Oh what a lovely set! And it is even better now I know the title and the Fada and Sanguinetti numbers.
The word "Cherchez" translates to "search for", and relates to the fact that there is something hidden in the picture, though I will be honest, I cannot ever see these sort of things. However the next part of the title on each card is slightly different, namely
- CROQUET - Cherchez l’amour. Ou est le quatrième joueur? -
[search for the lover. Where is the fourth player (our card) - BICYCLING - Cherchez le chien. Ou est le troisieme bicycliste?
[search for the dog. Where is the third cyclist] - HORSE RACING - Cherchez le coureur. Ou est la deuxieme amazone?
[search for the racer. Where is the second Amazon?] - HUNTING - Cherchez le Lievre. Ou est La Chouette?
[search for the hares. Where is the owl?] - LAWN TENNIS - Cherchez le joueur de lawn tennis. Ou est le nain?
[search for the player of lawn tennis. Where is the dwarf?] - ROWING - Cherchez le petit pêcheur. Ou est le spectateur?
[search for the little fisherman, or maybe woman. Where is the spectator?]
Now I showed these to someone else and they instantly spotted what I never would have, and that is that the title is a clue. In our case, "search for the lover" is actually search for Cupid, who is pictured on the card, and if you look about him you will find the fourth player. I can`t, even now, but I hope you do, and, more importantly, that you have fun.
And I have just been told, that you can have even more fun, because the cards are shown online courtesy of the Jerry Slocum Mechanical Puzzle Collection at the Indiana University in Bloomington.
This set was issued in several versions, French, German, and Spanish - and there was a follow up set, Sports II, in horizontal format, but without the hidden object to discover, the following year. There must also have been a "Sports I", somewhere, but as to whether or not it had a hidden object I do not know.