5 Things You Should Know About Tangram Playing Cards

Designed by Kiran Kuruvithadam and produced by Murphy’s Magic, the Tangram Playing Cards deck is a tribute to one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world. What makes this deck truly unique is that every artwork has been designed using Tangram shapes. 

From the card back featuring 2 koi fish swimming in an aqua blue-green pool to the pips, courts, and Ace of Spades- all creatively created utilizing the 7 Tangram shapes. Due to the subdued color palette used, the deck is unassuming at a first glance but when you take a closer look at the artwork design, it is brilliant! Here are 5 things you didn’t know about the Tangram Playing Cards.

1. The design was inspired by Knights Playing Cards. 
Kiran was inspired by Daniel Madison and Chris Ramsay's Knights and by the principle of creating a tabletop game themed deck of cards. Kiran explained. "I wanted to create another 'puzzle/game' themed deck, but no game came into my mind that could be useful for designing a deck of cards until I found my old elementary “arts-project”: a Tangram set that I made out of wood."

2. This is the first deck of cards, where everything has been designed using the Tangram Puzzle.
The ancient game originated in China. The seven tiles are called trans, and according to the game's rules they all have to be used and they have to be positioned without overlapping.

3. Kiran originally thought to contact ArtofPlay 
"Given Dan and Dave’s passion for puzzles as Tangram can be seen on their shelves at the ArtOfPlay headquarters, but I put the project on hold until I was approached by Murphy’s magic for my previous Kickstarter project Papilio playing cards. I took the opportunity and pitched the idea of the Tangram playing cards."

4. The deck includes extra cards for people to solve the Tangram Puzzle.
One card includes instructions and can be cut along the guidelines. Another card contains tangram-silhouettes of creatures from the Chinese calendar and sea related figures that have to be solved.

5. This water-themed deck of cards could have a follow-up edition.
"Probably air or fire themed…. but no spoilers…!"


Available right now from your favorite Murphy’s Magic retailer!

Top12: Playing Card Decks for Halloween 2017

It's that time of the year! Once again, we have painstakingly compiled the best playing cards for All Hallows' Eve just for you. Behold! The Kardify Top 12: Halloween 2017 Edition! This year with enough clowns, ghosts, skulls, quirky characters, and dragon to keep your spine tingling through the night. If you have one that we haven't discovered. Do feel free to share.

Note that the selection expressed in this top 12 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.

Dead Soul

Brought to you by TCC Playing Card Co., Dead Soul Playing Card is a dark macabre deck featuring 52 uniquely designed cards. Beautiful back design and custom courts! Fantastic detail, intricate design, and style to bring out your dark side.

Memento Mori Blue Edition

Inspired by Memento Mori, where imagery of a skull represents the short-lived nature of all things material and a reminder of our mortality. As such, the Memento Mori deck features a unique low-poly design skull on the tuck and the card backs. The blue color variation gives the deck a darker tone compared to the original Memento Mori by Chris Ramsay. The deck is fully custom and prominently features a unique low-poly design skull on the tuck and the card backs. The Aces, Joker and courts are very stylized and modern-looking, consistent with the low-poly theme of the deck.

Bicycle Bone Riders

A collaboration between Art of Play and Bicycle, these fun new limited edition Halloween-themed playing cards are inspired by Bicycle's classic Rider Back design, the Bone Riders feature fun illustrations of bike-riding skeletons, fanciful jack o'lantern's, flying bats, and ornate pumpkin vines entangling it all together. Each deck includes two specialty Jokers, a unique Ace of Spades and one blank-face and one double-back card. Packaged inside a festive tuck box featuring premium matte card stock with embossed typography.

Halloween

Penguin Magic has teamed up with Natalia Silva to bring you this cute deck. Natalia has put her creative spin on the holiday by creating the ENTIRE deck from the ground up. Each card face has a unique piece of Halloween-themed art ranging from bats to skeletons to candy corn. The diptych Jokers combine together to form one beautiful piece of art, while the back design perfectly captures the mood of the season.

RAVN Purple Haze

A collaboration between Caroline Ravn and Stockholm17, The Ravn Purple Haze is beautiful, elegant and at the same time attractive. The deck was designed to keep the classic look. The faces are quite standard, with improvised hands and the faces of the Jacks, Queens and Kings. The jokers are intriguing and Ace of Spades is very attractive.

