Review: Max Playing Cards and Kardify on Crowd-Funding Part II: What Works, What Doesn't and the Future

Kickstarter has been enormously successful helping pioneer the crowd funding of creative projects. The model is to set a fundraising goal. If the project meets its goal, the money is transferred to the creators to fund the development of the project. Kickstarter collects a 5 percent fee, the creator gets funding, and the backers get the satisfaction of sponsoring a new idea.

In the second part of our crowd-funding review, we will look at what works, what doesn't work and the future of crowd-funding. We have invited several project creators who have successfully completed and delivered on their campaign to this dialogue.

Join Lotrek of Half Moon Playing Cards,  Randy Butterfield of Midnight Card Company, Juan Solorzano as well as Max of maxplayingcards and Ivan of Kardify as we chat about this popular crowd-funding platform. Enjoy!

Max: Kickstarter is a fantastic idea to help small creators to become their dreams a reality. Regarding playing cards, and working with big companies such as USPCC, it is almost impossible for a talented (or not so talented) creator to print a deck with a minimum edition of 2,500 units and all the expenditures regarding shipping and publicity. They can promote their work and get funds without big risks because if they don't have funds enough, the investment hasn't to be too big. Kickstarter is also a huge showcase that is promoted almost by itself as it connects people who participate in social networks and forums, as well as bloggers who spread the voice about projects and creators.

GROTESQUE Playing Cards by Lotrek

Lotrek: Agreed, the fact that within Kickstarter a huge audience for playing card projects has been built, is the main advantage. Makes you confident that if you have a powerful work, you won’t get lost. It’s also a great tester regarding how well will your deck do later in the market.

Ivan: I think Kickstarter has change the landscape of the playing card industry. Today, we have so much more choices and the ability to discover new and talented designers and artists. I must say, even with the increased in the number of projects, the quality of the decks that is coming is out is incredible!

Lotrek: As a creator, something else that I really like is the direct contact with your backers/buyers. The feedback you have from hundreds of people during the campaign is very empowering and also helps you to avoid or repeat mistakes. You cannot have this opportunity when you just design a deck, have it printed and then throw it in the market.

Ivan: Having completed your own successful Kickstarter campaign, what do you guys think works?

Randy: I don't think anyone can say in all honesty that they know exactly what works on Kickstarter. Having a project that is well thought out and shows the potential Backers exactly what they're Pledging towards is a great start to a successful campaign.

Juan: I think what works on Kickstarter is knowing what kind of projects will do well, especially if executed correctly. The most important thing about any Kickstarter project is to follow the guidelines provided on the Kickstarter school page. That's exactly what I did, and it was very critical to do so. I have seen many projects that skip important parts such as not having a video, and either do not get funded or barely make it. If they had a video, I am sure that their funded would be much more and they would hit their stretch goals. So, the guidelines of having a successful Kickstarter are there, let's take advantage of them!

Ivan: For creative projects the Kickstarter model works well- collect money first, deliver product later. As long as the creator is genuine, you can expect that they’ll deliver something. However, many projects are left unfulfilled and this presented Kickstarter with a problem. It doesn’t keep track of projects after the funding is delivered.  It doesn’t monitor progress, offer assistance, or enforce refunds. Kickstarter recognized this—and changed its guidelines to make it clear that consumers shouldn’t expect fully finished products. I think that doesn’t work for me in Kickstarter. No accountability on their part. What about you guys think?

Max: Agreed, for me it is the protection against scammers and liars. In my opinion, Kickstarter acts as an accomplice to the "crime" when a creator cannot or just doesn't want to fulfil the promise. Kickstarter takes its percentage and washes its hands when backers don't receive their promised reward. This lack of commitment extends to credit card companies that are shielded from these situations. Furthermore, if the backer is outside the USA, international laws of many countries don't includes laws to regulate such situations, mainly because the pledges are intended as donations. Kickstarter procedures should be reviewed for these cases (that I am sure are the less), but I think this is something that goes against their interests.

Lotrek: I cannot say that there was something that didn’t work. There are always malicious people who will cause problems but the percentage is so small that it is not worth mentioning.

Ivan: How about from a creators perspective?

Randy: No matter how buttoned-up a project is, or how great everything looks, it will be a tough sell if the Kickstarter crowd isn't interested in the subject matter. The Imperial Deck had that problem. I chose the artistic subject matter more for myself, and neglected to take into account the age range of most of the Playing Card community. I will not make that mistake again!

