Authentic 1970 Jerry's Nugget Playing Card Flash Sale On LeeAsher.Net

On October 2 at 9pm EST, sleight of hand master Lee Asher will be running a flash sale for 72 Authentic 1970 Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards on his website LeeAsher.net. The Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards will be sold in tiers starting at $200 and going up to $450/per deck until all 72 are gone. The faster you reach checkout, the better your chances are of securing an Authentic Jerry's Nugget Playing Card deck at the lowest possible price of $200. The blue and red versions will be sold in rotation and there is no way to choose which color you receive.

Click here for more details regarding the price tiers and a special FAQ for the sale.

About Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Founded in 1964 by Jerry Lodge and Jerry Stamis, Jerry's Nugget Casino stands today as a significant piece of Las Vegas history. In 1970, the casino printed a special deck of cards, and sold them in their gift shop for fifty cents. Almost forty years later, these decks fetch upwards of $1500 per brick (dozen). 

These playing cards were supposedly printed in the 70s for the gaming tables, but never saw any 'real action'. They were immediately sold in the gift store thereafter. The classic Jerry's Nugget playing cards were made from top of the line US Playing Card Company card stock, that is not available today, which makes the cards much thicker. The U.S.P.C. also used a chemical finish then, which is also not available today due to environmental reasons.

Jerry's Nugget playing cards were printed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then were driven to the North Las Vegas casino via trucks where they sat in storage for many years. The highly prized playing card eventually sold out in the summer of 1999. Jerry's Nugget Casino does not have any plans to reprint them either.

According to Jerry's fans, there is something different about the cards that makes them perfect for different types of moves and flourishes.

Kickstarter: WarPunk Games ReLaunches Zombie Black Playing Cards to a Success

Over the last year Brian Lee of Warpunk Games has been working on a playing card project called Zombie Black Playing Cards. What began a little over a year ago as just a design project that spawned from a printing class Brian was teaching at  the Art Institute of Indianapolis, has evolved into so much more with not only 100% custom designed cards but also games as well. The project initially launched unsuccessfully in the Spring of this year. However, Brian has since revamped the project and just this past week the card project successfully reached its funding goal on Kickstarter.com turning this year long process into a success. The project is still in funding phase for another 10 days when it will ceases funding on October 10.

Click here to see the project on Kickstarter.

According to Brian the reason behind the zombie theme is simple. Brian told us the following, "I am a huge fan of the Zombie genre and during my research into playing cards, I found that I really enjoyed the look of the more classic style of playing cards, especially the French version. There are lots of great images online to use as a reference, so I recreated this classic style, only this time with a zombie twist to them. I wanted the cards to be somewhat gruesome, but not over the top like you see with a lot of zombie decks. I feel that they get almost to the point of being cartoony."

Initially set to be printed by the United States Playing Card Company, Brian changed direction on his second go around and the cards will now be printed by QP Group, a reputable game manufacturer for over 30 years. For those that are unaware, according to the the QP group website, the company has "an aggregate production floor area of 647,000 square feet, a skilled workforce of some 4,000 people" and some of the most modern day high tech equipment and certifications in the world. These guys mean business.

As mentioned, Brian also moved focus toward game design. Regarding card game design, Brian told us that he didn't want to just create collector's items with his card decks but that he wanted to make cards that people wanted to play with. Brian said "I have designed my cards specifically with card games in mind. I use large pips and bright contrasting colors for the suits. I am also using a playing card stock that is 310gsm. which is the same as casino grade playing cards. Every deck of cards that I have funded will come with a card game that you can play with using my cards or your own favorite deck. If we hit a stretch goal, then I will have the funds to produce additional cards and items to go along with the deck that will bring the games to a new level with a theme added and new strategies."  It is clear that Brian is in it to create a long term brand complete with cards and card games.


For his first game, Brian has created a game called Grave Digger. Primarily a social game, Grave Digger is a push your luck game and great to play in between other games or in social establishments. According to Brian, "The official printed rules that you get with your deck of Zombie Black playing cards will also tell you how to make Grave Digger into a drinking or gambling game." Click here for the rules to the game.

Here are the images of the Zombie Black cards:

News: Card Experiment's Utopia Playing Cards Available for Pre-Order

Last month Card Experiment released a teaser image of their upcoming playing card deck titled Utopia. At the time details were hazy but today the company announced that Utopia Playing Cards will be available for pre-order October 8, 2013 on Cardexperiment.com at 10am EST.

Utopia will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company and will feature a 100% custom design. The deck was designed by Tarin Yuangtrakul of Bangkok, Thailand.

Card Experiment is the company that brought us Bicycle Asura and Babel Playing Cards.

