''Top Trumps'' is a

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

first published in 1978. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent's card. A wide variety of different packs of ''Top Trumps'' has been published.

Gameplay

A pack of cards is based on a theme, such as cars, aircraft, books, boats, 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 stats and data may include its engine size, its weight, its length, and its top speed. If the theme is about a TV series or film, the cards include characters and the data varying from things like strength and bravery to fashion and looks, depending on the criteria. 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 to the dealer's left) selects a category from their 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, but in the case of a sports car's weight or a sprinter's 100m time, for instance, lower is considered better) value wins the "trick", and the winner takes all the cards of the trick and places them at the bottom of their pile. The winner 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 center 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 center 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 3 cards remaining is allowed to choose any of their three cards to play with. Typically, this lengthens the game considerably.

History

German company Altenburg-Stralsunder launched their own brand of trumps known as Ace Trumps in 1976/77. The Dubreq ''Top Trumps'' was a card game popular with adults and children in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s, especially among 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'' was launched in 1978, with eleven different packs selling at 50p each, published by a company named Dubreq. Dubreq was also known for the

Stylophone The Stylophone is a miniature analog synthesizer played with a stylus. Invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis, it entered production in 1968, manufactured by Dubreq. Some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children's toys, but they we ...

. Dubreq was taken over by Waddingtons in 1982, and they continued manufacturing packs until the early 1990s. The packs from this period are now collectable.

Winning Moves UK and Winning Moves Germany

Modern relaunch

In 1992 the rights to the game were purchased by Winning Moves UK, who relaunched the game. The topics covered are more diverse, and include: * Vehicles:

Supercar A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

s, Racing Trucks, Motorbikes and Scooters * Military Hardware:

Warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

s, Ultimate Military Jets * Scientific: Space Phenomena,

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s * Engineering: Skyscrapers * Wildlife:

Predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

s, Wildlife/Sealife in Danger, Deadly 60 * Pets: The Dog, Dogs Trust * Sports:

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

, Rugby, WWE Wrestling,

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

* Entertainment: Movie Stars,

Punctuation Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of writing, written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, c ...

, Smash Hits Pop Stars (x3),

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

* Book Characters: The World of

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

: Goodies and Baddies, Jacqueline Wilson * Comics:

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

, Marvel Super Heroes & Villains (x17), DC Super Heroes (x2) * Television Series:

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

(x4), 24, Top Gear, Little Britain, Buffy,

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

(x4), Star Wars: Clone Wars,

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...

(x4),

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses'' (titled onscreen as ''Only Fools and Horses....'') is a British television sitcom that was created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Ki ...

* Films:

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

(x3),

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

(x5), Chronicles of Narnia,

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

(x6),

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...

(x2),

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

* Themed: Horror,

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

In these new packs a description or biography of the item on each card is included, as well as the statistics and numerical data. The cards may deliver camouflaged learning, or learning through play, as reading about the facts on the cards, and enhancing memory and maths skills through the use of comparing the data, adds an educational benefit. Many of the packs are, like their predecessors, becoming collectable, especially those sold for limited times (such as those associated with films), or which were specially commissioned as promotional packs. Winning Moves UK split their packs into categories based on licenses and the age range they are aimed at. The categories used include ''Classics'' (packs not requiring a license and those before Winning Moves UK started categorising their packs), ''Specials'' (sold for more for reasons such as needing a license), ''Juniors'' (aimed at a younger audience, with only 24 cards instead of the 30 and cases of a different shape) and ''Limited Editions'' (packs which have a limited stock and are 'For Big Kids'). They have also introduced a new range called ''Very Specials'' which has had two packs so far, the Royal Wedding pack and the upcoming Festivals pack. Winning Moves UK have also released some Collectors Edition packs including multiple packs in a set. The Collectors Editions include "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Gift Set" including the three Lord of the Rings decks and nine exclusive Super Top Trumps cards. A "Doctor Who 45 Years of Time Travel" pack has also been released. A "Wedding Pack" created for the director of Winning Moves, Tom Liddell, was distributed at his wedding. A very small number was produced, and the sentimental value to the limited owners renders the Wedding Pack the rarest pack. There are multiple football packs released each year, for clubs including

