About Me

I was a kid growing up in the 1980’s and I remember the first video game I ever played was Pacman on Atari with my Dad. After about 5 minutes, I was hooked. Many hours spent memorizing the board pattern until the ghosts got too fast. I experienced Mario for the first time also on Atari. I played many hours of Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr. Then Mario Bros came out in 1983 on Atari, but when Super Mario Bros came out for the NES in 1985, I was hooked for life.  

Outside of my professional career I still occasionally play my favorite vintage video games. Original equipment of course. Growing up I used to collect baseball cards, so I’ve always had an interest in card collecting. Then it hit me one day, does Mario have a rookie card and if so, what is it? That’s what began my search for the earliest Mario trading cards I could find. 

At first, I discovered that Topps Baseball Card Company made a set of Donkey Kong cards in 1982 to promote the video game. These were released here in the US and many of these can still be found online today. Topps also made a set of Super Mario cards in 1989. These also can be found online in large quantities. Nintendo released the original Donkey Kong in the arcade in 1981, so I was looking for that 1981 Holy Grail Mario card. Then I discovered Japanese Menko cards. After much research, patience and time, I finally discovered what I was looking for. That Holy Grail Mario card really did exist!

Over the years I have found many rare Mario cards. Some Menko, some not. So, I thought I would create this website to not only share the cards I have found but share my research & knowledge so this website can become a source for Mario Menkos and Nintendo related Menko. I too am interested in learning more from people like you. The story of the video game Menkos is not fully understood so there is still a lot to be learned. 

Thanks for visiting my website. Please check back frequently as there will be new Menko pics and Mario related content and information updated often. 

Ok....you can hit un-pause now....