Kickstarter: Bicycle Meridian Playing Cards Coming Soon on Kickstarter

Launching on September 30, Bicycle Meridian will join the rest of the pack on Kickstarter.com. Bicycle Meridian is a completely custom designed white playing card deck.  According to Wikipedia, a meridian is " is the great circle passing through the celestial poles and the zenith of a particular location."  Complete with a fitting name, Bicycle Meridian features an abstract and geometrical design with silver swirls and circular patterns. The deck will feature Bicycle stock, magic finish and a custom seal.

Here is a look at the upcoming Bicycle Meridian playing cards:

Kickstarter: Bicycle Steampunk Pirates Launches with Mass Appeal

Launched on Kickstarter.com just a few days after International Talk Like A Pirate Day on September 22, Bicycle Steampunk Pirates is nearing its funding goal in less than 48 hours. Bicycle Steampunk Pirates is the 3rd playing card project from creator Nat Iwata, who also launched Bicycle Steampunk Cthulhu and Bicycle Elves and Orcs on Kickstarter as well. Nat has had success with both earlier projects, which launched and funded this year in 2013.

Click here to visit the project.

Bicycle Steampunk Pirates takes us on a  swashbuckling and high sea adventure into a make believe time when steam powered pirate ships and pirates were armed with high-powered hooks and weaponry. According to the project page, Bicycle Steampunk Pirates Playing Cards is a companion to the original and first project by Nat, Steampunk Cthulhu which funded over $25K.

Nat's playing cards are fully illustrated and custom drawn and designed playing cards. The artwork, which has a comic book feel, uses a mix of antique colors with heavy emphasis on red, off-white, bronze, brown and yellow. The deck puts you right in the steampunk world but the swashbuckling and plank walking never gets lost.

The project has also made available a Limited Edition Black Flag deck that is a darker version of the  original Steampunk Pirate. The project will be in funding period for another 29 days when it ceases funding on October 23, 2013. When funded the project is expected to ship in February of 2014.

Here is a look at Bicycle Steampunk Pirates courtesy of the project page:

White Monarch Limited Edition Playing Cards

During the initial release, the demand for the White Monarchs were so overwhelming that the servers crashed. The White Monarchs are a limited edition version of the regular Monarch Playing Cards. This deck is made with the same FSC-certiifed paper and embossed box with gold foil that the original Monarch deck has. The main difference here is this deck is white instead of blue and quantities are much more limited.

The box is beautiful. It has two latin inscriptions on the box, "De Duobus Maliz, Minus Est Semper Eligenoum" ("Of two evils, the lesser must always be chosen" -Thomas Kempis) and, "Cerca Trova" (Seek and ye shall find). The gold embossings are stunning, and it is by far one of the the best card box I have ever seen.

The cards, although made with imported paper were printed at the United States Playing Card Company. The pips are standard but they do look bigger. The ace of spades is very detailed and look really really charming.

The court cards have standard faces but they do have a slightly muted colour with gold ink in place of the yellow on the regular Bicycle decks. The backs for me is a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong... the design is meticulously detailed and do look sophisticated with the gold ink. The only thing is that it looks really vanilla and muted. Expected a little more from a limited edition deck.

This deck is smooth as butter! Fans, faros and spreads feels awesome due to the relatively thick stock with a nice finish.

Pros: 
- Elegant and beautiful box design
- Sophisticated backs

Cons: 
- Standard court faces
- Colours seems muted

Overall: 
- 4/5

 

News: Great Whites By Drummond Money-Coutts Now Available

After various teasers and much speculation for most of the summer, world renowned magician Drummond Money-Coutts's (aka DMC) second playing card deck in his Shark Series of playing cards called Great Whites (seen above) started showing up in card retailers this week. The Great Whites are the follow up to the critically acclaimed Sharks playing cards. The first deck in the series, simply called Sharks, can be seen in the last image below.

The Shark series, which is not printed by the United States Playing Card Company, is printed in the UK by a Carta Mundi affiliate. According to TuckCase.com sponsor JP Playing Cards, the Great Whites use a 320um Sure Slip playing card board and are plastic coated.  Great Whites were released as a marked deck as well as a standard deck. The deck features custom Anglo-American court cards as well as a subtle one way back design that is not noticeable by the naked eye. The deck also features a Joker reveal.  DMC distributor Sovereign Playing Cards (UK)  had the following to say about the Great Whites' design....

The logo is a visual reminder of old school casino style, and the whole thing has been built around the shark, right down to the shark-skin denticles on the back.The deck has custom kings, all nautical except for DMC as the diamond. Poseidon has some company with the Queen of Hearts, an alluring mermaid. The ace of spades rhymes with the casino cool logo and the Jokers are spear hunting scuba divers.

Here are more images of the Great Whites courtesy of Sovereign:

Kickstarter: Ultramarine Designs Launched the Winter Deck

Back in July we announced that The Winter Deck would be coming soon to Kickstarter. After believing the deck would launch in August, the deck's creator Ultramarine Designs finally launched the playing card project on September 16th. The project has a goal of $15,000 and will cease funding in 29 days on October 16th - exactly one month after launch. Although the deck was designed and created in Russia, the project is based out of the US with most of the rewards also shipping out of the US. The Winter Deck will be printed by The United States Playing Company and if funded is scheduled to ship in January 2014.