Grotesk Macabre

From the mind of Lotrek, Grotesk Macabre is a unique deck of playing cards featuring death and darkness combined with the elegance of the Baroque and Gothic style art. This deck is much darker and edgier than his previous releases. This deck combines the death theme with the heavy elegance of baroque and the pointy, flamboyant Gothic art. Lotrek wanted to create an unsettling feeling without being vulgar or gross.

Draconian Brimstone

Meticulously designed by Randy Butterfield, Draconian Brimstone is inspired by a time of legendary dragons and features beautiful dragon scales, hypnotic borderless back design, and eye-catching tuck. The tuck feature a Reddish-Orange Foil, and a Grey Pantone Ink with UV Spot Ink overlay.

Anubis and Osiris

Anubis and Osiris is a stunning set of playing cards designed by Steve Minty featuring iconic elements of Egyptian culture. The decks include intricate back designs, a beautiful set of custom court cards as well as custom spot cards, Ace of Spades and Jokers. The details across both decks are stunning and the color palettes are perfectly used on this theme. Printed on a heavy tuck stock, both decks have eye-popping gold foil accents and a subtle embossing that makes them feel as luxurious as they look.

Dystopia

Dystopia Playing Cards by Joker and the Thief is a disturbed tribute to cult movie Mad Max, Muscle Car Culture, the Australian Film Industry and Outback. This blood and fuel injected deck features 100% custom illustrations - a symbolic back design, a striking ace of spades, tyrannical court cards, insane jokers, and a stunning tuck box from professional letterpress studio Clove St. Press, capped with a custom shaped seal.

Bicycle Killer Clowns

Another bone-chilling custom deck of cards from Collectable Playing Cards. Killer Clowns will be one of the freakiest deck that you will ever own. Each card is bursting with color and detail featuring 12 custom court cards of the most dysfunctional clowns ever seen before dark. Oh... be sure not to stare too long or you may see them move.

Hellions

This highly-anticipated deck from Ellusionist features a beautifully embossed tuck case in a deep red colorway, intricate card backs, fully custom courts and an eye-catching Ace of Diamonds, stealing the show from the customary Ace of Spades.

Odd Bods

The Odd Bods Playing Cards is a brilliant deck illustrated by Jonathan Burton. Produced by Art of Play, the Odd Bods Playing Cards feature amusing characters, quirky illustrations, and playful imagery. The deck has been hand illustrated in a beautifully nostalgic style and designed to have the look of ‘aged’ Victorian lithographs. Every image proves its own quirk and oddity, but is never ostentatious-- Odd Bods are the epitome of refined indulgence. Packaged in a gorgeous gold-foil embossed tuck box.

The selection expressed in this top12 are solely those of the author. 

Deck View: LUXX (Redux Red Edition) Playing Cards

Stunning. Improved. Reconizable.

JP GAMES' LUXX Redux Red Edition is based on the original LUXX playing cards designed by Randy Butterfield. The Redux Red is a rework of the original and features a stunning tuck, all new design, and an improved back design. 

For the tuck, JP GAMES kept the thick black matte stock, gorgeous foiling and refreshed the wrap around design to suit the updated tuck. The back design has been subtly tweaked and improved to show off the now instantly recognizable artwork. Printed by the Legends Playing Card Co. and available now from JP Games.

Cardistry: First Look at the Art of Cardistry Deck by Bocopo Playing Cards Co and Kevin Yu

[Update] The Art of Cardistry deck is now LIVE on Kickstarter!  

Launching November 1st on Kickstarter, the Art of Cardistry deck is a collaboration between Bocopo Playing Cards Co and Kevin Yu created specifically for the mesmerizing art of card flourishing.

The deck features a contemporary design inspired by the polygon theme and is a tribute to that art, the skill and to everyone that is interested in cardistry.

On the design, Kevin told Kardify,

Every card is completely customized and redesigned after over 50 color options to find the combination that is most suitable for cardistry. We wanted to find the perfect balance between flashiness and attention, and after our own tests this is it.

Two edition will be made available, the Blue edition deck and the limited Red edition. What stands out about this Kickstarter project is its affordable price. The pledge for the Blue edition will be as low as $5.

 Kevin explained,

We know the price of playing cards has increased a lot during the past few years and we hate it too. We care deeply about the cardistry and magic community and our goal for this deck is to provide the community with a premium yet affordable option. We hope this deck will encourage and enable those who are interested in cardistry to join the community and start practicing.

