Kickstarter: Solidarity Playing Cards- A Tribute to Our Heroes

Only 2 more days remaining on Kickstarter, Solidarity Playing Cards is a deck that pays tribute to the people who have achieved extraordinary things in exceptionally difficult circumstances. And so, Intertype Studio collaborated with Playing card specialist Riffle Shuffle to create this deck. According to the campaign page,

The past year has been a tough one for us, and all our friends and families around the world. This deck aspires to remind us and pay tribute to the everyday heroes who kept fighting to make our world a better place. From diversity, society derives its strengths. Through diversity, society brings out its beauty. In this deck of cards, we celebrate the pillars of society: healthcare workers, frontline workers, soldiers, educators, scientists, social workers, and everyone, including you.

Two decks are on offer during the campaign, the Loving Red Edition, and Navy Blue Edition. The tuck box features delicate details and emphasizes the most important aspects that construct society. 

Below the two crests, we declare “From our diversity comes beauty and strength”, and present the greatest societal virtues: “Love and care”, and “Peace and unity”. The Loving Red Edition comes with Red & Gold premium foils, and Blue & Silver premium foils on the Navy Blue Edition. 

On the back of the cards, at the center are two fists that represent cooperation. There are plenty of little details to discover, from flowers to people exercising their everyday activities. 

The pips have been redesigned with a modern twist. Also, each suit has a special meaning: Integrity in Diamonds, Unity in Spades, strength in Clubs, and goodness in hearts. The fully custom courts feature a few of the universal roles that support communities. From protestors to soldiers, from doctors to firefighters, a range of people are represented here. 

The bold ace of spades showcases an intricate design with messages in the details display the harmony, the little quotations written within the details. The custom jokers include man and woman, together in harmony. As one can see on the border, they hand-in-hand, in unity. 

This very thoughtful and meaningful deck is printed by the United States Playing Card Company with their Premium Bee Stock, Air-Cushion Finish. The recently released Stretch Goal Edition: Solidarity Gold and Silver Medal FOIL Edition are Now Available. These will be printed by TWPCC with their Luxury Finish.

Pledge starts at $8 on Kickstarter.

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Check Out the Vibrant Fireworks Playing Cards

Designed by Tyler Pate and produced by Riffle Shuffle, Fireworks Playing Cards is a vibrant deck with gorgeous artwork and colors. 

The deck features 100% custom artwork, from the eye-catching tuck box, pips to the flat-design card backs, gorgeous courts, and jokers. The fireworks design elements have been littered throughout the deck- sparks, fuse, explosion, and flames. 

The deck will make you reminisce about the times you spend with your loved ones, wandering on the lakeshore, enjoying the view with the warm breeze gently brushing your cheeks, and watching the fireworks show! 

Also, with every six decks purchased, you will receive a Premium Fireworks Half Brick Box! The Fireworks Playing Cards are Limited to 2500 Decks.

Printed by the United States Playing Card Company with Metallic Inks and Bee Crushed Stock. Available now for $7.95 (regular price $10.00) for the next 24 hours on riffleshuffle.com.

Images taken from riffleshuffle.com.

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Deck View: Zodiac 2021 (Year of the OX Edition) Playing Cards

Luxury. Modern. Zodiac.

This year (2021) is the year of the Ox in the Chinese Zodiac, Legends Playing Card Co. has commissioned artist, Alvin Cheung to design this beautiful deck. The custom deck features a clean yet modern Chinese-style back design, with squares being more associated with Chinese patterns and architecture. The circles on the cold foil card backs create an optical illusion where the squares are more subtle in the background. Very subtle but clever and meaningful design.

The face cards are functional, easily recognizable, and come with semi-custom faces. The deck is packaged in uncoated brown tuck paper, light metallic ink patterns, followed by hot foil stamping and intricate laser cutting. A luxurious package with stunning technical feats never seen before in playing card production.

Printed by Legends PCC with Ultra-Rare Japanese origin casino grade paper stock on Kaolin Finish. Limited to 2,000 units. Will never be re-printed. Available now for $16.90 from legendsplayingcards.com.