Ultramarine Designs is also offering a special edition non-USPCC plastic backer deck, which will be produced in Russia. The special aspect of this deck is that for $215 you can be drawn as one of the court cards.

The artwork, which was "inspired by freezing tribal images of northern winter," has not changed much since we first featured the project in the summer. The back design has been refined since the original post as seen in the image below. Here is a look at The Winter Deck:


Ultramarine Designs has launched a Facebook page to follow updates as well as other news from the company.

News: Zach Mueller's Blue Fontaine Playing Cards Coming Soon

In February of this year Zach Mueller, host of Theory 11's weekly news vlog The Wire, launched his long anticipated playing card project called Fontaine on the Kickstarter alternative, IndieGoGo.com. Fontaine was a huge success for Mueller as it raised over $20,000 and is now a highly sought after deck of cards in the playing card space for cardistry and magic. The deck, which gets it's name from a Bioshock video game villain of the same name, was originally released in red. However, after months of waiting on what the boy wonder would do next with the Fontaine brand, Zach has finally released teaser images of a blue Fontaine deck on his instagram account with the caption "Coming Soon."

While a release date or go to market strategy (crowdfunding, direct to consumer, wholesale, limited seller etc...) is not currently known, we do know that Mueller is building a brand around Fontaine as he since launched a website selling apparel along with other Fontaine products at FontaineFinesses.com. 

News: Six AM Comics Starts Work On Playing Card Project

Mark Marianelli of Six AM Comics has released early images of a playing card project that he has started to work on. According to a blog post on Sixamcomics.com, the project was inspired by a college project Mark worked on in the past and it was recently kicked into gear after a night of playing cards with his wife.

While the project is still in it's infancy, Mark has completed a back design that he feels will stay as the project progresses. The back design is Mark's take on the traditional Bicycle Rider Back as it includes some elements and a layout of the traditional Rider Back. However, the card design is 100% custom that is done in a heavy illustrative and comic book style similar to artwork that Mr. Marianelli is known for making. Mark has stated that the artwork is subject to change.



There is currently no releases date or printer announced for this project.

Click here to follow the project as it progresses on SixAMComics.com!

Ellusionist Creative Director, Mike Clarke, Discusses Republic and More

Over the years Ellusionist has grown into a huge force in the magic/playing card industry with some extremely hot playing card releases such as the Artifice series, Arcane and many others. Excelling in not only playing card releases but magic effects and illusion as well, Ellusionist has been a force to pay attention to in the industry for quite some time. If you interested in playing cards odds are you know of Ellusionist. In fact, your first deck beyond a standard Bicycle was probably an Ellusionist deck.

Behind every great success, there is a great creative vision. Based out of Toronto and San Francisco, Mike Clarke is the creative director for Ellusionist and has provided his vision on the majority of projects that have come out of Ellusionist in recent years. Mike handles art direction for almost every single creative aspect that goes in and out of Ellusionist. From web design to playing cards, Mike has a say.

Just last month, Mike and Ellusionist unleashed the Republic #2 playing card deck with exciting teasers and a video production that your average deck does not get. Republic #2 is unique as it is the second deck in the Republic series but it is definitely a stark departure from the first deck in the series, Sultan Republic. By opting for something beyond a recolor, Republic #2 (which was 100% created by Mike) does what most playing card series rarely do when it comes to subsequent releases. It should go without saying that when a subsequent deck is just recolored, fans tend to see right through that. As competition heats up, fans want more unique releases beyond recolors even within the same series. Mike and Ellusionist have come to realize that.

Mike is an extremely busy individual with a traveling schedule that takes him to multiple cities and deadlines that are very demanding. In fact, getting the following interview was delayed a bit as Mike was away working on an Ellusionist production as well as finalizing artwork for an upcoming deck that Ellusionist wants before Christmas of this year. While no details of that project are released other than a projected time frame, Mike does drop some possible teaser puzzles of what is to come in the following interview. Without further ado, sit back and relax as you read Mike Clarke's words on Ellusionist, Republic and More....

Tuck Case: Something that is asked of all designer interviews, can you give us your design background?
Mike: My art background started at a super early age. My Dad would draw little pictures on a sheet of paper to the left hand side, draw a line down the middle and ask me to draw the same thing on the right. I spent every morning for about 10 years doing this. Art has just always been something at the forefront of my brain my entire life.