[Update] The Art of Cardistry deck is now LIVE on Kickstarter!  

Both decks will be printed by the United States Playing Card Co. with Air Cushion Finish. The Art of Cardistry deck will be launching on November 1st on Kickstarter.

Card Radar: The 52 Plus Joker Club Deck 2017 by Alex Chin

The stunning 52 Plus Joker Club Deck was unveiled by Alex Chin at this year's 52 Plus Joker annual convention in Enlarger, Kentucky. Meticulously crafted, this club deck is the fourth in the annual deck series.

This limited edition deck has been designed with the concept of pulpwood in mind. The idea of paper creation as a starting point to create playing cards has always intrigued Alex and this deck tells the story about it.

The luxurious box design features a Mulberry bark tree covering through 3 of the four sides. The unassuming design references the need to peel bark to create paper. The fourth side that faces out reveals a beautiful gold foiled latticework and a representation of the designs inside.

The face cards are fully custom. with the Ace of Spades featuring the Mulberry leaf and the Joker, a wood block stamp. The court cards feature the classic Seasons court cards in a green color that matches the color palette and the theme of the deck.

The back design features Expert Playing Card Co's Perfecta Foil which allows for a two-color foil which turned out spectacular! The 2017 Club Deck is only available to members of the club. Previous club decks are almost impossible to find in the aftermarket and go for a substantial premium if available.

The 52 Plus Joker playing card collector's club has been around for over 30 years and the members hold some of the finest and complete collections of playing cards from every period of history. For more information about joining the 52 Plus Joker, click here!

Kickstarter: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Ragnarok Playing Cards by Design Imperator

Danish team Design Imperator launched Ragnarok Playing Cards on Kickstarter a few days ago and has already hit its funding goal within 6 hours of the campaign. Ragnorak is a fully custom Norse-themed deck and is a sequel to Design Imperator's previous release, Midgard Playing Cards. With the next Thor movie by Marvel releasing just around the corner, I'm pretty excited about these. Here are 5 things you didn't know about Ragnorak playing cards:

1. Courts in motion.
Unlike the illustrations of most playing cards on the market, the courts of Ragnarok Playing Cards are all illustrated in motion to highlight drama, intensity and a great battle. They are all in non-static pose and design with weapons raised for combat or magic.

2. Borderless backs. 
While the design of the project involved extensive research into mythology and Norse literature, the biggest challenge of the designers turned out to be whether or not to add white borders to the card backs. Collectors and followers of lead artist Nicolai Aarøe helped to make a decision on the matter, with an overwhelming preference for borderless designs. With the first stretch goal, both designs are now printed with metallic silver and copper inks.



3. Runes are real.
The runic inscriptions utilized for the tucks, cards and coins of Ragnarok Playing Cards are actual runes, originating from the Futhark alphabet of Norse culture. Backers will be able to translate the texts directly with an alphabet at their disposal.

4. Biggest stretch goal ever?
While Ragnarok Playing Cards is the biggest standalone project by Design Imperator to date, the whole project was actually constituted as the last stretch goal by popular demand of the backers of its predecessor, Midgard Playing Cards. The artwork of Ragnarok is heavily inspired by backer influence suggestions and ideas.



5. Mother of monsters
Many people know that the Midgard Serpent and the mighty Fenris are two of the most prominent and destructive monster of Ragnarok cosmology. But few people know these beasts actually share the same mother, the powerful giant queen Angerboda. The illustrators involved in the project aimed to portray the most feminine and fertile, yet monstrous and terrifying mother ever to have taken place as a queen in playing cards.

There are two decks on offer in the campaign: the Jormungand (Dark Blue) and the Fenris (Dark Brown) Editions. Both decks include custom pips, indices, courts, and aces. The card backs feature Norse artwork inspired from original knotwork and wood carving designs, both set in a mirrored composition. The Jormungand backs feature a blue/grey colorway while Fenris in a velvet/golden colorway. Printed by NPCC with premium linen finish and pledge starts from DKK$89 (~USD$14) on Kickstarter.

News: Cool Decks Announced by Expert Playing Card Co at the 52 Plus Joker Convention

At the 52 Plus Joker convention in Erlanger, Kentucky last weekend, Bill Kalush, founder of Expert Playing Card Company announced a slew of new decks: CHOSEN, Exquisite Bolder, and Skull & Bones Playing Cards. Image above by @benkolozsi.

