Most of the 80's was just bizarre as far as what was the product. The place I hung out used to let me read the promo letters early on, like 82-83.
Once Topps monopoly was broken we got two "new" companies in 81.
For 82 that was in a small bit of doubt since topps claimed to have exclusivity for cards sold with gum. And there was supposedly some legal thing that there had to be something of intrinsic value sold, with the cards being a free giveaway to get people to buy the product.
Donruss did those puzzle pieces - Jigsaw puzzles were valuable for the play value or something like that.
Fleer added stickers, claiming "educational value"
Both lasted into the late 80's, maybe very early 90's. Donruss puzzles through 92, I forget when the fleer stickers ended.
About 92 the rules changed, or the govt decided that cards were valuable by themselves.
Steve B
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