Playing cards - Jogo do Bicho Original

original Jogo do Bicho: a beautiful card game, very rare to find in these conditions

Late 1800s to early 1900s, origin Latin countries

The cards measure 7 x 3.5 cm and are chromolithographed

The cards are glued onto lightweight cardboard

The Jogo do Bicho (roughly translatable into Italian as the 'game of the animal' or 'game of the beast') is a Brazilian gambling game akin to a lottery. It takes its name from the fact that the numbers you can bet on (from 1 to 100) are divided into 25 groups, each represented by an animal (for example, the camel is associated with numbers 29-30-31-32). The animal names are in alphabetical order. These groups contain (depending on the bet type) four numbers each. Players can place bets on the drawing of an animal (i.e., on its four associated numbers) or on a specific number.

The game was invented, according to tradition, in 1892 by Baron João Batista Viana Drummond, founder of the Rio de Janeiro Zoo.[1]

Although illegal in Brazil, the game is widely played and is one of the activities of interest to organized crime.