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Chelsea and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. One-off packs for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, Hull City, and Everton have also been released. Winning Moves UK also released two Politicos packs, one in 2007 and one in 2008. These were given out at political party conferences, and featured politicians such as

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

and

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

. There have been two Ultimate Packs released by Winning Moves UK. These are the Red and the Black packs. The red one is older than the black and is now out of print. These were not available in shops and were only available by winning the Monthly Prize Draw on the ''Top Trumps'' website. Many of the newer packs (late 2008 onwards) have a "

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

Challenge" game on the reverse of the bar code card. These cards have questions with boxes to put answers in on the information about the pack. A special 'Cool Christmas' pack was given out to members of the ''Top Trumps'' forums. This had 19 playing cards and a 10% discount for cultandcool.com inside as well as a message from Top Trumps. Since 2017, the manufacturing of Top Trumps packs has taken place at St Austell Printing Company,

St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

International packs

Exclusives

Different countries sometimes make exclusive packs for that country or others that speak the same language. Some of these are for TV shows or other things exclusive to that country although there are some packs that would be popular elsewhere, such as the French ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

'' and French, German, Italian and Belgian ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...

'' pack. English-speaking countries have sold some of their packs through the online Top Trumps shop and were unavailable elsewhere. These are the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

pack, only available in New Zealand and the

Australia pack, only available in Australia. Only 500 of each were imported and sold in the shop. These two packs were exclusive to the US until they proved to be quite popular so they were sold in the UK. There are some variations to the cards in the packs between the American ones and the English ones. *

Sealife Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...

in Danger available in the US. *

Wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

in Danger available in the US. There were 300 of the US

in Danger pack imported and sold in the PTT Shop. The American Sealife pack was never sold in the shop. An English version of the pack was printed and sold, along with the Wildlife in Danger pack.

UK

5000 Limited Edition 'Borderlands 2' packs were created in August 2012. These cards were offered to independent video game retailers who let customers pre-order the Borderlands 2 video game. They will never be available to purchase as a stand-alone item.

= Scotland

= The Scottish packs are exactly the same as other UK packs. There have been some promotional packs given out in the '' Daily Record'', a Scottish newspaper. The packs so far are: Scottish Football The Club Collection (2007), Heroes of Scottish Football (2008), Max Speed Supercars (2009) and Marvel Ultimate Villains (2010). There are 39 cards given away as well as a tuck box in the first giveaway and a 'How To Play' card. Four cards were given away each time. The Marvel Ultimate Villains only had 40 cards to collect.

Iceland

Iceland's Top Trumps are owned by Nordic Games which is the sales department within Iceland. These packs are the same as the Winning Moves releases.

Japan

A number of packs have now been released in Japan. These are sold through vending machines, as are most Japanese cards. They come in Booster Packs from the vending machines, or you can buy boxes of the cards. The packs are: *

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until ''Kamen Rider Decade, Decade'' and except Thailand), is a Japanese superhero fiction, superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by ...

All Stars *

Super Sentai The is a Japanese superhero team media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the '' tokusatsu'' genre, featuring live action characters and colorfu ...

* Trains *

Ultraman The , also known as ''Ultraman'', is a Japanese science fiction media franchise owned and produced by Tsuburaya Productions, which began with the television series '' Ultra Q'' in 1966. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, fi ...

These cards are unique as some of them are horizontal and some vertical. There are also 55 cards in each set instead of the normal 30. These cards are co-owned by Carddas.

Malta

Malta Winning moves had made a pack on Politics from

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. This came with a special Smart Santa collector card, which did not have stats on and was not a Top Trumps card. There is also a promotion with the pack for the first person who gets all cards in the pack signed by the people on each card to win six free flights, courtesy of Air Malta, to any European destination.