When I got my first personal computer back in 2000, I would sit there for hours drawing things in MS Paint. Mostly goofing around avoiding homework. Years of useless MS Paint drawings, my Dad said to me "Why don't you find a way to actually make money on the computer? You sit here all day doing nothing, you may as well find a way to be productive." That was the first little nudge that got my design career moving. After that talk I started teaching myself Adobe Flash. At the time, (early 2000's) Flash was huge and all the rage. Everyone wanted their site to be fully animated with crazy sound effects and moving elements. So while in grade 9, I made my first website and started promoting my website design and animation services. I posted ads all over Craigslist and other message boards. I quickly started getting inquires from a lot of people to help with their sites.

I started to notice, everyone who came to me for a site would ask if I could "quickly make them a logo". Once they had the logo, they of course wanted business cards and other promo materials. So I started expanding my services to branding as well. I did this little endeavour for about 3 years. I slowly got out of it because Flash was no longer the preferred method of site building. People wanted a way to update the site themselves, have a control panel, edit and post updates on the fly, all of which was out of my skill-set.

Needing a new outlet to focus my creativity on, I decided to take a photography class in High School. Not knowing anything about it, I sat there like a chump listening to all the boring theory and definitions. This was the reason I hated school, just let me use a camera already! I started walking around the school taking pictures of absolutely everything. The floor, the walls, the water fountain, the gum stuck under the lockers. Everything! I couldn't stop taking pictures. I was obsessed. I saved up as much money as I could and went to the local camera shop to buy a DSLR camera because I thought it was time to step my game up.

I met Peter McKinnon shortly after getting my shiny new camera. We went to this forested area north of Toronto to take some photos of the fall leaves. Pete, at the time knew absolutely nothing about cameras and was completely mind blown when he saw I could remove the lens from the camera body. Almost overnight, he decided he wanted to get a DSLR too. It seemed like almost every day for years we were out shooting everything from homeless guys in Toronto to waterfalls in Algonquin Park.

Being the young entrepreneurs we are, we decided to start a photography business, called 5Design. We both had 5D cameras and wanted to be able to branch out and do design work as well. We shot weddings from 2007 until 2012. Lots of fun, but [it was] a lot of stress dealing with brides every day. Once we closed up shop, Pete went on to pursue videography. Working with industry giants, Still Motion and then on to Ellusionist. I started doing freelance work for a little while when Pete pitched the idea to Brad to have me start doing all the graphics for E.

Tuck Case: How many playing card decks have you designed and what decks are they?
Mike: I've worked on a lot of decks! Every single deck that comes out with E has to go through me first. Not every deck do I design completely, sometimes it's a collaboration with other artists (Lee McKenzie for example). Here's a list of decks I've designed fully, designed elements (ace of spades, joker, box, etc) or had creative direction on:

- Sultan Republic
- Sultan Treasury
- Fathom
- Artifice Black Club
- Executive
- Artifice Tundra
- Republic
- Ignite
- P-------
- G-----------
- A----------
- K----------
- A---
- S-----

Editor's note: Care to try to guess what the upcoming decks are? It seems Mike has given a clue with the first letter.

Ignite, Ellusionist's latest release

Tuck Case: Can you give us some background on the Republic series? How did you come up with the idea?
Mike: This was one of the first decks I ever designed - the first one that ever made it to print. I'm not really sure how the idea came to me. It sort of just fell into place as I was designing. I started designing it before I knew what it would be. Once I started to get an idea for how it was all coming together, I started to refine it a little bit.

The Treasury was an idea Pete had. He called me and said, "You need to make an old beat up version of this deck, and do it quickly so we can get it in to print at the same time." So within maybe 2 days, the Treasury deck was born. Probably one of my favorite decks, although the P------- are right up there too.

Sultan Treasury

Tuck Case: When the Republic No. 2 deck started to get teased on the web, a lot of people thought it was Sultan Republic version 2 but then it was determined it was not a "Sultan" deck. Can you clear the air once and for all on how each deck fits in the Republic series?
Mike: Republic is the brand. Within that brand we had the Sultan decks. This isn't meant to be a "Sultan Republic" makeover. However, you will recognize a few details from the previous versions in here.

Republic 2.0 is simply #2 in the Republic series. Because Treasury was an exact replica (although it was beaten up) of the Sultan Republic deck, we didn't consider it to be a second version.

Tuck Case: Why did Ellusionist decide not to re-print the Sultan Republic deck when there was already a limited Sultan Treasury in the series?
Mike: Treasury was an already limited launch of a lower quantity of decks. Sultan was a larger print run, but gone when gone. There might be something new to take the missing spot with an all foiled deck though... You'll have to wait and see :)

Tuck Case: Was the Republic series originally planned as a series?
Mike: With every deck we release we try and make it a series. Artifice, Origins, LTD, etc.

Editor's note: The Origins series includes the Fathom deck and most recent Ignite deck.

Tuck Case: Republic No. 2 is a lot different than the original Sultan Republic as far as being a borderless and minimalist type design, why such a big difference in the same series?
Mike: The Sultan Republic was super flashy, all the foil, embossing, large pips and busy design. I wanted to create something that was much more simple and something I could picture myself carrying with me every day. A deck that would suit a high school kid all the way up to a business man. I'm also a huge fan of minimalistic design and living. My office (seen below) is a great representation of that...


