Gummy Bear

Gummy Bear Tarot
Dietmar Bittrich (U.S. Games Systems, inc, 2001)

Review
Look, I'll be honest. It's a Rider-Waite derivative with gummy bears instead of people.

And I make aboslutely no apology for loving this.

The images will be deeply familiar to anyone who's ever read the Rider-Waite, but but the use of gummy bears does, against all odds, make the familiar sights interesting again for the first time in years. Part of the effect is the blobby nature of the bears themselves, most noticeable when the paws hold out the Aces or a given gummy bear has a curvy line suggesting breasts, though gummy bears can hardly be said to have chests at all.

The other overall effect of having gummy bears throughout is that they undermine any of the horror. So Death is clearly trying out his scary face on the titular card, but all the mind's ear can pick up is "grr? How about now? Grr? Oh, I'm trying to be scary, really!"

On the other hand, the Nine of Swords is made especially sad, because there's nothing more little and helpless than a crying gummy bear!

So what with the deck coming in a tin, the small easily shuffled cards, and even the round friendly butterfly on the King of Swords' throne, I'm going to say that this would be quite a good deck for younger readers, and considering its close adherence to the Rider-Waite, a good deck for beginners, too.