United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates has released a pack based on the animated TV series Freej. This was only available in the UK through an occasional free gift. They are distributed by Pluto Games but are still Winning Moves packs.

United States

Two formerly exclusive packs were printed in the United States, which later became available around the world: "Wildlife in Danger" and "Sealife in Danger". Several booster packs of cards have been exclusively released in the United States, including two "Bugs" packs, which are due to become a stand-alone pack, "Incredible Instruments", "Mysteries", " Bronx Zoo" and "

Oakland Zoo The Oakland Zoo is located in the Grass Valley, Oakland, California, Grass Valley neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. Established on June 6, 1922, it is managed by the Conservation Society of California, a 501(c)(3) organization ...

". These were sold in eight-card booster packs, with a front title card. The two zoo packs were released in limited numbers as promotional materials for their namesake zoos. Another US exclusive was the "New York" pack. They also had two Soccer packs, Soccer Stars and Soccer Stadiums.

Other countries

Other countries that Winning Moves make Top Trumps for are: Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Iran. Many countries only sell packs online and not in shops. A common place to buy these packs online is Amazon. A few countries have got Top Trumps shops online. These countries are: USA which delivers to Canada as well, France which delivers to Belgium and Germany as well, and also New Zealand. Many countries have different cards in the packs that are also available in England. For example, in the US edition of horses, Morgan, Crillo and Mustang replace the cards Exmoor, Paso Fino and Unicorn in the UK edition. The US horses pack also has a totally different style compared to the UK pack. Also, front covers of packs are different. The Skyscrapers pack has a different cover in Germany, the US and the UK.

Super Top Trump Cards

A number of Top Trumps packs have Super Top Trump (STT) cards issued for them, also known as Supercards in the United States. These cards are not available with the original pack, but are found in related merchandise, events or promotions, and sometimes made available in booster packs of 2–10 cards. For example, the popular US television series 24 has a Top Trumps pack available, but its STT card is only available with the purchase of special-stickered season 4 of 24 DVDs. STT cards for the

deck were only available with the purchase of season 2, 3 and 4 DVDs. One other Doctor Who Super Top Trump card was released with a very special edition of the '' Beano'' magazine. A number of STT cards were made available free of charge to members of the Top Trumps club through its website, prior to 2006. 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 (from the Lord of the Rings series) can attract relatively high prices. Cards made available in other promotional ways can be exceptionally rare. An example is the "Grandmamma" STT card for the Roald Dahl pack. It was given out, free, to

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

at a charity sleepover event in 2004. Very few of these are in circulation and they are difficult to obtain even through online auctions. Recently, several UK Super Top Trumps have been branded as "Supercards" as well.

''Top Trumps'' 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. The Books are often written by experts in their appropriate field. Subjects included sharks, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Racing cars,

Motorbikes A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle steered by a handlebar from a saddle-style seat. Motorcycle designs var ...

Fighter Aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

(Series 1 and 2 together, and Series 3 & 4),

s, Airliners, Marvel Heroes, Animals,

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

and

''Top Trumps'' LIVE

A number of card sets can be played online against a computer opponent at the Winning Moves web sites, including two sets which is unavailable in shops. Games made include: Horror, Skyscrapers, ODI Stars (Unavailable as packs), World

Stars,

2K9,

s and

, Armchair General (Unavailable as packs) and Bratz. Two LIVE games appeared on other websites.

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

appeared on the NASCAR website and The Boat That Rocked appeared on Facebook. Both are not available as packs. You have to log into both websites to play though. There is also a German Star Wars: Clone Wars game and upcoming Sealife in Danger and Wildlife in Danger.

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. Games made include:

Legends,

, Gumball 3000 and Moto GP and

''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 The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers ...