Tuck Case: How long did you spend working on each deck in the Republic series?
Mike: That's a tough question, I don't clock my hours while working on each deck. As every creative person knows, you can't spend hours and hours working on the same thing. Sometimes I would stop working on it for a week because I needed some time to get new inspiration. With every deck design there's so many different versions along the way as well. So that ends up eating time but it's ultimately needed to get to the final outcome. Being the Sultan Republic was one of my first decks, it took me much longer than it would now.

Tuck Case: What are you favorite playing card decks?
Mike: I have so many favorites, all for different reasons. Sometimes for the uniqueness, color and design work. Here's a few that pop to mind.

Rounders, Wynn, JAQK, Magic-Con, Misc Goods, Smoke and Mirrors and the vintage plaid by the Bucks.

Tuck Case: With the boom in Kickstarter decks this year, has that impacted Ellusionist at all? Any thoughts on Kickstarter?
Mike: Kickstarter is definitely making the card market more saturated as everyone has the opportunity to create and have their deck printed. It's the same with anything though, look how many car manufacturers there are. Each company has it's own style that sets them apart, so I don't think it has impacted us at all. People are more cautious of the decks they buy now, more selective and only buy the ones they REALLY like. A little competition is a good thing too ;)

Tuck Case: Do you have any advice for people looking to submit playing card designs to Ellusionist or just in general, people looking to design a deck?
Mike: I think with the amount of new designs coming out almost daily, I think you need to have a really cool idea (theme) or have an extremely eye catching design. If anyone out there is looking to possibly have a deck designed with us, I would recommend sending me an email with your design. You can reach me at, Mike AT Ellusionist.com

Check Mike's work out at Ellusionist.com and on his personal design site http://yyzdesign.com.

Kickstarter: Card Concept & Design Released for Upcoming Bicycle Foto Grafis Playing Card Project

Over the past month we have been covering the Bicycle Foto Grafis playing card project that is coming soon to Kickstarter in early October with news stories regarding the launch of the project as well as the announcement of the official name. Today, we have more news on the project regarding the actual card design, which reveals the concept and layout of the face and number cards in the upcoming project. Paul Michael Kane, project creator, has given us exclusive access to the material to release to the playing card community.

The card concept features all of Paul's photography and a horizontal pip recognition system that is different from traditional pip layout on most playing card designs. With the pips being laid out this way, the cards have been given more surface area to display the actual photos that Paul is featuring on each card. Instead of forcing each element in their traditional locations, Paul has created a card design that not only has consistency but also displays the art without sacrificing card functionality.

Here is a small look at the Bicycle Foto Grafis number and Ace card designs, which is the concept every card in the deck will follow:

The court or face cards will feature actual models in place of the royals.

If that isn't enough news, the project will have a funding goal of $8,500 with stretch goals beginning at $10K. As part of the projects stretch goals, Paul will also be offering a Foto Grafis poker chip FREE of charge as a thank you if the project reaches $10K. Anyone with one or more decks added to their pledge will receive a chip once the stretch goal is hit. Here is a mockup of the poker chip:

Be on the look out for Bicycle Foto Grafis as it will go live in early October.

News: Circle City Card Company Uncertainty; Court Cards Revealed for Possible Upcoming Deck

Update 9/12: After posting this story, we learned in a comment on a PlayingCardCollector.net post of the same subject, John mentioned he has not heard from Circle City since June and does not own the artwork. It looks like a bust folks! Uncertainty at the max for this company and project. 

While there has been uncertainty surrounding the Circle City Card Company, the company behind the Quicksilver playing card deck, it seems as if they are planning another deck release. The deck, which will have an esoteric and occult secrets theme, currently has very little details associated with the release/if it will ever be released given the company's current situation.

A little background on the situation: 

Earlier this year, Circle City released teaser images of an upcoming Spring 2013 deck on their Facebook page, which has been inactive since April 1, of a deck that would be called Komodo. At this point, we have not seen Komodo released anywhere. The design of this new deck does not fit the Komodo profile. The last deck project, which ran on Kickstarter in the Spring called Quicksilver, has caused an uproar regarding decks that haven't shipped. Although the project's latest update has assured backers that the project is still shipping months after the expected ship date. They were also connected to the failed Army Men deck that also ran on Kickstarter earlier this year but were not the exclusive owners of the project.

The new project: 

While there are very little details regarding a deck release timeline or the state of the company, John Powell of Salt Lake City, the deck's designer, has released the entire court card series on his Behance account this week.  A time lapse video posted on Youtube back in December 2012 shows this project was not recently initiated. According to Powell's description of the court cards, he has designed "the entire court of royalty plotting with and against each other."  The design is Powell's custom take on traditional Anglo-American court cards with completely redesigned faces, color palette and weapon selection. The very well known Suicide King even features some blood splatter worked in with the rest of the elements in an oddly tasteful manner that does not blatantly scream "blood and guts."

