Forcolar Playing Cards

There's a lot to unpack in the gimmickry of the Forcolar Playing Cards deck. Founded by a man named Walter Artzt, of all names, this four-colored deck was meant to avoid confusion in card games. Having sat in as a kibitzer in bridge he saw firsthand a heated row concerning suits (diamonds and hearts in this instance) and the idea of four different colored suits came to him.

 

When rolling out the cards a large department store in every major city was granted exclusive access to selling the brand in 1947 and the gimmick seemingly sold well enough though it wouldn't last as the company seemingly went belly-up just a few years later in the early 1950s. In the early editions of the cards the Aces were also marked with the initial of the suit. The second edition carried this to all of the Face Cards. 

Another notable aspect of the deck were the colorful Jokers depicting a fanned out hand of four different colored Aces and a second one showing a King and Queen playing cards with a very brief history of playing cards up to their present ingenious idea. Though copyrighted in 1945 the roll out didn't begin until late 1947 just in time for the Christmas rush. By 1953 adverts for the company completely disappeared.