I just purchased the last five decks of this in stock over at johnnycupcakes.com.  It was a freakin' nuisance - they discontinued USPS shipping for the holidays and I use a PO Box so I had to ship to a friend's house.  I wasn't even expecting to buy so many decks, but since the shipping was stupidly expensive, I say why not just get a few more, and some pencils while I'm at it...

I should have them by the new year.  I'm going to put up a HUGE sale of stuff, and two or three of these decks will be part of that sale.  Stay tuned...

Just as I thought - this is what I was referring to, CBJ.  So no, it's not REALLY a T11 deck, but it's something T11 worked with USPC on.

Anyone tried the Charity: Water deck yet? I'm liking how they look and their good cause so I just might pick up a few! The steampunks look cool too , but they don't really stand out for me .

Didn't they just come out less than four hours ago?  Not even E ships that fast!

I will add this....The brick box this came in is extremely well made, compared to some of the other custom brick boxes out there.  I have the Fulton's, S&M V6, and a D&D Variety boxes and this beats the others hands down.  At 1st I thought this looked like a shoebox in the pictures but it is very well designed and sturdy.  I give it 2 thumbs up!

They did an awesome job on the two-deck box for the gaff cards they're selling separate from the Variety Box, so I wasn't surprised to hear they did a quality piece of work on these.

That was me, you're welcome
And I might actually use that one, I remember the store having first edition artifice for a reasonable price and a couple more things I might wanna get. And I'll use the T11 one too once I have a bit more money saved up, there's a few flourishing DVDs I wanna get... and maybe a few Aristocrat decks to try them out.

You won't regret getting Aristos, they're great.

I wish I'd spotted the Ekaterina flourishing video before making that purchase.  I'll get it next time, or maybe as a download.  And the hats are nice - they sell for half what Jacks & Jokers charges for them!

even though they are doing something good with this charity deck, I seriously doubt they printed 30,000 of these.  They are probablly sending the procedes of this deck to charity...which means if it costs them $5.00 to produce then they send the extra $5.00 to charity.  Actually they could be sending less but thats a different topic all together.  In short, they are in business to make money. They aren't gonna make a run of these like the Monarchs.

To quote the web page at T11 selling the cards:

"100% of the proceeds from each deck purchased at theory11 will go directly to charity: water. Join us. Support charity: water."

Not 100% of the PROFIT, but 100% of the PROCEEDS.  Meaning they're eating the cost of the deck and giving all the cash they take in for this deck to the charity, period.

Their own staff has no idea about what's happening there. The side of the Steampunk deck on the teaser from a few months ago said Theory11 very blatantly.

@Munro: Lance commissioned his design first, and got some legal hassle from T11 and USPCC. I think that's why he went with the name Actuators over Steampunk, but don't quote me on that.

I thought somewhere in the history pages theory 11 said that the steam punk deck was not theirs even thought there was a pic before this with the words 'theory 11' on the side of the tuck box.

Actually, the page states this:

"A joint creative collaboration between the United States Playing Card Company and theory11. Produced by theory11 and designed by Alex Beltechi in Romania."

Remember months ago, when T11 redesigned bicyclecards.com?  A collaboration was announced with T11 working hand in hand with USPC.  It was at the same time that the Guardians came out with USPC packaging and became part of the USPC's regular line-up and not just a T11 deck anymore.

I think based on that statement that it's the same thing here.  As I see it, the deck's really a USPC deck that T11 worked on with them/for them, and it will also be regular USPC stock, like the Eco Edition, Tragic Royalty, WSOP decks, etc.  And just as T11 is simply selling Aristocrats made by USPC and didn't "make" them, they're selling the Bicycle Steampunk deck as another USPC deck, but one that they helped design.  This would make the statement that it isn't one of their decks true.

Quote from: Good@Sabacc on December 22, 2011, 12:06:30 PM

It's like I verbified tomorrow, if you plant the steering wheel in the pomegranate concrete over rusting linoleum grapes.  Did you grok?

Haha, yes I do grok! Grokem shnitzel form twat mattier. Niw, asi yuk tolsh meh, I amsh tolsh yuk, whuts shis allz meenshest?

Now, as you ask me, I am asking you, what does this all mean?

If you haven't figured it out by now, you never will.  If you want to comment along these lines any further, take it where it belongs - the Lol-A-Query-Um.  You're wasting the other readers' time.

yeah I'm in the united states. I sent them an email...so we shall see.

That's definitely not SOP to send a deck that's got a broken seal.  The cellophane off is normal for a signed deck, but the decks I've ever received from DB, signed or not, always had intact paper deck seals.

Keep us posted on how this shakes out - I'm curious to know.

I'm crossing my fingers that mine are waiting for me at the post office.  They shipped Wednesday and my mailing address is just barely outside city limits so the delivery time should be fast.

No, it's considered income.  You'll get the taxed portion of your Kickstart back if you have a very low yield/profit on it, but you have to fork over the cash to Sammie in the first place.  It's why I suggested Kicking a deck in the final quarter of a given year, so you'll get the cash back quicker when you file your taxes for that year in the first quarter of the next year.