Here is a look at some of the cards courtesy of John Powell's Behance account:

To see the rest of the court cards click here to be taken to John's Behance page.

News: Ellusionist Announces the Ignite Deck with Release Date

Update: Ignite will be released on Thursday September 12th.

Last week Ellusionist started to tease a deck that seemingly looked as if it were on fire. The deck was paired up with the Fathom deck in a few teasers and it was speculated that this "fire" deck would be the second deck in the Fathom series. While details were limited to a few teasers last week, Ellusionist has come forward with a release date and an official name.

The deck, which will be called Ignite, will be released this Wednesday, September 11 on Ellusionist.com.

Details are still a bit smoky on whether or not this will be a limited release and if it does in fact fit in with the Fathom deck to make a series. One commenter made mention of the four elements - earth, water, wind and fire. So far Ellusionist has given us water and now, fire. Can we expect wind and earth to follow?

Revealed: Karnival Delirium First Look

Early this Monday morning Big Blind Media's playing card division, Karnival, has released images of their upcoming deck called Karnival Delirium.

The artwork, which was posted early Monday morning US time, features trippy design work by Sam Hayles. Hayles is primarily Big Blind Media/Karnival's artist. The centerpiece on the tuck case includes a plague doctor wrapped in spiraling checkerboard, skulls and a faint color palette that screams a certain psychedelic darkness.

While there is no release date officially released for Delirium, we do know that Big Blind Media usually and in the past has teased their releases at least a month in advance. However, this is not a definite account of the release date. Strictly, prediction.

Kickstarter: Believe Playing Cards

The Believe playing cards designed by the guys at System6Magic. This uniquely crafted deck is inspired by the Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppets) of the Island of Java, Indonesia. The detail and intricacy used to create the Wayang Kulit have been meticulously replicated in this deck - incorporating mythical eastern elements and modern western design.

Currently a Kickstarter campaign, the project is seeking $10k in funding and there is no doubt the goal will be met in the next few days. A lot of thought has been put into the concept and the development of the deck.

For example, the backs include a unique Wayang Shadow Puppet along with a beautiful lotus flower. The incredible detail on the trim and border are simply stunning!

With most decks, the Ace of Spades is the most predominant card. Believe went the extra mile and treated each Ace equally. Each one has its own unique design and pattern, making all of the Aces worth looking at.

As for the face cards, the pips and the font used are custom and do suit the look and feel of the deck However, the court cards seem to be a little out of place - the intricate designs are replicated beautifully but the faces and traditional court costumes does not exemplify the uniqueness of this deck. There are plans to re-do the court cards by System6Magic before the campaign ends. If you have ideas, do pledge and submit your feedback.

The deck will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company. Along with the deck, additional add-ons such as posters, card clips and t-shirts will be available for pledges above $35.

The first deck is due out to the backers by December 2013.

News: De'vo's Signature Series Exquisite and MMD #3 Playing Cards Coming this Fall

De'vo vom Schattenreich, the mind behind Handlordz.com/Xtremehandz.com and the critically acclaimed Blades Playing Cards, has announced this week on his Facebook page the release of two upcoming decks of playing cards for the Fall (Oct./Nov.) of this year. The exact date is TBA.

The first deck, which is part of De'vo's Signature Series, is called Exquisite. While current details of the design are slim, the deck will feature gold foil embossing with black stock for the Exquisite tuck case.  A teaser of  the Jack of Spades was released along with the announcement that shows comic book style detail on the court design.

Here is the teaser photo courtesy of De'vo's facebook page:

The other deck De'vo is gearing up to release is the third part of the Magicians Must Die Playing Card/Comic Series. De'vo teamed up with artists  Jay Peteranetz and Hannah Nguyen in order to continue the Magicians Must Die Series, which is dubbed "the world's first comic book series printed on a deck of playing cards." This unique deck/comic series tells an action/fantasy story about the fight to stop evil magicians.

Both decks will be available on De'vo's webstore at XtremeHands.com.

Kickstarter: The Black Book of Cards

The Black Book of Cards is a typographic deck of playing cards built on a unique notion that we all hold a card within the playing card deck. This beautifully crafted deck designed by the team from UnCommon Beat was launched as a Kickstarter project with a funding goal of $18k. As expected, the project was fully funded in less than 12 hours! Amazing!

Revealed within the Black Book of Cards is a typographic design using type to create form and pattern covering each card with personality words thus creating a unique look and feel for each card. Each card has its own presence, making it an ideal piece of artwork that can stand on its own. Adding to the enchanting design is the clever use of negative space of each card, creating the actual silhouette of the pips.

The traditional court card faces that we all know so well come to life as typographic portraits. The meticulous process of building each word to form the faces delivers an almost life-like and tangible appearance without the use of shading. Absolutely stunning!

