Wow ... looks like it's gonna fund in 24 hours.
Only a few designers play in this lofty territory, and this guy completely deserves it.
Win-win.

The fronts are beautiful and really deliver that art nouveau look and feel.  But to me, the backs are completely disconnected from the organic and flowing style of art nouveau.  True, they're intricate.  But the look is all perfect circles and geometrics--almost the antithesis of art nouveau.  For me, that's a showstopper.

P.S. Agree completely that the indices need to be closer to the edge--where they are now makes a bridge hand almost impossible to hold.  I don't mind the plus-sized white space on the number cards--I love a pip layout that's a bit unusual, while staying legible.  Like others, I do mind the lack of a large suit indicator on the court cards.  You need to be able to tell at a glance what card is being played--and in many games the suit counts.

All of those are easily fixable ... but the backs ... oh man.

.

With those indices, the deck is unplayable.

I don't mind the one-way, I like the photographs (which clearly have a theme), and even the photoshopped backs appeal to me.  But from that point on, the deck spirals horribly.  And then comes the alternate-color deck.  For my folks, the jump from white to black is just too jarring.

Some really nice ideas hidden underneath the disconnected font bling.  Complete pass.

As I see it, it's pretty simple.
[...]
As far as needing USPC permission to claim a project will be printed with them, well - I've seen countless projects make that statement.  Without a signed contract in place, it's a little harder for them to dictate such terms.  After all, we say "deck designer", they say "potential customer", so they're not going to push too hard on the subject, unless the designer has no intent of printing with them at all.  USPC will help with a little bit of the planning work needed before a KS launch in terms of supplying best practices documents and templates and such, but as was previously stated, they don't begin actually vetting a project until a contract is signed and funding is in place.  It's not impossible that they'd reject a project for certain reasons, but I've never seen them go that far - the closest would be a non-KS project, the Karnival Inferno deck; the company forced a redesign of the artwork to remove some of what they perceived as the more "Satanic" elements and the Bicycle brand name was removed.

The Alice of Wonderland Play Cards Deck was given an ultimatum by USPCC ... either change the project "to eliminate every Wonderland element (no Hatter, no White Rabbit, no Alice of Wonderland title, no Cheshire Cat, etc)," or pound sand.  According to the project creator, "I could not foresee the original printer changing their minds late in the project."  Cartamundi looked at the same project and the same copyright issues and arrived at a different answer.  The project switched to Cartamundi.  (Sadly, the project then ran afoul of money/shipping issues and deliveries are supremely delayed--but that's a rant for another day. :-)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jsolorzanoarts/alice-of-wonderland-playing-cards-printed-by-uspcc

It *is* pretty simple.  If you can't find a printer who will print your cards, then your project is dead in its tracks.

BTW, I'm not saying that the printer is the judge and jury--they don't have the *final* say on whether you will get sued into submission by Disney's Army Men of lawyers.  Or whether you would ever win in a court of law if you *did* decide to play How Big Is Your Budget For Lawyers? with someone like Disney.  But the printers are an absolute hurdle.  If you can't convince them, then your project is done-zo.

Yes, done-zo is a legal term.  Look it up.

:-)

P.S. This is about the digression topic, not about Nat's card deck.  Knowing him, I'm guessing he's done the homework and has at least lots of his non-infringing non-Disney ducks lined up already.

It's ba-ack.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891191024/demon-deck-limited-edition-playing-cards

Same bad grammar, same deck.  He calls it a relaunch, but then he says "This project is relaunch of our previous project just to let backers to grab some add-ons that they missed and to get some new backers."

Funding goal is $100. 7 days. Not a typo. Estimated delivery is still August.