White ORNATES by Randy Butterfield

Lotrek: As for me,  the annoying thing about Kickstarter is the fact that it’s only open to creators from specific countries. I cannot understand it and it causes me many problems as I am a Greece based creator. I hope they’ll change that in the near future.

Ivan: I think this will happen eventually. Kickstarter have expended its platform to Australia and New Zealand late 2013. It will be a matter of time before Kickstarter expand to different regions such as Asia and Europe. This will make it much easier for creators from in that region to launch their projects and we will definitely see more backer funded playing cards. What about you gents, where do you think crowd-funding will go in 2014?

Randy: I think crowd-funding will keep going strong in 2014. I could see one or two upstart companies trying to come in and take some of Kickstarters monopoly, but I wouldn't take the bet on them being successful.

Max: The playing cards projects have raised a lot along last year so I imagine they will be increasing day by day. The quality of the decks is getting better too so there is a natural filter that combines the experience of the backers and the quality of the projects. Otherwise, the increase of the shipping rates and the insane (and unjustified) increase of the prices for decks will make many people to give up pledging too or, at least, be much more selective with he projects they back.

Ivan: Adding to that is the fact that not only does international backers have to pay increased shipping rates but also transaction fee for credit card through Amazon Payments. I really hope Kickstarter introduce other payment option such as Paypal. How about you guys? Where do you think crowd-funding will go this year?

Lotrek: I really cannot predict. There was a plethora of playing card projects that got funded in 2013 although there were many lazy money grabs among them. I tend to think that people will become more selective in the future.

Alice of Wonderland Gold Playing Cards by Juan Solorzano

Juan: I think crowd-funding will keep growing and will become the most popular method to start a business - that is my goal. I want to start my own company, make my own rules and work my own hours. I am willing to do what it takes, and I am also learning by some mistakes that all entrepreneurs face early on. Websites such as Kickstarter will create a lot more new entrepreneurs in 2014, some will achieve great success, and some won't. Crowd-funding is gaining media attention and its going to be the way small businesses get funding without ever going to a bank for loan. I also like the all or nothing structure of Kickstarter to fund projects, and the rewards method of giving back something of value to the many backers.

We want to thank all the awesome creators who joined us for this discussion. As we have seen, Kickstarter offers creators an outlet to project their creativity and showcase their amazing talent. At the same time, this platform connect creators with the community giving them direct access to feedbacks, advice and other resources. Regardless of some drawbacks with this popular platform, crowd-funding will continue it's amazing growth and more unique and beautiful decks will be made available to the community.

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Paul Roman Martinez of the Dawn of Flight Playing Cards

The Dawn of Flight Playing Cards is a fully custom deck inspired by the Golden Age of Aviation in the Art Deco era. Designed by Paul Roman Martinez, the creator of the popular Adventures of the 19XX graphic novel series, these classy decks serve as an homage to aviation from the earliest days to the 1930s—a time defined by travel, art deco style and the spirit of adventure.

Paul was nice enough to have a chat with us about his design background, the inspiration & design evolution of the Dawn of Flight deck and playing card projects on Kickstarter.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
My name is Paul Roman Martinez. I’ve designed bus stop enclosures, ammo crates, edited TV commercials, built websites, and more. But if there’s one thing people should know about me going into this, it’s that I’m the writer and artist of the graphic novel series, The Adventures of the 19XX.  

This is your first playing card project on Kickstarter. Why playing cards?
There is something so pure and simple about the design of a playing card. It’s small, it fits in your pocket, and it has a purpose. It’s graphic design refined down to the simplest form. It’s like an old jazz standard or a classic vaudeville joke. Everyone knows how it ends, every deck has the same numbers and court cards, everyone knows how it works, but the true challenge comes from every creator making them their own. If you can take a deck of 52 cards and do something unique that people will remember you for then that’s truly an impressive accomplishment.  

What is your inspiration behind Dawn of Flight Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
I kind of had to do it. I’ve always loved playing cards. When I was a kid I would always steal the Ace of Spades from our Bicycle decks at home and carry them around with me. When I do art prints for my comic series I often find ways to work in playing card motifs in some small way. I just never thought I would have the means to produce my own deck. Aviation is something that makes me happy. I have no idea why, but when see a small airplane touching down on a tiny airport in the evening sun on a cool day I smile.  

How much time did you spend working on the deck and can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
Sure. I couldn’t really say how much time I actually spent on the cards because when I sit down at the computer I work pretty fast. But I will tell you this, I started this deck over a year ago. I did sketches, did some “flavor” pieces to get the look of the logo down and then I walked away. I thought it was going terrible.