", "

Dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

" and "

". In 2012, GMG Play released "Top Trumps: NBA All Stars" for

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

and

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

. Unlike the vast majority of Top Trumps products, it was only released in the US.

''Top Trumps TV''

''Top Trumps TV'' is a UK television programme based on ''Top Trumps'', shown on Five in late 2008. It is hosted by

Robert Llewellyn Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the Android (robot), mechanoid Kryten in the Science fiction, sci-fi television sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gam ...

and Ashley Hames.

Other merchandise

Winning Moves UK has released other ''Top Trumps''–related items. These include: * Top Trumps Displayers, which can display up to ten packs. These came in a choice of four colours: purple, green, grey, and clear * ''Top Trumps Ultimate

Challenge'' DVD game which contains two packs; Football Legends 1 and World Football Stars as playable packs on the DVD. The DVD game comes with two video pack, trivia quizzes, a video countdown and a football Managers Top Trumps game. This last item proved to be a popular pack, and Winning Moves released it as a standalone deck. *

Lunar Jim ''Lunar Jim'' is a Canadian science fiction stop-motion animated television series that aired from 2 January 2006 to 19 October 2007. The show focuses on Lunar Jim, an astronaut on the Blue Moon L22. The show, produced by Halifax Film Company ...

Top Trumps cover card, released for the Space and Space Phenomena decks which was given away at the Alliance Atlantis/BBC Worldwide Lunar Jim themed promotion, 2007. *

Gunmetal Gun metal, also known as red brass in the United States, is a type of bronze – an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc. Proportions vary but 88% copper, 8–10% tin, and 2–4% zinc is an approximation. Originally used chiefly for making cannon, ...

Holder, a metal Top Trumps case only available to club members who win the monthly prize draw. * 24 Gunmetal Holder. 24 of these 24 Gunmetal Holders were given out in a competition on the main website. These had the inscriptions 24 and a number out of 24 (e.g. 1/24) on the back. Only 24 of these were made. * A ''Top Trumps'' pen was made. It had the words 'Top Trumps' and the old website, www.playaday.com written on it. * A ''Top Trumps'' mug was also made that was yellow and had the words 'Top Trumps' written in red on it. A new mug was released with the World Football Top Trumps promotional pack. * Top Trumps pop art prints reworking images from retro football packs including World Cup and Soccer Stars editions.

Pack exclusives

A few exclusive items came with packs. These are: *

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space") is a fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. While a TARDI ...

case which came with the

45 Years of Time Travel pack. * Reversible title card which came with the original Star Wars: Clone Wars pack. On one side was

Jedi Jedi (), Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are fictional characters, and often protagonists, featured in many works within the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order is depic ...

and the other side was

Sith The Sith are the main antagonists in the fictional universe of the ''Star Wars'' franchise. They are the antithesis and ancient enemies of the Jedi. The Sith Order is depicted as an ancient cult of warriors who draw strength from the dark sid ...

. * Glow-In-The-Dark cases which came with:

Horror, Horror and Star Wars Clone Wars. * Glow-In-The-Dark writing and images on the actual cards, in the Ben 10, Horror, Star Wars: Clone Wars and

Horror packs. * In many packs the backs of the cards can be put together as a puzzle. Some examples of this are in the

Skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

Wonders of the World Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled from antiquity to the present day, in order to catalogue the world's most spectacular natural features and human-built structures. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the o ...

, and many sports pack. These can form pictures of football stadiums, landmarks, maps, sports teams and a scale between different objects (such as skyscrapers, and planets, in the Space pack). * Some of the card backs give extra information about subjects in the pack. For example, the

pack has information about the history of the team and the

Haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

, while the Skyscrapers pack gives information about French 'Spiderman' Alain Robert. * In

pack, there are eight cards ( Alexandra Burke, Austin Drage, Daniel Evans,

Diana Vickers Diana Vickers (born 30 July 1991) is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She was a semi-finalist on ''The X Factor (British series 5), The X Factor'' in 2008, finishing in fourth place. Vickers signed a record deal with RCA Records and, ...