Pledge levels are confusing:

• Pledge $1 or more - ADD-ONS. This revard is for add-ons. Type ammount of add-ons that you selected. Worldwide shipping is included
• Pledge $11 or more - FOR NEW BACKERS. 1x Standard Edition "Demon Deck" playing cards deck. Add $11/14 for each additional S.E./L.E. deck. International buyers please add $2 for shipping
• Pledge $11 or more - FOR PREVIOUS PROJECT BACKERS. 1x Standard Edition "Demon Deck" playing cards deck. Add $11/14 for each additional S.E./L.E. deck. Worldwide shipping is included
• Pledge $14 or more - FOR ALL BACKERS. 1x Limited Edition "Demon Deck" playing cards deck. Add $14/11 for each additional L.E./S.E. deck. Worldwide shipping is included

Here is the rest of the Risks section.  Looks like he was writing directly to Don:

• All possible risks were taken highly serious. Everything - from technical moments and design, to production time and shipping - checked twice. Production and shipping costs are precisely calculated and included in the project goal.
• Drawing of special hand-inked deck can take some more time, so you may receive your deck a bit later, but we'll do our best to get your deck on time.
• We guarantee, that these playing cards will be factory-printed with highest quality and shipped to you on time.

+1 on Don's suggestions about design elements.  Better cards are designed that way not because we like doilies and Downton Abbey, but because we want to actually *play* with the cards, or flourish them, or work with them in some way that *our* friends (or audiences) expect playing cards to work.  If you fan the cards, you should be able to see the suits and indices.  If you put a card on the table, you should be able to figure out what it is without having to pick it up and look at it.  (Not that your deck fails in that regard ... I'm flying on the wings of this tangent for a moment.)

OK, backing away from the tangent ... I'm OK with barbed wire (although I know others aren't).  *My* problem with the subject matter was yet another foray into skulls and the undead.  So I get the twist that makes it unique, in a Cowboys and Aliens kind of makes you laugh at the movie title way.  But I'm tired of it, not feeling it.

Downton Abbey???  Really?  Ouch.

I have my share of fantasy-based cards in my collection, and even what I would think of as punk.  The obligatory pirates, scifi, Jacksons, hippies and steampunks to go WITH the florals and art deco.  But the one theme that runs through 'em all is beautiful deisgnwork.  Which brings me to ...

Frazetta!?? You bring up Frazetta to trash Downton Abbey?  Frank Frazetta's uber-classic techniques were the stuff of legend, infusing the sweeps and arcs of art deco and Downton's flapper era with the subject matter of fantasy and science fiction. Oh man, I'm off on a tangent again, recalling the classic works of Roy Krenkel and J. Allen St. John.  Done with the same style and grace as Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth.  Later carried on by folks like Jeffrey Jones.

I have a deck with a Maxfield Parrish back, and even though it's all standard faces on the inside, it's one of my favorite decks.  I would *love* a deck designed with the same sense of balance and wonder that Frazetta (and Krenkel and Jones) brought to every comic and book illustration.  Wow.

Even when you update the subject matter, the work of great artists shines through.  While the classic sci-fi authors were being interpreted in the 40s and 50s by the folks I'm mooning over right now, today's graphic novels represent yet another gorgeous art form for today's reboot of hardboiled film noir storylands.  Frank Miller, Bernie Wrightson and dare I say it, Judge Dredd's own Carlos Ezquerra ... the list spans the imagination.  Inspiring in the truest sense of the word--you find yourself compelled to join them in the places they create.  All.  Gorgeous.

But I digress.

My oh my...these are quite lovely.

I'm not a big fan of the faces of the court cards, however...the Jack, Queen, and King look too tired.

I *love* the long flap.  But you're right, every court looks terribly, terribly sad.  And that poor one-eyed Jack.  I feel his pain.

:-)

Our neighbors buy tourist cards on every trip they take.  So we play with them a LOT.  Photos without captions are almost meaningless.  One or two-word titles help some, but the more fun decks are the ones that add an extra sentence about what's pictured on the card. Especially if it teaches you something new. The better decks actually apply some sort of theme--with the Aces being photos of the most important features at the destination, and then the Kings, Queens and Jacks also related in some way.  Our favorite decks have 52 images.  It's annoying when we discover that all the fives have the same image.  Or worse, that all the clubs have the same image.

