Hello, everyone!

My name is Don, I'm from scenic Ohio, USA, and I've only been collecting playing cards for about three days now. I'm a 48-year-old widower with no children, so I really needed a hobby to immerse myself in when I'm not at work. Always loved the elegance & omnipresence of playing cards - there's an endless variety, they're available everywhere, and there's just something perfectly collectible about the size & shape of a deck of cards. It seemed a natural choice, so here I am!

In my short time as a collector, I've accumulated 24 different new decks. Nothing particularly fancy yet. My coolest decks so far are a pack of Bicycle Aureos & a pack of Bicycle Stargazers, but there are a few others I really like - a TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE deck, a black light deck, two neat Ohio State Buckeye decks, and a pack of Medalists which I think, though bought at Wal-Mart for under $2, look pretty stylish. I have no real set plan or agenda for collecting as of yet, save acquiring as wide a variety of different cards without spending myself into abject poverty. If there's a theme to my collection so far, it's "Cards That Would Be Cool To Have."

I've opted to remove the cellophane from my decks, but leave the seal (if one is present) intact. No real reason behind this except that there's something about feeling the cardboard of the box that makes it feel more like mine than when it's still in the cellophane. I'm too obsessive-compulsive to leave half the cellophane on, but too hands-on to leave a deck completely wrapped. Those decks which have no seal on the box I'll open once & thumb gently through IF doing so doesn't damage the box in any way. All that said, I'm not collecting for value or wealth. I'm just that guy who likes his stuff in the best possible condition. Down the road I may buy duplicates of sets so I can have one to open & use, but for now I'm focused on building up a decent-sized collection.

I'm hoping to make some friends in the collecting community, and make this hobby about more than just hunting for cards and (eventually) showing off what I've found. Always had that collector's impulse, but I've found that other things I've dabbled in collecting over the years have either been too limited in their variety, too expensive to build a sizable collection, or tainted by drama & competitive nonsense in the collector community. Have a very good feeling about collecting cards, though. I love them, and the community seems generally to be a very friendly & positive place.