Collectibles: Flippos

This week we will go over several collectibles that were trending in the nineties; we will start off by discussing the Dutch fad of Flippos.

Flippos are little discs that used to be in the Smiths potato chips bags, on these discs were images of cartoon figures like the Looney Tunes and Chester Cheetah. The flippos were introduced in the Netherlands and Belgium in 1995 and became very popular instantly. The collecting and trading of flippos was very popular among elementary school children and there were several games devised (by the children as well as the company) in order to win each other’s flippos. Smiths also brought out several binders in which the flippos could be collected and the goal of this was of course to collect all the different flippos and therefore make parents buy more potato chips by Smiths.

Because the flippos were so popular amongst young children several other companies made clones in the hope of riding along on the wave of success. Some of the more familiar flippos copies are the Topshots by Croky which had soccer players on them and the Jam Caps by Jamin which displayed cartoons like Smurfen, Garfield and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. 

The Dutch flippo series:

Looney Tunes

Series Name	Numbers	Description
Looney Tunes	1 - 75	In the first series the Looney Tunes are displayed in a music or sports theme. The numbers 60 to 75 show the individual characters: Tweety, Bugs Bunny, Coyote, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Marvin, Speedy Gonzales, Road Runner, Taz, Yosemite Sam, Elmer, Sylvester, Marc Antony and Sylvester Jr. The flippo has a green backside and is worth 1 point.
Mega	101 - 120	These flippos also show the Looney Tunes, this time in a close up. The flippos have a pink backside and are twice as thick as regular flippos, which could be an advantage in flippo games.
World	141 - 240	The World-Flippos continue until the end of the first folder and is with 100 Flippos the largest series. The Flippos different from the earlier series because they are educational tinted. The Flippos show next to the various Looney Tunes characters themselves important world figures, buildings and cultural phenomena (such as sports and dancing). In the accompanying binder the images will be explained. The World-Flippos were available from mid July 1995, were blue colored and worth 4 points.
Flying	251 - 290	In this series the flippos portray the Looney Tunes and different vehicles with regard to aviation. There are also some cuts in the flippo in order to play a number of new games. With the aid of another flippo, and the cuts you can make this flippo fly. The flippos are purple and worth 6 points.
Adventure	341 - 420	In the Adventure Flippos the Looney Tunes are portrayed as being in an adventurous situation. The Flippos are green and yellow-gold and display different letters (plus possibly one or more question marks). When this set of flippos was available, some children's magazines (like Donald Duck) placed an advertisement.  Following this add, you had to use the letters on the set Flippos in order to form a long sentence, this sentence was a hint to a Smiths hidden treasure. The flippo is worth 8 points.
Olympic	431 -  490	On these flippos different Olympic facts are shown and on the back the image is illustrated. In the second folder the images are also described, sometimes with other facts than those on the flippo itself. The Flippos not have the same colors; up to 4 colors combined are combined in them. The Olympic-flippo is worth 9 points.
Griezel	536 - 545	These Flippos were, instead of plastic, in whole made ​​of cardboard. In addition to images of the Looney Tunes, several horror figures are shown on these flippos. It is possible to use a tab to bring out an otherwise hidden image. On the tab itself are some keys with which you can play a game. The flippo is worth 13 points.
Limited Edition Adventure	816 - 818	These were obtained by solving the puzzle on the back of all Adventure Flippos. They had a red and green back and are worth 25 points.
Winter	I -  X	The Giga Winter-flippo is approximately four times as large as a normal flippo, and with the aid of a cut, it is possible to use this as a Christmas tree ornament. On the front are the characters of the Looney Tunes and on the back a drawing of a snowman. These large flippos are worth 14 points.
Golden Flippo	Not numbered	This extremely rare Flippos were randomly hidden in bags of chips. The lucky finder of such flippo was awarded a cash prize by Smiths. There were also real gold Flippos to win during the Flippo Finish Show aired by Kindernet.
Special Christmas flippos, only distributed to the staff of Smiths	Not numbered	This set is really rare and consists of 10 flippos with special Christmas images on them.

Chester Cheetah

Series Name	Numbers	Description
Chester Cheetos	76 - 100	These were worth 2 points.
Techno	121 -  140	This Flippos had serrated sides and notches. This enabled a construction of techno flippos.
Strip	241A - 250C	Flippo A to C of a particular number told a little story (comic) about Chee-tos. Flippo A suggested a situation, flippo B showed that situation with a bag of chips, flippo C showed the effects of that. Furthermore, these Flippos also covered with the same cartels as the Techno-flippos.
24 Game	291 - 315	On the back of these flippos were 24-game game boards.
Guinness Record	316 - 340 and  421 - 430	These flippos portray Chester performing different records from the Guinness Book of Records.
Joker	None, only a binder	There are a total of six Joker Flippos;  the 2 and 5 Joker (cut edge with purple paw print and round edge with green paw print) and the super 10 Joker (one with a yellow paw print on the back and one with a face of Chester on both sides). If you found a Joker Flippo was, you could send it back to Smith with a request to  receive a number Flippos (2, 5 or 10, as the joker denoted), in order to make your collection complete.

Looney Tunes & Chester Cheetah

Series Name	Numbers	Description
Spiek	491 - 515	The back of the Spiek Flippo shows a mnemonic or a useful factoid, the front displays the text on the back. The Spiek Flippo consists of up to 3 different colors and is worth 10 points. The numbers 491 - 500 had pictures of the Looney Tunes, and the numbers 501 - 515 pictures of Chester.
Time	516 - 535	The Time-Flippo shows a clock in yellow on the back. Besides the clock, it also has an excuse or another factoid on the back. The flippo is worth 7 points. The numbers 516 - 531 and 521 - 535 had pictures of the Looney Tunes, and the numbers 522 - 530 pictures of Chester.

This was all on Flippos, but stay tuned because next time we’ll discuss several collectible trading cards of the nineties!

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