With every project I do I can always clearly see the end product. But this time I couldn’t. And I never want to release a weak product, I have too many people counting on me for that. And since I self publish everything I do, every failure sits right on these shoulders.

But the months I spent away served me well. One day I opened the files and started moving things around and all of a sudden I could see the final product again.




What are your thoughts about the exponential increase of playing card projects on kickstarter? 
This is a great subject. I was actually just talking to Jackson Robinson of the Federal 52 deck about this. He and I kind of have a similar art background and I really dig his whole vibe. Right now it’s a golden age for playing card art and card collectors. And kickstarter is the tip of that spear. It’s an art creation machine curated by the collectors and fans. What they want to get made, gets made, if something is weak, then they pass on it.

As more playing card projects go live on the site, backers will be able to see more easily what’s a project worth backing and who might be a fly by night creator. The USPCC says it themselves when you start working on a deck with them, playing cards are a commodity. And as such they have to be labeled a certain way according to the US government. By definition a commodity is an item “without qualitative differentiation across a market”. Well that’s no longer true about playing cards. It’s exciting to watch all the projects go live from creators who have nothing to lose and are trying anything to make their decks unique.

The real winners are the collectors. With every artist trying hard to outdo each other and push the envelope of what you can create between those 52 cards we have really become artisans who have the power to elevate the whole industry. There are these moments in time in every art form where you can feel things shift as the status quo is torn down to build a new model. With Jazz I think of Miles Davis and the birth of the Cool era in the 1950s, with comic books it was the indie boom of the early 90s with the founding of Image Comics, with film it was the advent of digital video and non-linear editing, and now we have card artists foregoing the large manufacturers and taking their decks directly to the people.

You have previously launched 3 successful projects on Kickstarter. Are there any takeaway lessons from your previous projects you would like to share?
I have a few rules when it comes to Kickstarter. One is to under promise and over deliver. That means don’t promise what you can’t deliver and always try to save some surprises that let people know you’re trying to give them more than they expected. And always ship! Even if you end up making zero profit on a project, always deliver. Even if you have to put a couple thousand on credit cards to pay for shipping, always deliver. And never deliver to stores before backers. Backers always come first.  

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks? 
I like a lot of decks, and there are probably a lot I don’t like. But I would have to say my favorite all time series is the Federal 52. In the last few months I also really liked the Seven Seas Decks but I don’t have mine in hand yet so I couldn’t speak for quality. I liked their whole campaign though so I’m sure the cards will be great.

As far as the big companies go I think the Monarchs deck is one of my favorites. It has such a rich feel just holding the pack in your hands. And that’s what a great deck of cards does. Before you even open the pack, if you see it sitting on a table, you should notice the quality and the uniqueness.

Thank you for your time Paul and all the best! 

The Airplane Deck in blue and the Airship Deck in red will be printed by the USPCC. Pledge starts from $12 and there are multiple add-ons available such as dealer coin, t-shirt, screen printed posters, uncut sheets and the unique 2-deck folio flight logbook.

Multiple rewards are also available once the project crosses various milestones, such as embossing, silver foil, and other enhancements. Check out the Dawn of Flight and pledge now!

Infographic: United Cardists Deck of the Year 2013

2013 was a big year for Playing Cards. To recognise the ever-growing playing card industry, the United Cardists forums held their 2nd Annual Best Decks Awards to honour the best designs, innovations and creativity.

Thirty one forum members have voted in 18 different categories:

Best Ace of Spades
Best Back Design
Best Court Cards
Best Pips
Best Jokers
Best Deck Series (at least one release this year)
Best Gaff Card
Best Use of Colors
Best Deck for Flourishing
Best Deck for Fanning
Best Deck for Magic
Best Uncut Sheet
Best Tuck Box
Best Packaging (not tuckbox, ie Brick-boxes, Wooden Cases, etc)
Best Deck Accessory
Best Innovation on a Deck of Playing Cards
Best Kickstarter Campaign
Overall Best Deck

Here are the results and % of votes for each of their respective category:

Deck View: Crown Luxury Deck- Diamond & Handmade Editions

Royal. Elegant. Luxury.

Designed by Randy Butterfield,  the Diamond Edition Luxury Deck is an elegant and premium version of Blue Crown's original Crown deck. The back design is printed in gorgeous white and grey with metallic gold ink. The design is created entirely from Gold and Silver foil and multiple levels of embossing. 

