Tag: games

The unsung heroes and heroines of the Covid-19 pandemic are bin men and women, alongside couriers, shop workers, journalists and of course, doctors and nurses.

A brand new edition of Top Trumps, honouring Covid 19 key and essential workers, has hit shops … with profits being donated to the NHS.

The game lauds and applauds those key and essential workers who have saved Britain during the Pandemic : from doctors and nurses to less high-profile professions such as pest controllers, midwives and sea merchants.

Politicians, who are depicted on the Top Trumps card by Boris Johnson, and journalists are included too.

One of the four scoring sections in the new game is ‘Unsung Heroes’, and in that category it is the partners of key workers who come out top – they get a maximum 10 out of 10. Binmen and binwomen scored a point lower at nine out of ten. Less unsung heroes like doctors (8), nurses (8) and police (7) fare lower.

In its card citation Top Trumps point out that being a partner of a key worker is “stressful and worrying”.

Claire Simon, from Top Trumps, says: “Every single front-line key worker is, of course, a heroine and hero and would each score 10 (or even 11) out of 10 by any reckoning if we had devised a Hero category.

“By creating an Unsung Heroes category we have ensured varying marks, in keeping with the game’s core classic and its unique and much-loved branding.

“From our research, which has been intensively conducted over the six weeks, partners of key workers came out top in this section. There are an estimated one and a half million partners of key workers in Britain so that’s a lot of Unsung Heroes and Heroines.

“Many of the public we spoke to pointed out that partners too are putting their lives on the line, albeit less directly. As well as being there physically they are providing emotional support. For that reason we listed partners as key workers.”

Other features of the pack include: 

• Binmen and binwomen being named as the most stylish of all the key and essential workers.  That’s because of their fluorescent and neon clothing, which is all the fashion rage at the moment. They score 10 /10 on ‘Street Style and as they are also runners-up in the ‘Unsung Heroes’ section then they are very much the card not to bin during the game!  In its card citation Top Trumps point out that refuse collectors first began their profession during the 14^th Century Black Death that swept across Europe and add: “In terms of facing a pandemic, refuse collectors can rightly joke that ‘we’ve bin here before’ ”.

• Stuffy politicians score just 1/10 in the style section – with teachers not doing much better and obviously in need of extra fashion homework. They get just 2/10.  Journalists only manage 5/10.

• Religious and spiritual workers are listed by Top Trumps as the very oldest profession of all the workers in the pack in an ‘Originated’ section. They are named as first appearing in 50,000 BC, which easily wins this category.

• Gadgets and gizmos winner is the journalist, which isn’t surprising bearing in mind the lightening media advances with Zoom and the like – since the start of the Pandemic. The profession with the least formal gadgets and gizmos includes mental health workers.

• One of the very best cards to hold in Top Trumps terms is the courier. That’s because it features very well in the Originated section: at 2400 BC. It also scores very highly in the Unsung Heroes category – notching up a nine out of ten. And in terms of gadgets and gizmos it is only shaded by journalists.

Claire Simon, who is Global Marketing Manager at Top Trumps, added: “We are sure that this new edition of Top Trumps can lift spirits in this very challenging and unprecedented period of time, as well as raising money for the NHS, with all net proceeds going direct to the NHS.”

In this version of the celebrated card game 30 different professions are listed, each marked in typical Top Trumps style across four separate scoring categories:

1. Unsung Heroes: In the pack Top Trumps explains: “All our key workers are heroes, but some jobs are often less praised. We want to make sure key workers are given the praise they deserve”.

2. Street Style:  Top Trumps explains: “Neon is in! This section assesses the gear and garb a key and essential worker wears”.

3. Gadgets & Gizmos:  “What equipment the worker uses and carries to do their job.”

4. Originated:  “The year in which profession was established (or in the case of religious and spiritual workers the estimated year: 50,000 BC!).

Top Trumps Britain at its Best: Key Workers is available priced £5 exclusively at: winningmoves.co.uk and comes in a twin deck (the other pack being Britain at its Best: Hospitals.