For a while there, I could not believe what was going on with many of the Japanese baseball card menko, common cards selling for hundreds of dollars. Those cards are very common in Japan. I guess when collectors see something different, they tend to bid high. What the heck was going on with some cartoon character menko too? Betty Boop menko going for hundreds of dollars? This is pure nuts. Many of these menko can be had by the boxful in Japan, cheaply.

I have been into menko for 45 years. I played with them as a kid. Back then, nobody wanted the round menko. They were basically trash. The best ones are what we used to call shashin-men or photo menko. I don't mean those later TV characters of the late 60s and later. If you can get a hold of those photo menko from the 50s and the very early 60s, you got something.

The best ones are of course Gekko Kamen, Shonen Jet, and some of the early Samurai (chanbara) type ones. They were very tough to find back then and still are. Unfortunately, there are many reproductions made today, especially in sheets.

Menko were made to play with. When you see those paper thin items, they are not real menko. They came inside some kid magazines as a freeby. The real ones, we had to buy from a local kid shop called dagashiya. A pack of 20, I believe, used to cost us 5 yen. But around 1963, instead of buying them by the pack, they started to sell them  as a sheet of 20. We had to cut them. The paper stock was thinner. I especially remember Tetsuwan Atom issues. These colorful cards had like a gilt decorated design. Us kids did not like them and were not highly regarded.

Post 1965, menko went out of style. Nobody played with them.

The best ones were made in the 50s and the early 60s. Take my word for it from someone who actually played with them.