Photo below is a very special Handmade Editions of the Diamond Edition Luxury Deck. This VERY limited edition (only 144) deck features a real metal plaque autographed by Alex Pandrea instead of the gold foil plaque found on the main Diamond deck. The Handmade deck also has a custom sticker seal, and comes inside a beautiful and sturdy custom Pack Jacket, also rendered in brilliant white and gold with an autographed plaque.

This rare Deck View is contributed by @Charlie_L1f3, our regular Deck View guru. Check out his Instagram to see more of his awesome collection.

Available at theBlueCrown

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Randy Butterfield of White ORNATE Playing Cards

The ORNATE series has to be one of the best playing card decks released in 2012. It not only exude elegance and class but these Baroque inspired deck are also meticulously designed-  the attention to detail and the intricate patterns are second to none. These decks are masterfully created by Randy Butterfield of The Midnight Card Company.

Due to the overwhelming response to the original ORNATE series, Randy and the House of Playing Cards (HOPC) has decided to launch the Grand Finale for the ORNATES by releasing all four White Edition Decks simultaneously - Sapphire, Scarlet, Amethyst and Emerald on Kickstarter. These are some of the most unique decks in the world of modern Playing Cards. They are highlighted by beautiful fans, elaborate details throughout and detailed borders on the Back and Front of every Card.

Having successfully completed his project on Kickstarter last year- the stunning Imperial Playing Cards, Randy is no stranger to the world of crowd-funding. We were fortunate enough to have a quick chat with Randy on his design background, the inspiration behind the ORNATE series, the design evolution of the White ORNATES and on the topic of crowd-funding.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
Sure, I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design (Central Michigan University - 1995), and my first job out of college was as a production artist at a prepress company in Toledo, Ohio. That job taught me how to setup clean print files and really multi-task projects efficiently. I moved to the San Francisco bay area in 2000 and found a great job at Motive Marketing. Presently, I'm the Senior Designer for Motive and I work remotely from my home in Indianapolis. During the day I work on designs for the alcohol industry and at night I work on playing card designs. It's a lot of fun!

This is your second playing card project under the HOPC label. Can you tell us a little about HOPC and the future direction of HOPC on Kickstarter?
HOPC was launched in mid-2012. They are a branch of The Blue Crown that emphasizes on Playing Cards designs by independent artists. Playing Card projects on Kickstarter have grown exponentially since that time, I think HOPC has had to evolve and become a sort of production and fulfillment company for independent artists. Creating a Kickstarter design with HOPC is very similar to a straight release. The extra work comes after the deck is finished - creating the Kickstarter project page and promotional graphics. I have to create presentation graphics a lot for my day job, so it's fun working on one where I don't have to worry about clients' crazy deadlines and odd requests!

I'm not privy to the overall plan for HOPC and Kickstarter. I try not to ask much about other projects and overall plans. My gut tells me that they should have a very bright future on Kickstarter!

What is your inspiration behind the original ORNATES? How did you come up with the idea?
Back when I was thinking about designing a deck, I wanted to do something that was very unique - to sort of break into the playing card world. I was watching an episode of The Tudors and kept noticing the elaborate and over-the-top details on every furniture and set decoration piece. That's when I decided to do a Baroque inspired design and just go crazy with the amount of details within, especially with the back design, borders and face card background patterns.

How is the White ORNATES different from the original?
The White ORNATES have had a sort of facelift from the originals. The Tuck Boxes are completely changed to take advantage of printing all four decks at once. The design elements are mostly the same in the cards themselves, besides a few minor enhancements throughout. The big change in the cards is the way color is treated. The red, blue, purple and green colors really pop off the white/light grey background patterns.

How much time did you spend working on the deck? Also, can you briefly go through the design evolution for one of your unique card design?
I don't remember how long the original Ornates took to complete - maybe 6-8 months? I only get a couple hours a night to work on card projects, so it's not a fast process. The Layered Photoshop files for the Ornates are very complex and involved. Even a "color change" like last year's original Amethyst and Emerald Decks took almost a month to complete. It took a little over two months to revise, re-design and create new elements and Renders for the White Ornates Kickstarter project. When I was finished, It was a little sad knowing it would be the last time working with the Ornate files.

