Parker Brothers - ROTJ Play for the Power Game Cards (1983)

Not technically a card set, this boxed card game was released in 1983.

Card games were actually a reasonably popular activity for many kids, who used standard card decks to play games like GO FISH and WAR, so creating special decks of cards for kids related to the newest Star Wars film made sense.

The Play for the Power card game was actually a series of 5 different games that could all be played with the two enclosed card decks. Each box contained a deck of cards with a blue backing, and a deck with a red backing. For some of the games, both decks were required, for others, only one deck was needed. While most games required two to four players, the instruction booklet included instructions for a solitaire game as well.

The foldout instruction booklet included inside each box contained instructions for:

• Alien Adventure
• Creature Concentration
• Super Solitaire
• Jedi Apprentice
• Jedi Master

All of these games were essentially versions of already popular card games given a Star Wars twist. This made the games easy to learn, and fun for most kids to play.

It's not uncommon for collectors to come across complete or partial decks of these cards even today. The cards are easily identified by their distinctive backs, where the words Parker Brothers appear in either Blue or Red text along with the Return of the Jedi logo.

Because these are game cards, and not collector cards, I have not included a checklist.