, Eoghan Quigg, JLS, Laura White, Rachel Hylton, Ruth Lorenzo and Scott Bruton) that have white discs in their X Factor score category that allow you to fill in what you think their score should be. * The

Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two ga ...

pack came with two bonus cards for the Top Trumps Tournament.

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

and Prince of Persia. * The Cretin pack came with Regret. When accompanied by Steve Drew, also

Jägermeister ( , ) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation, and the drink contin ...

Top Trumps 3D

At a toy fair, Winning Moves UK revealed that it had started to make a Top Trumps 3D version with cards whose pictures became 3D. A number of titles have been scheduled for such a release. To work, the appropriate software must be downloaded and the cards must be displayed before a

Webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...

. This projects a 3D image of the image on the card, which displays once questions are answered. A number of packs were released in this format, the first of which was Bugs released in May 2009. The 3D image has other features in addition to the user being able to make it making it move. For example, the 3D tarantula from the Bugs collection can also be made to dance, slide on ice, and hunt among other things. In the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen collection, Optimus Prime can be driven in truck mode and transformed into robot mode. From the ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' collection, SpongeBob can be made to flip patties. There are various Top Trumps Showcase cards released as part of the Hamleys 3D announcement event that can display images. These include the spider (non-moveable), Optimus prime (robot mode only, non-moveable) and Wrestling arena with a fist coming through it (WWE). These can be used with content downloaded from the Hamleys Showcase main site. Winning Moves has been often criticised for releasing the pack but not releasing the 3D content until several weeks later. This has led to outrage from buyers of the pack as they expect the 3D content to be available at the same time as the pack. Another common feature for the 3D cards is to feature video clips. For example, the Marvel Ultimate Villains pack, released with the ''Daily Mirror'' and the '' Daily Record'', has previews of ''Iron Man 2''. Winning Moves originally required a different programme to be downloaded for each 3D pack. However, in 2010, they introduced a 3D hub which updates when they updated it with new packs.

Activity packs

Activity packs are another version of Top Trumps that have now replaced the old Juniors range. They have 24 cards, two of each, with one with stats and one with information. There are differences between the two pictures to play spot-the-difference with. There are also word searches, mazes and other activities based on the pack. They come in a tuck box instead of the plastic cases. They are based on things that young children would like to play with as young children are the primary market for these products.

Top Trumps tournament

Top Trumps Tournament is a new type of ''Top Trumps'' that comes with 6 new Classics packs and a spinner to choose the pack to play. You put 6 packs of your choice into it and spin the spinner to decide which pack to play. The packs are: Movies, TV, Pop Stars, Top Toys, Sporting Heroes and WOW. The WOW pack is wonders of the world. All of the packs come in tuck boxes instead of plastic cases. It was released in October 2009. There is also a

version of this featuring all of the Star Wars packs created by Winning Moves up until the point of release. This is available at HMV only until January 2010. It has, however, appeared on play.com as well, whether Winning moves allowed this or not is unknown. The Star Wars Tournament also comes with a new Star Wars pack, Star Wars: 30 Greatest Moments with a card for each greatest moment in the films. A FIFA World Cup tournament was also released in May 2010 and a Marvel Entertainment, Marvel tournament is also scheduled for release in 2011, featuring 6 exclusive packs each. There are also exclusive cards given out in special circumstances for the original tournament games. A list can be seen here.

iPhone Top Trumps

Mid 2009, it was announced that Winning Moves UK have been in discussions with parties to try and create a version of ''Top Trumps'' for the iPhone. A Ben 10 version was released February 2010, available for download off the App Store.

