少年ブック (Shōnen Book) No.1 (January 1966)

This is a full-page Nintendo advertisement from the January 1966 issue (No. 1) of the Japanese boys’ manga magazine Shōnen Book (少年ブック). The ad promotes two products: a “transceiver” (トランシーバー, walkie-talkie set) giveaway contest, and Nintendo playing cards (トランプ) featuring the character Uchū Ace (宇宙エース, “Space Ace”) — a Tatsunoko Production manga/anime character that was serialized in that same magazine.

At the top of the page, it is written “Win a transceiver with Nintendo playing cards!!” (任天堂のトランプでトランシーバーを当てよう!!).

For the contest, the instructions say to mail in the cellophane wrapper/cancelled stamp from the card packaging for a weekly lottery draw of 500 transceiver sets, with a deadline of every Saturday (final deadline December 31, 1965) and a mailing address in Kyoto’s Higashiyama ward, addressed to “Nintendo Television Department” (任天堂テレビ係).

Two types of Uchū Ace card decks are advertised at the bottom of the page, each ¥400:

• “Uchū Ace Picture-Book Playing Cards” (絵本トランプ) — cards printed with Uchū Ace manga panels, described as fun for both games and reading, packaged in a TV-shaped case;
• “Uchū Ace Circle Playing Cards” (サークルトランプ) — round cards with moving eyes/faces described as good for magic tricks and party games, marketed for Christmas and New Year’s.