Picture 1

The first, and toughest, designs for the originals were definitely the Back Cards. They evolved a lot as I tried to find the right balance in color and figure out the tricks to creating the necessary symmetrical designs. My First Round designs (Picture 1) had a lot of taboo items for Playing Card design that I just didn't know about at first. The worst being (1) Copy on the top and bottom of the Back Card and (2) The Copper Border and Silver Border were meant to be used together in all of the Face Cards. The Spades and Clubs would have a black background with the Copper Border and the Hearts and Diamonds would have a red background with the Silver Border. Luckily I had removed the ORNATE Copy from the Back Cards before showing the design on the Playing Card forums.

Picture 2

Once I did post the images on the forums, they spun me straight, right away, on the non-functionality of having the Face Cards with two different Borders. So, the final result in the Border was a sort of White Gold hybrid of the Copper and Silver Borders (Picture 2). There were a few other versions between the First Round and the final Back Cards that dealt a lot with finding the right balance between color combos and corner design elements.

57% of the top projects in 2012 missed their delivery dates? What are your thoughts?
I think that has a lot to do with deck designers underestimating the amount of work it takes to finish a deck design, see it through production and get the Pledge Rewards mailed out. Even if I had decided to do a Kickstarter solely on my own, I would've used a fulfillment company to handle the shipping responsibilities. I've had some experience putting together a small amount of packages, well under a hundred. Even at that small number I can only imagine how tough it is to package hundreds of orders. Since I only have a limited timespan at night to work on playing card projects, I would much rather spend it working on designs instead. Plus, after seeing so many Kickstarter designers hit a brick wall when the time comes to get the decks packaged up and shipped out - I want no part of that!

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
I'm usually partial to designs that are polished and consistent with their themes in every single card and box. Although, I do enjoy a nicely designed semi-custom deck as well (re-colored standard face cards). They are always great for Poker night! Some of the Decks I prefer in the last couple years are the Seasons, Artisans, Federal 52, JAQK, Curator, Aurum and Americana Decks.

Thank you for your time Randy and all the best! 

The White ORNATES will be available in Emerald, Sapphire Scarlet and Amethyst. Two separate sets available: Limited Bicycle Set (only 1,000 sets) and Unbranded Set. What I love about the limited edition set is the connective design that follows the curve of the Bicycle logo and forms a sine when all four are placed side-by-side... what an awesome display!

Pledge starts from $12 and there are multiple add-ons available such as Coins and Uncut Sheets. There are also multiple rewards that will be unlocked once the project hits its set stretch goals, most notably the Obsidian Deck- a tribute to the Originals. The White ORNATES will be printed on Aristocrat Stock with Magic Finish by the USPCC and due out to backers on July 2014.

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Analytics: Project by Numbers - Requiem Playing Cards

Here is another rare glimpse at the numbers of a recently completed project, Requiem Playing Cards project. Only 4 months ago, creator Lorenzo Gaggiotti was looking for a potential investor/backer to make this deck a reality, Kickstarter wasn't even his first another option. One thing led to another, and Lorenzo decided to launch Requiem on Kickstarter. Previously an unknown in the Playing Card industry, Lorenzo has made a name for himself through this unique deck of cards and his hard work has paid off.

In this Project by Numbers analytic series, we will look at what happens after the project- backer numbers, pledges, add-ons, traffic sources etc... This month, we will look at numbers from a recently funded project - the pledge and backer numbers.

Before we start, we want to thank Lorenzo for sharing the data and giving us an insight of the numbers that behind this fantastic project.

The Project

The Requiem Playing Cards project was launched on 12 January 2014 with a funding goal of $15k. This is one of our most anticipated deck in 2014 and without any doubt, this project was funded within 9 days of the launch!

Here's a quick overview of the project:

The 10 prototype decks might be of interest to some. Of the 10, 2 are for the backers, 1 for Golden Backer, 2 for deck-reviews on youtube, 3 still with Lorenzo in Stockholm, 1 for an expression of interest pre-Kickstarter and 1 for the Requiem Crew- Mike Ratledge (who did an awesome job!)

This how the funding progress look like:

On Jan 24, 30 Gran Riserva decks was released and the Golden Backer found!

Pledges

The amount pledged was $38.4k, 56% of that is United States based (domestic). Note that only 0.4% of pledges did not get banked due non-processed credit card errors. As usual, 5% will go to Kickstarter and 4% to Amazon Payment.

From the total amount, 76% of the backers pledged $24 and above. The most popular pledge seem to be the $16-$25 level, which is the 2 decks/combo reward tier. Histogram as follows:

The average pledged per backer is:

... and the highest single pledge:

Backers

The final number of backers for this project is 769.

