Kickstarter: The Illusionist & After Sound Playing Cards by Ark Playing Cards

[EndersGame]

The Illusionist & After Sound Playing Cards by Ark Playing Cards (Kickstarter)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elementplayingcards/the-illusionist-and-after-sound-playing-cards-by-ark

Current funding level: already funded (already over $250,000 raised!)
Kickstarter ends: Wednesday June 15, 2022

This project is already on its way to the top 10 most-funded playing card Kickstarters of all time.  It was created by Danny from ARK Playing Cards, who specializes in extremely lavish packaging.  Each of his previous projects has been more successful than the previous one: Card College Playing Cards, Tempo Playing Cards, Kingdom & Kinghood Playing Cards, and Azure Dragon & Time Machine Playing Cards.

With his current project, The Illusionist & After Sound Playing Cards, he continues to stretch the boundaries of his "next-level" tuck boxes and packaging even further, with some very creative and stunning box sets.



Here's some pictures from the current campaign.

The Illusionist Playing Cards

The Illusionist box sets are a tribute to the magic arts.  Each deck has a magic theater theme, and the tuck box has an unprecedented design that consists of 7 separate pieces of cardboard, which unfold to produce a 3D theater, featuring the classic sawing-a-lady-in-half illusion.

The design of the cards is inspired by a 1958 Swedish film about a traveling magician.   The Aces show common magic props, while the court cards each depict a different genre of classical magic, such as effects with linking rings, doves/rabbits, card manipulation, and more.  The cards have coloured foil, and judging by what I've seen from the cards from previous Ark projects, this looks amazing.























After Sound Playing Cards

The After Sound box sets feature  hand-drawn illustrations themed around the Peking Opera, an important piece of China's national culture.  Two important traditional opera stages were the inspiration: the Changyin Pavilion inside the Forbidden City, and the Qingyin Pavilion in the Chengde Mountain Resort.  The title "After Sound" represents something about the beauty produced by song after song, reverberating and lingering in these beautiful buildings.

Once again the tuck box consists of 7 pieces of cardboard and unfolds to produce a theater.  The cards have color foil, and their designs are inspired by images from the opera.  The card backs feature an extension of the stage pictured on the tuck box, where a scene from "Farewell My Concubine" is being enacted.  The illustrations are all hand-painted and based on opera costumes, characters, and many other elements drawn from this theme.





















Kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elementplayingcards/the-illusionist-and-after-sound-playing-cards-by-ark