Midland Counties Card Game.

Published by John Jaques & Son of London, 1911

This game was originally published in 1870 by John Jaques & Son of London. The 3 packs that make up the first edition of this game were sold separately or you could could buy the complete 183 cards in a deluxe edition wooden box.

The game proved so popular that in the 2nd and 3rd editions of 1900 and 1930s the series was expanded to 4 packs of cards with a total of 192 cards in the complete editions and 176 cards in the 1950s edition.

You can tell which edition you have by the population shown on each of the town cards. It is believed that this population figure was taken from the 10 year census of England.

Over the 80 years the game was in production and although majority of the "town" cards stayed the same, it should be noted that some of the cards were changed, as some of the places declined and others found prosperity.

The first 3 editions of the game from 1870 - 1930s were all presented in 2 part boxes ( an inner sleeve & an outer one) and the cards were more square shaped than the 4th edition which are a similar size to playing cards and came in a one piece box.