The composition of all the backers are as follows:

Lorenzo will have to order 3.5k+ decks for backers (50% Autumn and 50% Winter).  There are +/-5k deck in production  (50% Autumn and 50% Winter). This decision has yet to be officially confirmed.

Next month, we will look at (initially scheduled for this month) where all the playing card projects come from and the month after, we will look at traffic sources (external vs internal) of a number of Kickstarter project- where do they come from and what % do they contribute towards the funding goal.

Balance Tutorial with Jeremy Griffith

Every once in a while we like to feature something special and extraordinary here on Kardify and we think that balancing deck tower is mind boggling! Some of you would have seen this on Twitter or Instagram, if not check on Jeremy Griffith's Instagram account for some really mind-blowing stuff! I am a big fan of Jeremy's work and have featured him on Kardify.

Today we are fortunate enough to have the master, Jeremy Griffith himself guest blogging for us on the basics of deck balancing. Enjoy!

Balance 101

In Physics class, one of the first things you’re taught is called Mechanics. In its simplest form, Mechanics deals with all the basic forces acting upon objects. A beautiful rule is taught to every physics student: every solid object, regardless of its shape, can be treated as a single point of mass known as it’s center of mass (commonly called the center of gravity). Once you progress past this however, there is a subject that doesn’t usually come easily at first. It’s the concept of Equilibrium. Equilibrium can be achieved by one single set of circumstances; that all forces acting on an object or collection of objects effectively cancel each other out. It goes by another name, Balance.

I’ve spent several years developing a skill called composite balancing; when you can integrate several objects into a configuration that achieves static equilibrium, perfect balance. This will be a basic tutorial to help you start where I started. Know that this is not a skill that’s acquired quickly, and impatience will only make things slower. But if you can deal with your structure falling and still pick up all the pieces and start again, eventually it becomes almost meditative. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the process though. I hope you find the same enjoyment as I have, achieving “Static Grace”.

Lets begin with some basic materials:

We’re going to use 3 unopened decks of cards and a Fine-point Sharpie pen (note that any pen that is flat on both sides will do). You’ll need a flat surface to work on.

Balancing the pen will be very important because it will be the base for the remainder of this exercise.

Usually its easiest to hold the pen at its base against the table and using your index finger of the opposite hand to adjust the top of the pen until you feel it balance.

The first balance taken care of, we now move to the first premise for a Composite Balance.

Place one of the decks of cards on top of the balanced pen, face-up. You may also want to try to balance the deck on top of the pen, and then balance both simultaneously on the table or surface.

Once this is achieved, now we try to up the difficulty by decreasing the available space for contact between the objects while also increasing the height.

Again, this will take a little time to be able to do quickly and consistently, but before too long, this will become as easy as balancing the pen alone.

Lets remove the pen for a bit and build on the concept we’ll use for the decks.

The simplest form is getting one deck to stand on its’ side on top of the face of another. This configuration is limited, however. The deck on top cannot be pushed beyond the edge of the lower deck more than half its height.

If we put the top deck past the edge of the face of the bottom deck, it will fall.

This may seem obvious, but it brings up an important point: If the “center of mass” of an object moves beyond its supporting base, it will fall. This is also true of composite configurations. If the collective center of gravity of multiple objects at rest ever moves beyond its support base, the whole thing falls.

In order to push the second deck beyond its center of gravity, we must compensate for that somehow.

Now by adding the third deck on top of the very bottom edge of the second, we can push it beyond the half-way point. And the best part is that if you have a steady hand, you can pick up the entire configuration by the bottom deck and everything will stay balanced. Give this a try. If you can do this, you’ll be ready for the final step. Lets bring back the pen.

You’ll notice now that even though we have three separate objects in the configuration, the whole of it only has a single center of mass. And if we can balance that center of mass on top of the pen, we get the following:

Once you develop this structure, you’ll have a basic knowledge of how to go even higher, making the challenge to find that “Static Grace” even harder, and much more rewarding when you do. And you can do much more difficult configurations:

I hope you enjoy this. Good luck and have fun.


Experiment and practice! There may be a contest coming up here on Kardify to see how creative you are. An awesome deck (or two) will be up for grabs! Stay tuned.

If you want to see more of Jeremy's work, check out his Twitter and Instagram account. 