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Fewer Dreams Fontaines Releases Today

Fontaine Cards teased the fun new Fewer Dreams Fontaine on Instagram (@fontainecards). The teaser includes performances by Jame, Lewis Caldwell, Kyle Tran, Carter Macdiarmid, and Zach Mueller. 

This new release is the follow-up to the popular Fontaine Futures. The decks will be released today (28th August 4-7PM PST) in the Fontaine store at Los Angeles. 

From the retro-styled teasers, looks like Fewer Dreams will feature 6 decks of new Fontaines: The Raver, the Detective, the Fry Cook, the Weekend Warrior, the Hacker and Mocap Man. Each deck will be wrapped in a blind pack and distributed at random. 

Check out the cool packaging below:

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Article originally published on crdstry.com.

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Kings Wild Releases the White Reserve Note Playing Cards

Kings Wild's White Reserve Note playing cards is the fourth deck in the currency-inspired series for 2021. Inspired by the US Reserve Notes of the early 1900s, the new White Reserve Note features the similar artwork to Jackson Robinson's original Bicycle White Reserve Note. The most noticeable differences are the foiling on the front and back of every card and the new, minimalist tuck case with red foil, giving it a touch of elegance.

The deck is printed by the Expert Playing Card Co. and available for $18 on kingswildproject.com.

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Standards Playing Cards Fifth and Sixth Editions Released!

Art of Play released the first three editions of Standards Playing Cards in 2019, the fourth edition in 2020, and yesterday (25 August 2021), the fifth and sixth (final) edition. The latest 2 decks are part of a six-deck collection inspired by nineteenth-century British opulence. The deck is designed by Kevin Cantrell Studio and crafted with meticulous attention to detail. 

The fifth edition features a sapphire blue colorway and the sixth edition in an eye-catching pink! Both fully custom decks feature intricate card back, bold Ace of Spades, elegant court cards, enhanced pips, and ornate jokers. The cards are printed in metallic ink to complement the luxurious tuck box. 

The tuck box showcase the intricate card back design on the front with the word Standards prominent featured and the eye-catching bold Ace of Spades on the back. 

The tuck is embossed and adorned with striking gold foil combined with their respective colorway. 

Standards are printed by The United States Playing Card Co. on Dan and Dave's proprietary crushed-stock preferred by professionals. Available now from artofplay.com for $18.

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Card Radar: DMC Elites V5- Phantom Finish 1st Edition

The fifth generation of Magician Drummond Money-Coutts' (DMC) is the best deck DMC have ever produced and now, they come with a new finish and colorway. The limited Phantom Finish DMC ELITES V5 now sports a Cobalt Blue colorway and a slightly thicker stock. According to the product page,

...this finish is both more robust and long-lasting than many of the slimmer cardistry decks of today, and promises a much firmer handling of the cards.

When combined with Phill Smith's world-famous 'Optical Marking System', which now includes full four-corner markings, Juan Tamariz's genius MNEMONICA numberings, and a unique one-way back design, this is truly the most powerful, comprehensive, and usable deck ever created for magicians! 

 

The system hides the value and suit of the playing card in plain sight, with no decoding necessary, no mental working out to do to process some binary signal – including the new stack markings for mnemonica - the cards are supplied in the stack and come with an instruction card explaining the system and a two-way crib to help you with the stack. 

The deck features standard faces to maintain familiarity for the performer and audience but upgraded to an ultra-high-definition rendition of the standard faces!

Available NOW from store.dmcmagic.com for $20.

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FULTONAL Photographic Playing Cards Now Available!

Produced by Fulton's Playing Cards, FULTONAL Photogprahic is the first photographic exhibition presented in a deck of playing cards. Inside, each face card is completely unique and features the iconic photography by Brad Fulton.

 

This photographic celebration spans two decades of Mr. Fultons illustrious career in the photographic arts. From the beginnings of Cardistry with longtime collaborators Dan & Dave Buck- to countless celebrity portraits created while working in Hollywood. Two editions are available The limited 'Hand Inspected' Edition and the Standard Edition. 

The sold-out 'hand inspected' version deck is limited to 250 units. They are individually signed and numbered by Brad. The tuck is printed in "Fulton Process Black", a unique letter pressing of black ink that subtly mimics the grain-rich texture of all Fulton Photography. 

