10 Vintage Playing Card Decks That'll Challenge Your Poker Face

With the Blitz fresh in their minds and Pearl Harbor dominating airwaves, Americans had good reason to be afraid of looking up. Much like with Victory Gardens, rationing, and the Hollywood Canteen, playing cards became another front where the Allies could wage war.

Thanks to the U.S. Playing Card Company, you could tell if the planes high in the sky or the ships along the coast were friend or foe. With these historic cards, you weren’t just playing for chips, but for your life, too.

These playing cards from the 1980s are what it says on the tin — an uncomfortable vestige of when misogyny was the butt of every joke gift. While the cards’ humor has aged as well as forgotten leftovers in the fridge, they certainly put up a strong fight against our poker face.

If you like a side of skin with your playing card decks, then these risqué cards are perfect for you. There are countless semi-nude and nude vintage playing card decks out there, from illustrated pin-ups of the 1940s to Playboy-inspired poses in the 1970s. Where Bicycle cards are buttoned up, these saucy decks are fully stripped down.

The D.A.R.E. Program hates to see these cards coming. From Salem to Newport, and Marlboro to Camel, you can find just about every cigarette brand plastered across the back of a playing card deck. With their rectangular sizes, playing cards make the perfect cigarette pack illusion.

Sure, you can’t smoke a pack of these cards, but you sure can smoke your friends at a game of 5-card draw.

Where vintage trading cards have their electoral subjects, playing cards have their political caricatures. This deck from the 1970s pokes fun at the major names in American bureaucracy with silly little caricatures to capture your attention. They’re as irreverent as the decade that birthed them and amusing all the same.

Related: Antique Playing Cards You Could Bet On

Airlines and cigarette companies had the same bright idea when it came to playing card decks. Long before lagging in-flight wi-fi and a pre-curated selection of movies could entertain you on your cross-country journey, these branded playing cards had you covered.

You can find cards from long-dead airlines like Pan Am to beloved brands like Delta for far cheaper than even a last-minute flight on Spirit.

Before KISS cornered the market on merchandising, Elvis and his wicked pelvis were hard at work. While playing cards were just one of his many marketing ventures, these tantalizing cards tease never-before seen photos of the King.

These candid-covered cards show a human side of Elvis that brings a smile to our stone-cold poker face.

If hypnosis is what you’re after, these optical illusion playing cards are right up your alley. With 54 images to enchant you, it's no surprise that these would be a late-night hit. Never fear! We can’t resist their mesmerizing images any better than you can.

Yup, you read that right. Even Sears’s popular appliance brand, Kenmore, got its chance to pose on the cover of a playing card deck. Featuring old washing machines, sewing machines, and vacuums with bags you had to replace, these cards scratch that Sears Catalog itch we didn’t know we had.

The last but certainly not least pack of playing cards to crack our poker face is this bullfighting-themed deck from the 1950s. They’re a sight to behold, featuring action-packed illustrations of bullfighters in their element. It’s a pack we could see being right at home in Rick’s Café.

Your poker face might put up a good fight, but it doesn’t stand a chance against the charming allure of and puzzling prints on these vintage playing card decks. But playing cards aren’t the only curious cards in our arsenal! Check out these weird vintage trading cards while you’re at it.