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Scott Carey of Bicycle Monster Montage Playing Cards

Inspired by the unforgettable classic monster and horror films from the first half of the 20th century, the Bicycle Monster Montage is created by my blogging peer, Scott Carey of Tuckcase.com. The deck merges the famous Bicycle brand of playing cards and vintage monsters. But instead of focusing on specific vintage monsters from specific films, Carlos Bercini completely re-interpreted and re-imagined each monster and horror figure - from Frankenstein to Dracula to the unforgettable scream queen. Bicycle Monster Montage has a little bit of everything from a genre that has its roots deep in film history.

I had a chat with Scott to talk about the Bicycle Monster Montage. In this interview, he shares with us the idea behind his new company Uncrowned Playing Card, the bold move from blogging to launching his very own Kickstarter project, the inspiration behind Monster Montage and his thoughts on Kickstarter growth.

Can you tell us about Uncrowned Playing Card Company and what is Carlos Bercini’s design background?
The idea for Uncrowned came from one of it's meanings - "having the power of royalty without the title." I'm not really about the spotlight but I want to make great things. I want people to just know that when they see Uncrowned on a deck or another product that it came from a good place. The boring answer though - Uncrowned Playing Cards is simply my brand that I plan to release playing cards under. Whether I am putting out custom releases like Monster Montage or if I am reselling another company's decks, Uncrowned Playing Cards is what I plan to funnel it all through. That said, I really want to get one deck release under my belt before I start to push Uncrowned as this real thing.

Carlos Bercini studied design and illustration in school and now resides in Austria doing freelance work as a graphic designer/Illustrator. He is the only one that does design work for me. He is heavily influenced by comic books, movies, music and 80's culture. Its great working with him on the monster deck because he loves that stuff.

From running tuckcase.com to creating a Kickstarter project. What motivated you to launch your own playing card project? 
I started Tuckcase because I have this entrepreneurial itch. I can't just have a hobby. I have to be creating. I thought Max was doing a great thing with MaxPlayingCards. I read it a lot and found myself wanting to interview designers and deck creators and cover new releases - from Kickstarter and the other companies. I suppose I should have messaged Max to see if I could have contributed to his site but I wanted to have something to show for on my own if anyone was going to take me serious. So I started small on my own wordpress account last year. I eventually interviewed Jackson Robinson and Lee McKenzie. That kind of kick started Tuckcase and really brought me traffic.

After doing Tuckcase for awhile, I saw Kickstarter really grow and people have a lot of success with it. Over time I also had a lot of ideas of my own for different decks. I would search Behance for card designs and designers in my free time. One night after I had a rough few weeks on the site with low traffic and people turning me down for interviews or something else I wanted to do, I just decided I would start working on my own deck. I spent so much time pushing other projects, it was time I started to work on me. I found Carlos and loved his work so I reached out to him. He has been on board ever since.

What is your inspiration behind Monster Montage? How did you come up with the idea?
From before I can remember I always thought that Cyclops would make a perfect One-Eyed Jack. That was my starting point. That being said, I think monsters are visually exciting. I started to think of other card ideas. Frankenstein on the King of Spades made sense to me. Classic monsters just appealed to me on a card deck. I liked the possibilities and when I put it together in my mind, the deck that tied in classic monsters and the cinema hadn't been done before. Since all the monsters would be redesigned so we didn't infringe on any trademarks, I knew it would be something unique. 

Of course, they tend to get lumped into the overdone "zombie and Cthulhu" category. It baffles me. There isn't a single zombie or Cthulhu in my deck. Looking back I can think of one or two decks that really focused on classic monsters. To me that isn't overdone as much as a deck with abstract swirls, floral patterns or recolored court cards. But those decks don't get as much slack. I knew at the end of the day I woudn't be happy creating a deck for someone else. I had to do something that would keep me passionate. I just couldn't get away from that Cyclops as the One-Eyed Jack idea.

How much time did you spend working on the deck? 
I think we started conceptualizing and talking about the deck in September 2013. Carlos sketched things up and we solidified the designs in October through December 2013. We finished up the box and back design early this year. It was a good 4 or 5 months of work.

Can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
So we did a lot of talking about what I wanted. Carlos had a good ideas about the cards before sketching. He would then do one or two sketches of the card. I would give him some of my thoughts and then he would finalize the design. Here are the sketch and then the final design.

What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects on Kickstarter?
I think its great. I mean for someone who doesn't have the funds to print a deck it can be quite helpful. Some deck projects that make over $60K in one month is incredible. I will say that it is becoming harder for every project to get funded. Even good designs sometimes don't get funded. Deck creators just need to get smarter about how they launch. Myself included.

