 NEUE NÜRNBERGER SPIELKARTEN – GEHEIMNISSE DES MEERES (Around 1978)

During my childhood I recall watching many documentary features on TV about Jacques Cousteau, the great French researcher of oceans and sea life. They were aired almost constantly, so I guess in the 70s these were even more popular. Underwater videos of creatures are fascinating, so I can imagine many people enjoying the shows on TV and also playing these cards afterwards.

As you can see on the cover, this set is devoted to the Indic Ocean and the Red Sea. Maybe there are other decks devoted to other oceans. The guy on the left is Jacques Cousteau.

The set was first edited in 1975 with the reference number 628, but later reissued with reference 266310, maybe 3 to 4 years later. The reissue has 8 families, one less than the original release.

 

The card was manufactured in Germany by Heinrich Schwarz and Neue Nürnberger Spielkarten, a company that has never appeared before in our blog. It was founded in 1948 in Nuremberg and bought by FX Schmid in 1989. It became a subsidiary with the new name Nürnberger Spielkarten GmbH.

Heinrich Schwarz was only the director for a few years; at the end of the 50s, Gisela Herfurth took over the direction of the company until 1989.

Later, FX Schmid was absorved by competitor Ravensburger and the company got a second life as an autonomous card manufacturer since 1995. I don’t know if the new company has anything in common with the old one, but the logo is almost identical and now is called NSV (Nürnberger Spielkarten Verlag). Thez managed to create some really good card games in the lasft few years, like Quixx (2012) and The Game (2015), and reissued other older games that I consider quite good, like Sticheln (1993), Land Unten (1997, previously known as Zum Kuckuck -1988-).

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: GEHEIMNISSE DES MEERES (Nr. 266310)
• Year: Around 1978
• Company: Neue Nürnberger Spielkarten (West Germany)