CHOSEN Playing Cards is designed by Nick Vlow and features a colorful geometric design card back and standard card faces. Designed with the cardists in mind, the deck will be printed in China on EPCC's new Stud finish, which is flexible, softer and feels broken-in right off the box.

A post shared by Daniel Cabrera (@ume.playingcards.company) on Oct 13, 2017 at 10:44pm PDT

Three years in the making, Exquisite Bolder Playing Cards is eye-catching deck using Expert's brand new Perfecta Foil on the card backs and the tuck and 3d embossing on the side-way tuck. This amazing process creates foil with the illusion of depth built in. Also, the deck features standard courts, face cards, and incredibly thin (1mm) borders on the card back!

A post shared by Expert Playing Card Company (@expertpcc) on Oct 14, 2017 at 11:37am PDT

The Skull & Bones Playing Cards is a collaboration between EPCC and Jackson Robinson of Kings Wild Project. Beautiful presentation with 2 piece shell case with impressive spot UV, holographic foil, and magnet to keep your deck secure. The holographic foil on the card back is truly mesmerizing. Artwork of the Ace of Spades and Jokers by Jackson.

Pretty crazy

A post shared by Ben Kolozsi (@benkolozsi) on Oct 14, 2017 at 4:42pm PDT

Deck View: RAVN (Purple Haze Edition) Playing Cards

Elegant. Beautiful. Magic.

A collaboration between Swedish magician, Caroline Ravn and Stockholm17, RAVN Playing Cards is a semi-custom designed deck of poker size playing cards. The elegant RAVN Purple Haze edition features intriguing jokers, an attractive Ace of Spades, a classic looking back design and improved courts and standard faces. This deck is beautiful in its simplicity, perfect for the performing magicians, cardists, or weekend poker nights.

The deck was printed by Cartamundi on a special paper stock, 310gr Black Core paper with 9C² varnish designed for better handling and durability.  Find out more about stockholm17 here!

Available now from JP Playing Cards.

News: 52 Plus Joker Convention Part II- Second Day and Thoughts

This is the second part in a two-part series. Our friend @56Sealed attended the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Enlarger, Kentucky last weekend (13th-14th October) and kept a summary of what he did during the event. We are honored to have @56Sealed guest post and share with us what happened on the final day of the convention:

Day 2
Saturday started off with an auction of about 70 lots from extremely rare to highly collectible. Jackson Robison then gave a presentation about the process of creating the Intaglio deck, which started off as 54 hand-engraved brass printing plates.

In between all the event, members continued to buy and trade items for really fair prices. Decks from early 1800’s to recently released were for sale or trade.

Saturday's formal dinner was punctuated with the Diamond Awards ceremony being held for the first time in which Gene Hochman received the Dawson Lifetime Achievement award for his work on the Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards. Lotrek received Deck of the Year for Golden Oath.

Uusi duo, Linnea Gits and Peter Dunham won Designer of the Year for Blue Pagan and Hyde Park Mouldings. Judith Dawson was honored as one of the founding members and driving force in the clubs continued success.

A silent auction, a magic performance by Daniel Nicholas, and a promise to make next year even better finished the convention.

Thoughts
I can tell you the events speak for themselves in both uniqueness and entertainment value but what’s not easy to convey is the sense of friendship and passion for playing cards everyone shared. People of all ages and collecting backgrounds mixed and mingled learning and sharing with each other. Lifelong friendship and business connections were stamped out in between events and well into each night.

A post shared by 56sealed (@56sealed) on Oct 11, 2017 at 11:45pm PDT

Next year the convention will be held in Cleveland. However, it is only open to 52 Plus Joker members, but membership fees are extremely low for what you get. The annual membership costs of $27 include a monthly digital publication, quarterly printed magazine, access to a forum, expert appraisals, and parts of conjuring arts digital database. Everyone who has interest in playing cards is welcome to join. See you next year!

This exclusive guest post is written by @56sealed for Kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can follow @56sealed on Instagram.

News: 52 Plus Joker Convention Part I- USPCC Tour and First Day

Our friend @56Sealed attended the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Enlarger, Kentucky last weekend (13th-14th October) and kept a summary of what he did during the event. We are honored to have @56sealed guest post and share with us what happened during the convention:

Day 0
The 52+Joker convention is sure to be long talked about and remembered by anyone would attended this year in Erlanger Kentucky. The event was staged around a tour of the United States Playing Card factory.

