29 ❖ Tiddlywinks • with Disney Cartoon Characters – North American Tiddlywinks Association

UK • Chad Valley • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

In the early 1930s, Chad Valley Games of Harborne, England garnered licenses from The Walt Disney Company in the United Kingdom for exclusive rights to use the cartoon characters from the Mickey Mouse and other Disney cartoons on its games across the British Empire (except for Canada) at the time.

Several editions and varieties of Mickey Mouse Tidley-Winks were issued by Chad Valley in the 1930s.

Chad Valley • Three Character Disney Tidleywinks Game

This edition, MICKEY MOUSE TIDLEY-WINKS, shows three Disney characters on the cover and the targets, namely: Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, and Pluto the dog, as shown here.

Mickey Mouse first appeared in the short film called Plane Crazy in 1928, though the first film shown to the public with Mickey was Steamboat Willie on 18 November 1928. Minnie Mouse‘s debut was also in Steamboat Willie. Pluto was first included in the short film, The Chain Gang in 1930.

This game is estimated to be from the 1930s.

Chad Valley • Four Character Disney Tidleywinks Games • First Variety

Another Chad Valley tiddlywinks game, MICKEY MOUSE TIDLEYWINKS, illustrates four Disney characters on the cover and also on the target of the game, namely: Clarabelle Cow, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, and Pluto. This is one of two known minor variations of this version of the game.

Clarabelle Cow debuted in the 1929 short film called The Plow Boy.

The first variation, shown below, includes two separate labels affixed on the game cover. The first label has a red background and contains the following text that appears below the four Disney characters on the cover and above “MICKEY MOUSE” (in yellow) from the title. Here’s the text that appears on the first label:

LICENSEES FOR BRITISH EMPIRE (EXCLUDING CANADA) THE CHAD VALLEY Co Ltd HARBORNE ENGLAND
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH WALT DISNEY – MICKEY MOUSE LTD.

The second label attached to the cover of this particular game simply contains the phrase “TIDLEYWINKS” in white on a black background. This label is attached to the box at the bottom center, under the yellow “MICKEY MOUSE” part of the title on the cover.

This game is estimated to be from the 1930s.

Chad Valley • Four Character Disney Tidleywinks Games • Second Variety

Here’s a second variety of the Chad Valley Games’ MICKEY MOUSE TIDLEYWINKS game with four Disney characters. This variety sports no adhesive labels on the cover, unlike the first variety edition shown above. The game target depicting the four Disney characters and the rules remain the same in this variety.

This game is estimated to be from the 1930s.

Chad Valley • Five Character Disney Tiddlywinks Game

Yet another similarly-designed Chad Valley tiddlywinks game illustrates five Disney characters on the cover and also on the target of the game, namely: Horace Horsecollar, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Clarabelle Cow.

Horace Horescollar first appeared in the 1929 short film called The Plow Boy, along with Clarabelle Cow.

This game is estimated to be from the 1930s.

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Chad Valley • Six Character Disney Tiddlywinks Game

Chad Valley also produced WALT DISNEY’S TIDLEYWINKS game sporting a totally different game cover and target than the ones shown above. This particular game depicts 6 Disney characters (from lower left around the top to the lower right): Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket, and Pinocchio.

UK • Peter Pan Playthings • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

In 1965, Peter Pan Playthings (also known as Peter Pan Series and simply Peter Pan) published Walt Disney PRESENTS Winnie the Pooh Tiddly Winks. In 1961, Disney licensed the rights to using Winnie the Pooh characters from the estate of A. A. Milne, the author of the original Winnie the Pooh books that were published between 1926 and 1928. In 2002, Disney purchased the rights from the estate.

The characters appearing on the cover are: Eeyore the donkey, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger the kangaroo, and Piglet. In addition to those characters, the game target includes Owl and Rabbit.

UK • Falcon • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

Falcon Games Ltd. came out with DISNEY TIDDLEYWINKS. The cover depicts the game target, which contains 8 sections, each of which has a different point value and Disney character: Mickey Mouse (1), Pluto (4), Huey (in red, 2), Goofy (3), Daisy Duck (1), Minnie Mouse (4), Donald Duck (2), and Dewey (in blue) and presumably Louie (though in yellow) in the remaining section (3). Daisy Duck first appeared in a 1940 film. This game is probably from the 1980s or 1990s (estimated).

