Fishing with Ray, Charles & Grace

I've loved Ray and Charles Eames since eighth grade when I first saw "Powers of Ten" (available in Read & Listen).This "House of Cards" is a replica of the original, made in 1952. It actually had two decks: the picture deck and the pattern deck. It is the picture deck that is available today. The images are of what Eames called "good stuff ", chosen to celebrate "familiar and nostalgic objects from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms."The six slots on each card enable the player to interlock the cards so as to build structures of myriad shapes and sizes.When I showed this deck of cards to my daughter, Grace, she asked what kind of game we should play with them. I realized that in all the reverence for the Eames' and their House of Cards, no one has ever gone beyond the idea of an individual building some sort of sculpture with them.Grace and I decided to create our own version of the "Go Fish" game we call "Fishing with Ray and Charles". It went something like this: Each player got seven cards to start and, like "Go Fish", the first player asked if anyone had a match. If they received a match, they then had to use both cards to build a structure. If they didn't get a match, they had to pick an additional card from the pile.The object was to build a structure that stayed standing until all of the player's cards were used.Now, we couldn't come up with hard and fast categories for the images so we decided there were none; the players had to be creative and cooperative. For instance, we asked the other player for cards with shiny things, round things, toys or red things. It ran the gambit.It turned out to be a great way to challenge visual creativity, to teach kids about being open to similarities in the world, and how to build a structure that will remain standing and look cool at the end of the game.We had a great time, you can see the results above. Grace made the tower and I made the "bridge". We encourage you to make your own game and let us know the rules. We'll share it with everyone here.

Original size: 3 3/4" x 2 1/4", 54 CardsIN STOCK NOW!
Eames House of Cards small 52-20-1671$25.00 Order from amadon