The Novelty Deck line

[Anthony]

Now that I feel I've been around long enough and see how many decks are really out there and available at any given time, along with exposure to other parts of the Playing Card community I have a simple question.

When does a deck cross the line into the "Novelty" category? Don had written up a quick little list of categories with explanations of what would be considered a "Standard" deck, a "Semi-Custom" and "Complete Custom" deck. By definition, a novelty deck is basically a 100% custom deck, is it not? Now I'm not talking about vacation type Disney Cards although some older ones I'm sure would be on a must have list of vintage collectables. Not the cards you find cello wrapped in KB Toys of Spiderman.

Is there a theme that crosses that line? Maybe a style or presentation that forces it over to a Novelty deck? Or is the term just that, a term....but in that case, what is that term referring to.

I'm really curiouse to hear opinions, discuss 

[BiggerDee]

GREAT question! For me, a deck becomes a novelty deck when the design is tongue-in-cheek, or it's obviously designed for, to be used for, pur fun only. Something that's an art project, but not one intended to be serious.

[Paul Carpenter]

For me, standard indexes, one way back (usually a picture of something) and generally just dumb loosely related photos for all the faces.

[Don Boyer]

Novelty decks have a gimmick of some kind that pushes their sales.  They may or may not be collectible - it's in the eye of the beholder.  Things like the Square Deck, the Crooked Deck, the Round Deck all clearly fall into the gimmicky, novelty category.  I have a pack of cards called "Cuss Words, European Edition" where every card lists a curse word in about a dozen different European languages - definitely a novelty pack.  The clear-plastic playing cards of any brand, the glow-in-the-dark version by Kikkerland - definitely novelties.  The Hoyle 2-pack "Slice" deck - seriously a novelty deck.

Novelty packs are meant to appeal to a broader audience due to having a "gee, whiz" factor to them, a curious feature that makes them stand out head and shoulders above the pack.  If you see it on sale in Spencer's, there's a good chance it's a novelty deck.

[BiggerDee]

They are also, in many cases, impulse buy decks!

[Don Boyer]

They are also, in many cases, impulse buy decks!

It's why they're so popular at tourist shops - such shops are practically 100% nothing but impulse purchases, none of which would fall even near the category of "necessities"...