Mini Top Trumps

Mini Top Trumps were packs of football cards sold at newsagents. They contained 18 playable cards for the packs and 2 extra bonus cards for the Top Trumps Tournaments. There were 8 different cards in these packs. Six new football Mini Top Trumps packs are to be released, available in the Top Trumps online shop and an X Factor pack were also released. These contain Predict and Win cards instead of the bonus Tournament cards that the original Mini pack had. These allowed the winner to either see a football team of their choice or, in the case of the X Factor pack, see the X Factor Live show. The X Factor finalists pack has also been released. There is also a Super Mini Top Trumps of Disney Pixar, Cars, ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', Star Wars and Baby Animals. These are exclusive to Poundland. The cards are similar to the main decks but there are only 20 cards, 14 of which are playable, 1 instruction card, 4 advert/trivia cards and a title card. The cards also have one less stat than the main pack.

Shop-exclusive packs

There are some packs that are only exclusive to one shop. These are: * Cars (film), Cars only available in the Disney Store. This is a full deck compared to the other Activity Pack by Winning Moves. * Ultimate Supercars only available to H.R. Owen customers * Michael Jackson only available at HMV. * Top Trumps Tournament

edition only available at HMV until 1 January 2010. * British Wildlife only available at National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust shops or on the online National Trust shop. * 30 Great Days Out only available at National Trust shops or on the online National Trust shop. * Everton F.C. 2011–2012 – Only available from the Everton F.C. shop or online store. * West Ham United 2011–2012 – Only available from the West Ham United store or online megastore. * West Ham United Legends (Series 2) 2013 – only available from the West Ham United store or online megastore. *Merlin Entertainments Thrill Rides(2011–2013), Alton Towers, Thorpe Park Top 30 Attractions And Chessington World of Adventures(2018)- Only Available From The Gift Shops of the Individual Theme Parks

Royal Wedding 2011

For the 2011 Royal Wedding, Winning Moves UK produced a new pack of Top Trumps based on the Royal Family and guests coming to the wedding. This pack was classed as a "Very Specials" pack, the only one of its kind. This also led to a few promotions including giving a couple getting married a chance to get into their own wedding pack and a special WOW card was made to be played with the Top Trumps Tournament was in the packs of Top Trumps. They were also giving out giant Top Trumps cards to people who were camping out to see the wedding and giving out free packs of Royal Wedding Top Trumps to those caught on TV showing the giant cards. A special commemorative card was also handed out at the wedding itself.

Non-Winning Moves UK packs

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'', ''

'' and ''EastEnders''. Citadel Combat Cards were a similar card game from the early 1990s with photographs of various Games Workshop models. Originally based on Warhammer Fantasy Battle models, later included Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer 40K cards as well. A top trumps style card game called "Outrage" was also included in The Mighty Boosh Future Sailors Tour Deluxe DVD set. There are also at least four educational variations of the game: ''Cell Trumps'' from Centre of the Cell, ''Scotland's Suffragette Trumps'' (from Wikipedia:GLAM/Protests and Suffragettes/About, Protests and Suffragettes, featuring 44 suffrage activists who campaigned across Scotland),''Tree Trumps'' from the 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 was listed under this name on Channel 4's Games website. Other variations include card games that include data about specific topics. Safari Pals packs include animal data on each card so that trump style games can be played in addition to other traditional game variations includk\ing Rummy, Quartets (card game), Quartets and Go Fish. The Royal Society of Chemistry has produced a pack of Visual Elements Trumps, using element data for play. Outset Media released a themed version for animal poop called "Dung Deck" where players can battle statistics for frequency, hardness, length, width, smelliness, and yuck factor of an animal's 'business'. There have been lots of other packs before Winning Moves UK took over. These have been made by Waddingtons, Dubreq, Ace Trumps, Ace and many other companies up until 1999. These packs are usually rarer than the newer Winning Moves packs as they are much older. Companies sometimes create their own decks of cards based on their areas of expertise using the same style as Top Trumps. This is often used as promotional material or free gifts. In 2019 a special one-off #wnf special was produced to commemorate the founders 50th Birthday.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Top Trumps, Card games introduced in 1978