My favorite ever destination deck is a Canada-themed deck that I played with once at someone else's house and have never seen since.  Each card-value represented a specific location (I remember that the Aces were all Canada, and the 5s were all Manitoba), and then each suit offered something different about the locations.  For example all the clubs had the location's flag or seal.  All the hearts had a map of the location.  All the spades showed where the location was on a big map of Canada.

That said, I was an automatic pass on the Edinburgh deck.  I don't collect those ... but even for my neighbor ... no titles, no captions, no education, no themes.  The fonts were overdone and the backs were underdone.  I expect a destination deck to have a one-way back, but I would hope for it to *say* the location.  Literally.  It should have the word Edinburgh on it, it a nicely done font.  And maybe with a map or other clean, bright eye-catchy logo.

Just some suggestions.  Hope this helps!

Kudos for the one-eyed jacks, the one-eyed king and the suicide king.  I love that nod to the classic courts and cardistry.  Of course, the king of diamonds looks more like the suicide king than the actual suicide king, and he certainly could have had an axe and fit in with this theme, but now I'm just nitpicking.

Still, this is a big pass for me. Cowboy skulls not singing to me.

First of all, I didn't design the cards, Ade did, and everyone in my group was in favor of the decks and the art was voted on by them. As Ade mentioned he also won a design contest with Club 808.

Hey guys, I'm the designer of the deck 
It's actually a design contest from his facebook group, winner getting the deck to be printed. I won the contest and Victor printed the deck. From what I knew, he only print it in a small quantity, and ended with a such prize.

So I realize that talking about the deck itself is probably off-topic by now :-) ... but where *did* you get the courts artwork for this deck?  They look exactly like (not just sort of like) the Bicycle Voyager.

I will say that I was disappointed in some of those courts ... no suicide king, not enough one eyed jacks, adding a one eyed queen, no axe for the KoD ... I love the alternate design, especially with a clean white background and the nicked up pips, but when you build something that has that classic feel ... ah well.

And finally, this is obviously a short run ... where were they printed?

Thanks!

These decks turned out amazing.  The artwork on the courts is first rate--classic playing-card design work, with a beautiful theme, executed flawlessly.

I remember that when this project first started, there were red flags all over the place.  I still wish the project creators had been a bit more transparent about what they were doing, but the fact is that this time the project turned out well.  Great product and early deliveries.

Sometimes you roll the dice and you get Founders.  Or ... everything comes up Emperors.  I hope these people do more.

Yet another vote for "TWO WAY I."  The suit icons are a particular pet peeve.  Unless I do a lot of tarot card readings, I don't really need those indicators to remind me that this is a deck of playing cards.

I'm curious what other folks think about 4-color decks.

Four-color decks are an automatic pass for me.  Count me in the hate-em group.

I don't mind the one-way backs, and very much prefer the one-way courts.  They fit the theme.

Love the alternate-color decks.

And love, absolutely LOVE the Suicide King. :-)  I'm hoping there are other surprises as well (one-eyed dots for the J of spades, J of hearts, and the K of diamonds?  And maybe an axe of some kind for the K of diamonds Man With An Axe?  Gives the poker players a handle for some of the more popular wild-card conventions.)

I expect this deck to be used to play games (by most purchasers), it needs to be uncluttered and easy to read at a glance. It has to fan well, stack well in solitaire games, and be easy to recognize across the table for games like Hold ‘Em poker.

I think you hit the nail on the head: The deck should be playable.  Uncluttered.  Easy to read at a glance.  Agree that you don't need different crowns for different suits.  The changes you made to the Queen are great. I recognize her immediately.  And the more-pointy crown on the King helps, too.  Still, the Jack ... maybe the Jack could have an upraised arm (or two?  Nah, one is enough :-).