What makes a gaff card trick work is that people don't expect to see a gaff card.  Get skilled at inserting and removing them from your deck or swapping decks and you'll totally fry the spectators when you let them examine the deck.


I like gaffs, but I have to work on the requisite skills - most good gaff tricks really aren't for beginners.

Judging from the photo - they may also offer white Arrcos as well.


Don't you hate fake sell-outs?

As you know Gemaco is part of the Jardan Corp, along with USPCC and Fournier.  Gemaco and Fournier are able to operate (mostly) independantly from the USPCC.  Gemaco has it's newer "Super-Flex" casino grade that has made many heads turn.  Cartamundi's presses in Texas have also turned out newer impressive stocks and finishes.  Fournier has produced excellent quality and stock/finish combinations for many years that match the "Magic Finish". 
Mostly all card presses turn out varying grades of stock/finish combinations.  Just because you have looked at their "consumer" level of decks, don't relegate them all to only making lower-class decks.  USPCC also makes many lower-class decks.

I think part of the issue here is that we have collectors who, regardless of the quality, have chosen to focus their collections on USPC products exclusively.  The other products from other companies could be made on the wings of angels and printed in pixie dust and they wouldn't care unless they came off the presses of USPC in Cincinnati or Erlanger - and many prefer Cincinnati, though recent-issue Erlanger decks are probably better.


It's a choice they made, what can I say?  While nearly every deck I have is from USPC or a subsidiary, I do have a few that aren't and that I like.


And "lower-class" USPC decks aren't exactly what any quality deck designer is ever aiming for.


Jarden does own Gemaco and Fournier, but they're considered (at least in the press I've read) to be subsidiaries of USPC.  Cartamundi does make some unique products, many of which are casino grade - I'm personally fond of the Magic Castle decks they printed.

Quote from: Good@Sabacc on December 23, 2011, 08:57:44 AM

Have you tried card-shark.de?  They've used USPC and still do, but they also operate their own facility - and they offer full customization.

Their own facility's cards are nothing like the USPCC decks from what I've tried (the Jill Deck).  They don't spread or fan; I don't think most people would like them.

Drat.  I want the Jill Deck!


What the whole thing boils down to is that Uncle Sam wants his cut.  Work with any domestic "fundraiser" like Kickstarter or printer like USPC, Cartamundi, Joe from the Block, etc. and you'll run into these issues.  Only way to dodge that is base your operations out of the country - which is no easy feat if you're not out of the country yourself.


I don't see this as the end of custom decks on Kickstarter, but I do see this as the first red flag that goals will have to go higher, resulting in higher chances that designs will fail.  Sure, some "low-yield" deck makers will get teh money back from the government at year's end, but you still need the cash up front.


Timing could help - time a deck release for Q4 in any given year, get the cash just before year's end, let Sammie take his cut, then file your taxes ASAP in Q1 the following year for a faster refund.  But who wants to see a whole year's worth of decks hit KS in one season?

Bicycle sells some simpler gaff decks, consisting mostly of double backers, double blanks, etc.


Magic Makers made the Carnival Trick Cards deck, available with and without DVD, on the red Rider Back design.


David Blaine released some Split Spades Lions gaff cards, but not a full deck.


The Hofzinser cards from T11 are also of this ilk - great gaffs but not a full deck of them.


I'm also positive that someone out there made another red/blue Bicycle gaff deck - seen it online, but only infrequently.  It's probably out of print but still available if you poke around.

BTW: did you realize that the Bicycle red/blue, Ghost and Black Tiger gaffs are nearly identical?  The cards were all the same until recently, when the USPC started forbidding altered Rider Back designs.  Any new issues will match the other new issues, such as the Black Tigers and the re-stocking of the Ghosts.  They all use the same instructional DVD, "Army of 52".

It's a matter of what you report on your taxes and what you do not. It's not actually Kickstarter that is enforcing the taxes, it is Amazon Payments. PayPal is still tax free.

Who doesn't pay their taxes, Russell? I don't know, depends how honest you are on your taxes. In the long run, the several thousand I lost from Amazon Payments will just be returned to me in full, and then some, but the problem is I need the money now, not later.

@Jriffel: What other alternatives are there? I haven't seen any. Gemaco and Cartamundi are awful. We need alternatives with the same or more customization options. Alternatives that use a good finish. So far, the only non-USPCC decks I have used that are as good/better are Poker Anglo's and MSM decks.

Have you tried card-shark.de?  They've used USPC and still do, but they also operate their own facility - and they offer full customization.

I bought them in duplicate, and the Bee Split Spades before that in triplicate - it's an AWESOME deal.  I missed out on the White Lions and this was the best way to get them.  Anyone not getting them this way is doing it the hard way.

This set has two decks - one absolutely bog-standard, the other without cellophane but still sticker-sealed and also autographed by Blaine.