Ego: Game of Prediction

I found an interesting deck and wanted to see if anyone else had ever come across a similar copy. It's called "Ego" and labeled as a "Game of Prediction." It was printed by the Consolidated Press and Printing Company in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935.

The deck itself consists of 32 cards in four suits. Each card is numbered with a single black and white image. Overall, the images are evocative, especially for the time period when the cards were made.

Another interesting aspect of the deck is that the instructions are written in Hungarian. The front of the box lists "Game of Prediction" in English, then describes the contents as "Divination Cards" in quoted German and "Oracle Cards" in Hungarian.

The instructions begin by telling the reader that he or she can learn the cards through the study of their symbols and positioning relative to one another. The booklet then lists some spread layouts and describes each card with a little more detail.

I don't know Hungarian but I'm slowing transcribing the instruction booklet and working on a loose translation. I'm especially curious to see what the individual cards might mean.

I posted some pictures of the box, cards and booklet at the following link:

http://imgur.com/a/E4RsB#0

Has anyone else come across this peculiar deck?

No, I've never seen that one, but it looks like you have found a real treasure.

There are some great 1930s American images in there, but having several similar looking men and women could be confusing. Until you've done your translation I guess you'll have to read it intuitively, but you could try drawing a card from one of your favourite Oracle or Tarot decks to go with each one of these in a reading and see if they shed any light. The Lenormand readers seem to have a system of meanings for combinations of cards as well as individual ones, so that would perhaps be worth investigating. The four suits in your deck may also offer some clues.

Thank you! It's a really neat little deck. I like your suggestions on reading it. I'm getting further along with the translation and know what the labels are for each of the images, as well as some of the attributes the authors listed.

The instructions have some very intricate spreads to try out. They are pretty intricate and depend on laying the cards out in various patterns and looking at diagonal and horizontal lines. It's quite a fun little "game of prediction" for sure!

"The instructions begin by telling the reader that he or she can learn the cards through the study of their symbols and positioning relative to one another. The booklet then lists some spread layouts and describes each card with a little more detail."

I've never seen this deck but it is interesting. I quoted the lines above because I think this is where you need to start. "Symbols and positioning".

Maybe try the spreads and see if you pick up anything as far as symbols coming together or cards that together may be describing a person/place/thing etc.

I have Lenormand cards and they don't have suits. It's hard to say if the suits in this deck need to come together in a reading or if they oppose each other in some way. Or if each suit pertains to a particular area in the querents life. LOL or if one card needs to be drawn from each suit. Ok I'm overthinking this.

Translating the book so you can understand it has to be the pits.I do hope someone on the board sees this and can help you out.

nice find : )

the images look like a lenormand to me.

Thank you all for the ideas. I agree, they do look Lenormand. I'll post this translation as soon as I'm finished. I've worked with them a little bit in the meantime with some fun results. I'm going to gather up some of my other decks from that same time period and compare the imagery because there are some commonalities in symbolism.