A post shared by Murphy's Magic (@murphysmagic) on Oct 13, 2017 at 8:37am PDT

Groups of 15-20 went on hour-long tours of the factory that started with an NDA and ended with a very insightful Q&A and a small peek into USPCC's rarely seen collection. That’s all I can say about the tour but that’s just where the fun began.

Day 1
Friday kicked off at 8:00 am with first access to the trading room where each club member filled their tables with displayed and for sale items.

In the afternoon, Kevin Roche gave a very informative presentation about Coca-Cola’s long history of using playing cards for advertising. Paul Bostock also entertained the members with a history of how playing got the standard look we are all used to today.

Bill Kalush of Expert Playing Cards hosted the annual deck release announcements. Bill spoke of the new Exquisite Bolder deck and it’s never before used combination of features. Jackson Robinson presented the new Skull and Bones deck with ink printing on a holographic Perfecta foil card back.

A post shared by Paul Carpenter (@encarded) on Oct 13, 2017 at 4:38pm PDT

Paul Carpenter revealed the previously only teased Radia, also utilizing the new ink on foil card back and beautiful watermark effect on the faces.

Alex Chin designed the Club Deck and discussed the process from concept to reality. He also spoke about the second annual National Playing Card Collection Day deck in its many varieties. The designers really pulled out all the stops this year.

A post shared by Alexander Chin (@seasonsplayingcards) on Oct 19, 2017 at 3:39pm PDT

The nights planned events ended with a poker and games night but spilled over to lobby were members gathered to share stories, magic, cardistry and all things cards.

A post shared by Jackson Robinson•Luxury Artist (@kingswildproject) on Oct 13, 2017 at 8:09pm PDT

Stay tuned tomorrow for day 2 of the convention where the inaugural Diamond Awards took place and @56sealed's thoughts about the convention. This exclusive guest post is written by @56sealed for Kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can follow @56sealed on Instagram.

Dan and Dave Featured on Great Big Story's 'Kings of Cardistry'

Last week, Dan and Dave were featured on Great Big Story (GBS)'s Kings of Cardistry micro-documentary. The story is part of GBS's Human Condition series that connects you to some of the most peculiar, stirring, extraordinary, and distinctive people in the world. Great Big Story (GBS) is an independent LLC fully funded by CNN, and it aims to create video that is appealing to millennials, and shareable on social networks.

Watch the Buck twins tell their story and deal out some of the best moves in the game. Their mesmerizing, seemingly gravity-defying flips and tricks stem from card flourishes originally used by magicians to introduce their tricks. Now, thanks to artists like Dan and Dave, cardistry has spun off as an art form all its own—keeping the magic without the abracadabra.

First Look: Yoga Playing Cards by 9780 Design

[Update] Yoga Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter!

Launching 19th October on Kickstarter, Yoga Playing Cards is a fully custom deck inspired by the age-old practice. Meticulously designed for the card collector in mind by 9780 Design, the deck features 4 custom aces, custom joker card, vibrant color palette and hand-drawn custom court cards in different Yoga poses.

On the design, Manoj Kaushal of 9780 Design explained,

It all started with a simple thought. How would the kings and queens look if they were performing yoga? We explored this thought and what came along was this beautiful illustrations of Kings, Queens and Jacks giving us a never before seen image of court cards.

Every court was hand drawn to make sure the face orientation and hair-beard style were maintained. Manoj continued,

We never wanted to use random characters for our court cards and were very particular about the fine details that made a king a king, a queen a queen and a jack a jack in a deck of cards. Every little feature of the royals were taken care of... right from their face orientation to their hair and facial hair style.

Also, the deck features a full-bleed back with an intricate symmetrical design. The deck is housed in a clean and simple tuck. Manoj explained,

The second point of inspiration was, we wanted to create a deck that felt rejuvenating and peaceful. The simple and clean look paired with vibrant color splash gives it a feel of tranquility.

[Update] Yoga Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter!

Yoga Playing Cards will be printed by Expert Playing Card Co. and is scheduled to launch on 19th October on Kickstarter. Pledge starts from AUD$15 (~USD$12) and there will be early bird rewards available.