US • Whitman • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

Huey, Dewey, and Louie are shooting winks at Ludwig Von Drake‘s cap in this 1961 game by Whitman Publishing. Ludwig Von Drake, Donald Duck’s uncle, first appeared in a 1961 film.

US • Jaymar• Disney Tiddlywinks Games

This WALT DISNEY’S DONALD DUCK TIDDLEY WINX game was published by Jaymar Specialty Company of New York City. The name Jaymar was formed from the name of one of its founders, Jacob Marx.

The cover shows Donald Duck. The target is a folding cardboard sheet folded in half with 6 holes in one side and 5 on the other side. When the player shoots a wink through a hole, he or she gains the specified number of points. One side depicts Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Jiminy Cricket, while the other side shows Pinocchio, Goofy, and Donald Duck.

New Zealand • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

Some of the British and U.S. Milton Bradley Disney tiddlywinks games traveled overseas to New Zealand and Australia and elsewhere, including this WALT DISNEY’S DONALD DUCK TIDDLY WINKS, which appears here with © 1962 on the cover of the game made by World Games Company Limited of Auckland, New Zealand. Interestingly enough, in the front, top, left portion of this game is the traditional Milton Bradley-style game logo of the time, namely: “ANOTHER” above {a golden key symbol) “KEY TO FUN and learning”.

Appearing on the cover are triplets Huey, Dewey, and Louie (you can’t tell which one is who), and their uncle Donald Duck at right. Huey, Dewey, and Louie first appeared in the Donald Duck comic strip in 1937. Donald Duck debuted in a 1934 film.

A substantially identical game (cover and contents) was also produced by John Sands Ltd. of Australia and Holdson, also from Auckland, New Zealand.

Australia • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

John Sands Ltd. in Australia published WALT DISNEY’s TIDDLY WINKS in 1962 with Donald Duck and his nephews Huey (in red), Dewey (blue), and Louie (green) on the cover.

West Germany • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

Klee of West Germany published Micky Maus Flohhüpf-Spiel (literally, “flea hop game”) in 1960. Donald Duck and Mickey Maus appear on the cover along with Huey (in red) and Louie (in green). So why not Dewey, who would be in blue? Well, at least he appears on one side of the target. The red target side depicts a circus scene with Mickey Mouse cracking a whip to entice Pluto to jump through on of the holes, plus Donald Duck and Louie; there’s another youngster duck in dark green. The other target side has a cowboys and Indians theme, where Mickey Mouse sports a gun as a cowboy, and Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie wearing Indian headdresses and holding tomahawks.

PONY Spellen of West Germany produced WALT DISNEY’S TIDDLY in 1966. Donald Duck is featured on the cover, shooting a wink toward the game target. The characters Pluto, Mickey Mouse, a pig, and Winnie the Pooh also appear on the cover. Winnie the Pooh debuted in a 1966 Disney film.

The clear plastic game target fits inside the box bottom, consisting of 9 by 6 compartments. Printed on the cardboard below each compartment is either a Disney character and a number from 0 to 9, or simply a number.

Netherlands • Disney Tiddlywinks Games

The Dutch company PTZ Play Time AG produced this game under its Variant brand in 1965. The title is given in four languages:

Vlooienspel (Dutch)
Jeu de puces (French)
Flohspiel (German)
Tiddley Winks (English)

Note that the name of the game in all but English translates to “flea game”.

Four Disney characters appear on the cover, although they are depicted as younger versions of the normal characters of Goofy, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Pluto.

UK • Bruins Boys Tidleywinks

While not Disney characters, this Bruin Boys Tidleywinks Game, by Chad Valley Games, is designed very much like the various Mickey Mouse Tidleywinks Disney games made by Chad Valley. This game exhibits quite similar cover and target designs incorporating cartoon characters as on the Mickey Mouse Tidley Winks. While these games do not portray any Disney characters, this game has been included in the Disney section of this website due to its similarity to the designs of Disney games by Chad Valley Games.

The Bruin Boys characters attended Mrs. Bruin’s Boarding School and were first created by Julius Stafford Baker in 1904 for the Daily Mirror newspaper in London, England, which was owned by the Amalgamated Press. However, Herbert Sydney Foxwell drew the characters from 1914 to 1933, and then Bert Wymer through the 1950s. This game was produced in the 1930s (estimate).

The Bruin Boys characters depicted on the cover of this game are, from left to right: Tiger Tim, Jacko Monkey, Mrs. Bruin, Porkyboy Pig, and Bobby Bruin.