There are various levels of pledges available for this project. The most notable are the limited edition Bicycle branded decks, which are now sold out! That should not stop you from pledging as the regular Black Book of Card deck still looks awesome! This will make a good addition to your collection. Hopefully, we will see some exciting stretched goals reward in the course of this project.

The first deck is due out to backers on January 2014.

Review: Bicycle Pluma (Blue and Orange)

The Bicycle Pluma deck is one of Bicycle's most recent mass releases. We find it's origin in an updated version of an apparent historical plate found in USPCC's archives. The deck was officially released in a light blue color in August of 2013 and an orange deck of the same name/design was released as well but has only been spotted in select Wal-Mart stores.



The Specs:

Name: Bicycle Pluma
Company: USPCC/Bicycle
Release Date: August 2013
Stock: Standard Bicycle Stock
Finish: Air Cushion Finish
Colors: Light Blue/Orange
Face: Standard
Size: Poker

The theme of the deck features "avian" or bird-like and tribal imagery. Pluma, which can be translated into "feather" as well as "pen" in Spanish, is the perfect name for this deck as it takes on the principles of both a feather with the avian imagery and a pen with the tribal line work. The tuck case (seen above) is heavily customized with wings spanning behind a huge Spade filled with tribal and detailed line artwork. The wing span gives us the impression that the Spade is taking on the the shape of a bird. The wings wrap around the sides of the tuck case and brings us to the back design.



The back design features more of the same feather work from the tuck case that is worked in and out of intricate tribal detail. The centerpiece of the back design on both sides features an acorn-shaped face design with a fanned feather headdress on top and a maple leaf-shaped bib going underneath the face design. Four white fanned feathers are the focal point in each corner of this two-way back design that contrasts perfectly with the swirling of the darker tribal detail that marries each design element perfectly and evenly.

Once the deck is opened we find the standard 52 cards, 2 Jokers and 2 ad cards. The Ace Of Spades features the same Spade that is found on the tuck case. However, the difference with the AoS design is that the border and the wings are dropped. This is a nice design tactic as it forces the focus and your eyes to gravitate toward the swirl and tribal design. By dropping the wings/feathers it takes the attention off the avian theme and reminds us that there is more of the design to be seen. Outside of the Spade, "Bicycle" is written above the Spade in an Art Nouveau font similar to the font used for "Pluma" on the tuck case minus the stylization. The use of the Art Nouveau font style ties in the historical aspect to this deck. It reminds the handler that the deck has depth beyond the design.



The deck features historic court and number cards similar to the designs found on the Bicycle Expert Back Deck. The courts and numbers take their look from early decks from USPCC beginnings. The main customization on the Bicycle Pluma Deck courts and numbers comes in the form of a re-color. For the light blue deck, the Anglo-American courts' patterns are filled with light blue, sea blue, white, brown and black. For the orange deck, the courts' patterns are filled with yellow, orange, brown and white.



With the number cards we are presented with a darker red for the hearts and diamonds than on a standard Bicycle deck. The Darker red helps contrast the lighter blue and orange keeping the color palette theme in focus.



A disappointment with this deck is the lack of customization on the Jokers. With this deck we are presented with the same style Jokers as on a Bicycle Standard without any colorization. In fact, these Jokers are simply black and white. If full customization is not an option, it would have been a pleasure to see a recolor of the Jokers with the blue or orange deck color palette used on each deck.

Handling these cards are actually more aesthetically pleasing than functionally pleasing. While the deck features the same stock and embossing as a Bicycle standard deck, there is something about the back design that tricks the mind into thinking they perform better. At any rate, the design provides a great deck to play with or perform tricks with, which adds to the functionality and handling even if it is just our love of the design telling us so.

Notes on the Bicycle Pluma Playing Cards:

• While this deck features an updated plate from Bicycle's past, there are no actual historic decks referenced as its predecessor.


• The Orange deck is not available on BicycleCards.com but can be found at select Wal-Marts.


• Often time USPCC/Bicycle creates exclusive decks to be sold at different big box retailers. These exclusive decks can very from full customization to slight differences in the bar-code.

Final Assessment: Bicycle Pluma is a dream to play with. The artwork is top notch coming out of Bicycle, who aren't all that known for creating extremely custom or intricate pieces. Although, as of late we have seen an improvement in design with decks like the Sideshow Freaks, Speakeasy and now Pluma. The deck's design is versatile for all kinds of playing card fans including performing magicians. The collectors will go crazy over the orange Pluma deck as it is not readily available on the web. A rare deck is a wanted deck!

Score: 9/10

We are currently offering Bicycle Pluma Orange on Ebay.

News: Encarded Starts Design On Tendril Ascendant Project

Just when we thought Paul Carpenter of Encarded would take a breather after his massive Bicycle Deco project, Paul has presented to the card community an upcoming project that is in very early stages of design and development.  The news came late this afternoon on Encarded's Twitter account in less than 140 characters....

