What are the true first Pokemon cards?

[Quuador]

Going back to the discussion of the cards, re-reading the comments in the thread I created First physical product to mention/depict Pocket Monsters?, I came across something interesting in the article of the Pocket Monsters GameBoy cartridges linked by @thundermoo:

@thundermoo

Was shared a nice article tonight on early Red and Green version variants: Link

In that article, the following is mentioned:

Another document included in the earliest printings is a customer feedback postcard, only available during the first 30 days after release, and had to be postmarked by the end of March. Customers would be entered into a free raffle for the official guidebook or special playing cards, as well as an additional copy of either Red or Green version.

Interesting fact: Ishihara-san, President & CEO of Game Freak, indicated in an interview that initial sales were lower than expected during the first 30 days, which explains why these surveys are relatively scarce today.

The front of the postcard translates to roughly the following:

“Kyoto City Higashiyama Post Office P.O. Box No. 15. Thank you for purchasing Pocket Monsters. Sorry to trouble you, we request your opinion as valuable reference for future software. Additionally, a lottery will be run for participants. Winners may receive: (100 Winners) Pocket Monsters Guidebook or (500 Winners) Special Playing Cards. In addition, the announcement of the winner will receive a free copy of either version. This is valid until the end of March, 1996.”

The bottom box (featuring Bulbasaur) in the survey (roughly) reads:

“It’s all about Pocket Monsters! “Pocket Monsters Guidebook” – List price undecided. Scheduled to be released early March, 1996.”

This text lines up perfectly for the late February release of the games.

Most notiably about this quote, is the “Winners may receive: (100 Winners) Pocket Monsters Guidebook or (500 Winners) Special Playing Cards. In addition, the announcement of the winner will receive a free copy of either version. This is valid until the end of March, 1996.”

Does this mean there are 500 Pocket Monsters Special Playing Cards sets available, given out somewhere in early/mid (April perhaps) 1996?

The earliest Pocket Monsters Playing cards I’m aware of are the Twin packs, released in December 1996, thanks to this post by @rainbow:

@rainbow

First, we have the twin packs. As far as I am aware, there are two twin pack releases, which I have called the “Green Packs” and the “Red Packs”.

…

The release date of the twin packs is early December 1996. It is very unlikely that both of them were released at the same time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a sizable gap between the two twin pack releases. Perhaps they were introduced with the redesign of the Red and Green packs (319 and 320). As far as I am aware, there is no discernable difference between the cards inside.

Anyone perhaps have any info about the release date of these 500 Special decks, and what they might look like? And whether the cards themselves might be different than any later released Pocket Monsters playing cards?

Greetz,
Quuador