Since launching I will say I had a few backers cancel their pledges and then immediately go back another project. Its a struggle when they leave your project for another but people do not have an endless pit of funds. I get that.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks? 
I would have to say Bicycle Venexiana, Bicycle Z-Ray and Pressers by Ellusionist. My favorite decks have a rad design but they are also playable. There are a lot of fancy decks with incredible design but they are too expensive or the seal is too pretty to break. No one even knows I have those decks because I just have them on my shelf but when I pull out a Z-Ray deck it is a lot of fun. I am starting to only buy the fun decks.

Thank you for your time Scott and taking the next step. You are an inspiration to all your blogging peers! If you like what you’ve read here and want to support the Bicycle Monster Montage Playing Cards, you can find it on Kickstarter here.

This deck will be Bicycle branded and printed by the USPCC with air-cushion finish. Pledge starts from $11 and there are multiple add-ons available such as movie-style poster, t-shirts and uncut sheet.

Deck View: Signed MADISON ROUNDERS Scarlet Red Playing Cards

Elegant. Understated. Rare.

An overview of @DANIELmadison's rare Madison Rounders Scarlet Playing cards. DM wanted to create a deck of cards that somehow reflected his style and ideals through simplicity.

This rare Deck View is contributed by our new regular Deck View guru @Charlie_L1f3. Check out his Instagram to see more of his awesome collection.

Available at Ellusionist.

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Lotrek of GROTESQUE Playing Cards

"Grotesque" playing cards is a fully custom deck designed by Lotrek of Half Moon Playing Cards, the creator behind the beautifully crafted Venexiana playing cards. This will be second deck under the Half Moon Playing Card label and was designed to be the first annual deck for UnitedCardists, a popular forum for card enthusiasts, collectors and cardists.

Between his busy schedule, we were able to catch-up with Lotrek for a quick Q&A on his design background, the inspiration & the design evolution of "Grotesque" and lessons from his first Kickstarter project.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
This always the most uncomfortable part. I don't know what is interesting for people and what is not! I'm a Greek illustrator and designer, I have studied painting and I love cooking!

What is your inspiration behind "Grotesque"? How did you come up with the idea?
It's a bit strange how ideas come. Or, to be precise how they are taking shape. I'm saying that because "Grotesque" has gone through many transformations before it got its final shape. Yesterday, as I was looking at my notebooks I saw the first sketches for Grotesque and I was a bit shocked! I didn't remember how different it was at the beginning! A completely different deck! First I had the idea to make a deck with this name. I just liked it. But the first sketches didn't please me at all so I put it aside but kept thinking about it.

Grotesque playing cards is also known as the United Cardists 2014 Annual Deck. Can you elaborate further on the Annual deck concept and how you got involved?
I got involved a bit accidentally! UnitedCardists (UC) has recently changed ownership and also direction. Someone posted a comment in a thread saying that it would be great if the site released an annual deck. Randy Butterfield had already designed a UC deck but this wasn't intended to be annual. I was the first to comment that this was a very interesting idea and that was it! Everyone agreed I should do the deck for 2014. Mike Ratledge, the new owner gave me complete freedom regarding the theme and I decided to use "Grotesque".

How much time did you spend working on the deck?
I'm still working on it. Generally I draw fast but I spend much time on the elements of the concept. I can't really tell. The first idea came about a year ago, and this is the starting point for me. Since I never stopped thinking about it, I guess you can say I've been working on "Grotesque" for almost a year.

Can you briefly go through the evolution for one of your unique card design? 
At some point, as I was searching for some reference images in the internet, I came across a picture that I liked it a lot (Picture 1).

I realized that I could do something with it. One day I made a sketch having that picture in mind (Picture 2) And this was the basis for the current ace of Spades (Picture 3).

Having successfully completed your first project, Venexiana playing cards last year, are there any takeaway lessons you would like to share?
Yes, basically three lessons: Think a lot, plan a lot and be honest. People will appreciate it and will help. Backers are not ATMs, they're people with feelings and expectations who at this point act like friends. Treat them as friends.

Wise words! Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
My future decks! Haha! But seriously, I think Theory11's Black Artisans is definitely a favorite. I only wish it had a bit more customized courts. Needless to say that Federal 52 is one of the finest as well.

Thank you for spending some time with us Lotrek and all the best!

"Grotesque" will be printed with two different tuck cases: the Original edition and the Limited edition by the USPCC. Pledge starts from $13 and there will be add-ons available and announced during the campaign.