The design of Deco has been done for a long time & we don't just sit around doing nothing. http://t.co/9ARXlpOywI pic.twitter.com/w7Gw2QG4Ys

— Encarded ♠ ♣ ♦ ♥ (@encarded) September 4, 2013

The project is called Tendril Ascendant and according to Encarded's website, this is not a recolor of the first Tendril release. The website then went on to say....

...we have embarked on a new design that will try to do all these things; Use the shadow borders in new ways, increase the detailed geometric line work, include the face and border patterns of our newer decks, explore radical tuck box designs, be bright and dynamic but also be more sophisticated and elegant.

While the design is still in very early development and there is no release date set on this deck, Encarded shared a glimpse into what we might expect. Here is a larger version:

As Paul from Encarded is known for documenting his releases on his website, click here to read more about the project as it unfolds.

This announcement comes only a few months after Encarded and Jackson Robinson announced a project collaboration for later this year. Given the nature of this release paying so much homage to Encarded's first release, it does not seem as if this is the collaboration that was announced.

News: Bicycle Club's December Deck Release Revealed; Bicycle AmberStag Coming October 1st

Last month, Bicycle announced a contest called "Find Out First" for all Club 808 members in order to reveal December's Club 808 deck release. The contest involved a riddle that if members solved were entered into the drawing for the contest that would grant the winner the first look into December's deck.

The riddle for the contest read:

An ESPN Award
The vowel in “sword”
What the French do In lakes
Together, A new 52 makes

The riddle was solved and today the news came forward that Bicycle Espionage was the name of the deck in question that will hit Club 808 shelves in December.  Club 808 member Andrea Whitlock aka PrincessTrouble on The Discourse at Aethercards.com was picked as the winner and shared the following photo on the forum revealing the upcoming deck:

Before the spies infiltrate and take over in December, Club 808 also revealed their October 1st deck drop called Bicycle Amber Stag, which was named by another Club 808 member in the Name-That-Deck contest in June of this year.  While the release date was announced for October 1st, uncut sheets were made available today in the member's section of Club 808.

News: Bicycle Club 808's Design-A-Deck Winner Finalizes Project for Early October Kickstarter Launch

Last month we released a story about Bicycle Club 808's Design-A-Deck winner going forward on his very own Kickstarter project. At the time, project creator Paul Michael Kane was simply going to call the cards Paul Michael Kane Photography Photo Cards,  which are based off of his love for playing cards and photography. Being bent on perfection and coming up with something that would blow people out of the water, Paul Michael Kane decided a name change was in order. In order to really capture the true essence of the project, Paul has decided to name the project Foto Grafis, which comes from Latin and means Light and Control, two key elements in making a successful image. Having control is also a successful element at the card table or when performing magic tricks.

Along with finalizing a name for the project,  the tuck case has also been finalized. Seen below, the Foto Grafis tuck embodies the spirit of photography as it takes on the look of an actual camera including the faux leather handle used on many of today's cameras.

The project is scheduled to launch in early October and backers are to expect a lot of fun surprises, including a poker chip, a card case and uncut sheets. The court cards will be all new images with models standing in for the courts that are being photographed by Paul. Although there will be new models standing in for the traditional courts, the cards will not break from the tradition of featuring the two One-Eyed Jacks and a Suicide King. In order to keep visual continuity, all of the images in the deck will be black and white.

To help raise hype about the Foto Grafis cards, Paul Michael Kane has created a Facebook page where potential backers can keep track of updates here.

Bicycle: Eco Edition Playing Cards

Being eco-friendly has never looked so good or as guilt-free as this edition of Bicycle. These cards are made from recycled materials: cards are made with vegetable-based inks and starch-based laminating glue. The paper is made from sustainable sources and both cards and box are completely recyclable. 

For starters, the colors on the back and the face of these cards have a nice tint of olive green shade to them, making it nice and warm. For example, the red cards are green instead of usual strong red on a typical deck. This gives the deck a more subdued look - a little too dull for me,

The court cards are pretty standard. Sticking to the theme, they are also green, the black ones are green and black, the red ones are green and yellow. The regular faces of the cards are smaller, and a bit different from regular USPCC faces.

Also, the case of these cards is really nice... interestingly, it is a lot heavier cardboard than other cases.    Finally as for the cards themselves, the feel of them is surprisingly smooth and easy to manipulate due to it's more flexible nature. Suitable for card flourishes.

 I reckon these cards are more for the card collector and cardists. As for magicians, these cards do look unique and look like a trick deck, which may bring unnecessary skepticism and awkwardness from your spectators.

Pros: 
- Unique deck theme
- Eco-friendly
- Strong box
- Surprisingly smooth and easy to manipulate

Cons:
- Color too dull
- Might be mistaken for a trick deck

Overall: 
 - 4/5