Saturday, May 23, 2020

1975 Gallina Blanca Identikit


This is a pack of 1975 Gallina Blanc Identikit game cards. I am using the words "pack" and "cards" loosely here. The pack is actually more of a paper envelope. The front of which features text in various languages to indicate "bubble gum" and "The game of the thousand faces." It also shows three of the "cards" which are plastic transparencies that each feature a part of a face.  There are 180 transparencies in the full set.

The back of the pack has text in multiple languages again, but also includes line art drawings of Liza Minnelli and Salvador Dali (er, at least that's who I think they are). The back lists a slew of combinations which presumably form famous faces. There is also manufacturing info, but no copyright date. I gleaned the date after extensive dead-end research online, and I am not entirely sure the date I have is accurate. Most listings say "1960s."


As indicated on the wrapper, there is gum inside. At least the gum is wrapped! I cannot fathom opening, let alone tasting, gum from the 60's/70's. (image enlarged)


The pack contains a yellow "frame" that we are supposed to stick the transparencies into. How many more times am I going to use the word transparencies in this post!?


The "cards" come by way of a tri-fold that the user is supposed to separate into its respective parts. This allows the user to mix and match them among other specimens. In our pack, we got numbers 111, 135, and 157:


This is what our pack looks like assembled:


Clearly, we would need more packs in order to try and build celebrity faces. You can actually find packs of these online (at the time of this writing) plus unopened boxes. Unfortunately, the boxes are priced a bit high for my liking and budget, so I am stuck with just the one pack.

3 comments:

Jafronius said...

Very cool, thanks for posting!

Fuji said...

Very cool. Never seen anything like this, but it was way ahead of its time. I gave it a hall of fame vote.

Shlabotnik Report said...

Identikit was (or is?) a method used by law enforcement to aid in getting witnesses to put together an image of the perpetrator. It's interesting that someone hit on the idea of making a child's plaything out of it.

FWIW, Identifizierungsbilder is German for "Identification Pictures".