The standard edition features a "Fultonal Orange" Tuck to beautifully mimic vintage darkroom chemical packaging- the very agents used by Fulton to create the images found within this deck. 750 Units available. 

Both decks are printed by the US Playing Card Company and housed in a letterpressed tuck case by Clove St. Press. Available now from fultonsplayingcards.com for $25 (Standard Edition) and $52 (Hand Inspected).

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Kickstarter: Bicycle Diner Dames Playing Cards By Kelly Gilleran

Produced by The Futurist Co., the Bicycle Diner Dames Playing Cards are now funding on Kickstarter. At the time of writing, the deck is 99% funded with days to go! 

Illustrated by Kelly Gilleran, a Colorado-based illustrator focusing on traditional media illustrations. Her artwork features vintage-inspired food patterns and food pin-ups for surface design applications. 

The fully custom deck showcases Kelly's Foodie Pinups Collection with 14 of her most iconic designs. The Simplistic retro design patterns showcase the masterful illustration. 

The suits portray each very important meal of the day- Breakfast: Clubs, Lunch: Hearts, Dinner: Diamonds, and Dessert: Spades. 

Each court card is painted vintage-inspired food for the corresponding meal, from Donut, Hot Dog, to Hamburger and Chocolate Chip Cookie~! 

Printed by the USPCC and pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

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Deck View: Atlantis (Sink Edition) Playing Cards

Sea. Sophisticated. Majestic.

Atlantis Playing Cards by Riffle Shuffle in collaboration with Pedro Oyarbide is a gorgeous deck inspired by the mysterious and majestic lost city of Atlantis. The Sink Edition shows the Atlantis resting forever in the depths of the sea. The deck sports a cold blue design detailing in blue and silver foil. Behind, the buildings are a complete ruin, eaten by water and fire. 

Insides, the intricate card backs are divided into symmetrical sectors. They are presided over by two big triangles featuring the head of Zeus surrounded by heavenly light shining upon the rest of the scene. The custom court cards offer us a rare look into what the people of Atlantis might have looked like. The royals are dressed in sophisticated, richly decorated clothes in blue and gold. The bold Ace of Spades sports a blue and silver colorway consistent with the color palette of the deck.

Atlantis Playing Cards are printed by the United States Playing Card Company, Air Cushion Finish with the legendary Bee Crushed Stock. Now on vanishingincmagic.com for $15.

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Feel the Universe Has Just Dropped Odyssey Karma

Feel the Universe has just dropped Odyssey Karma playing cards on their online store. Going back to its roots, the new deck is inspired by nebula and designed with cardists in mind. 

The vibrant nebula color palette accentuates card flourishes and displays, fans, spins, and cascades look incredible! 

The Karma edition features custom modern suits, aces, sci-fi courts, and 2 custom Jokers. The vibrant color palette is consistent across the deck and the iconic diagonal white stripe is prominently featured on the card backs. 

 
The deck is packaged in an eye-catching nebula tuck case with a wraparound design and adorned with striking rare pearl foil. The Karma edition definitely maintains the futuristic and sci-fi look and feel from the previous editions. 

 
The Odyssey Karma Edition will be produced by Feel the Universe Card Co. Limited edition of 2000 units, one of the most exclusive and limited Odysseys. Available now on feeltheuniverse.com for €14.95.

This story first appeared on crdstry.com and is republished with permission.

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7 Questions with Stephen O'Neill of Chillies Playing Cards

Now on Kickstarter, Chillies Playing Cards designed by Stephen O'Neill is a deck that celebrates Mexican design and Maya culture. The fully custom deck features a mirrored card backs in a monochromatic repeated chilli pattern and enhanced standard court cards with an added twist of spice. 

The eye-catching Ace of Spades showcases two Chillies shaped into the spade and engulfed in flames and taste testers Jokers of the Maya Chilli harvest until they weren't. The deck is packaged in a classic tuck box with hidden influences from Mexican Design and Maya Culture. 

Late last week, we had a chat with Stephen about his design background, the inspiration, and the design process behind Chillies.

For those of us who don’t know, can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
My name is Stephen O'Neill, I live in the UK with my amazing Wife, 10-month-old Son and my Beagle, Franklin. I graduated with a degree in Digital Design and slowly moved away from digital work to explore other careers and see the world. I eventually found myself designing full time five years ago in the children's fashion industry where I mostly create repeat patterns for footwear and clothing. I joke that I haven't 'worked' in five years, because I'm lucky to do what I love.   

Can you describe the Chillies Playing Cards and why you’re passionate about it?
The Chillies decks are a series of decks that celebrate Mexican design and Maya culture. I love chillies and I often incorporate what I enjoy personally into my work when I can, I find it incredibly motivating. I'm always excited to see where a project can go and the fire for these decks comes from a philosophy of anything is possible. 

Walk us through the process you took to design the deck. How did you come out with the idea?
When I designed the Beyond deck, it was simply an experiment for me to visualise what traditional standard court cards would look like as astronauts, but while designing these I was finding inspiration everywhere. All these ideas were flooding my mind, so I decided to write every idea down, good and bad. I attempt to grow chillies each year and I was in the greenhouse when I thought a chillies themed deck would be a good idea. I'd already started a second deck before my first Kickstarter launched but I couldn't shake the chillies idea so I created a moodboard for them. I always include what colours I want to use and images relating to the message I'm trying to convey, from there I start with sketches and move to digital recreation when I'm happy with my designs. There's a few ups and downs during the design stage and many changes are made before I start sending everything to Cartamundi. 

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
I would say there were at least two Eureka moments that lead to the final designs. First would be the back design, originally I wanted a chilli at each end where the logo is currently, but I wasn't happy with how it looked and went through a number of iterations before scrapping it. I was working on a repeat pattern when I realised I should be working to my strengths and create a patterned back, one where I could incorporate a broken border would be perfect and when I made the first draft I was instantly happy with the direction I'd taken. The second breakthrough was after my tuck file corrupted and I was set back a couple of weeks, I'd already sketched an idea for the Picante Edition so I worked on that instead, but loved it so much that I created the Original Chillies from that design and how they all fit together afterwards just felt right. 

We first noticed the deck on Instagram. What do you think of the community in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting?
Oh, the community is fantastic, I wouldn't be making another deck without my backers and the community that's welcomed me with open arms. The feedback for my first deck has been phenomenal, from people finding hidden features to the feel of the B9 stock, it's overwhelmingly positive. I've found the support for the Chillies Originals has been just as positive and the feedback of what people would like to see from the series has led the process in many ways. So many ideas are shared and I find the community very friendly and helpful, I've never worked in an industry where you can freely share your work and ideas so respectfully. It truly feels like everybody wants everyone to succeed, we're all in it together. 

What’s next? Can we expect more deck designs in the future?
Yes, I'm planning to go back to my partially finished deck at some point, and I've planned for six Chillies Originals, three more chilli varieties to come soon. Hopefully, a couple of Picante Editions too. I'm going through my list of ideas and I'm working towards a couple of collaborations so I'm sticking around for a while. I do have one idea I'm really excited about but I'll share more about that when the time is right. 

Finally, what are your favorite playing cards?
Kings Wild Project decks are a clear winner for me in terms of design, I love the matchbox Tigers and Legal Tender. I'd be picking up the gilded tigers if I'd not spent the budget I had on the Chillies! I also love the illustrations in the Space Tube Vacuum deck, so I can't wait to get my hands on that. I have a couple of sentimental decks that are my favourites to use in games, a few decks I've collected on my travels in meaningful locations. I'm looking for other decks that use the B9 stock to practise cardistry. I really love the softness of it and it's made picking up some techniques much much easier.

 
Thank you for your time, Stephen, and congratulation on smashing the funding goal! At the time of writing, Chillies is already 132% funded with 13 days to go! If you like what you've read here and want to support Stephen, you can find it on Kickstarter Here! 

Pledge starts at $14, there will be four editions available on offer during the campaign- Original Chillies, Jalapeno Original, Habanera Original and Picante. All The decks will be printed by Cartamundi with Premium B9 Finish.

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