When Playing Cards Become Puzzles: Fine Art Decks With Panoramic Polyptychs

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Fine Art Decks With Panoramic Polyptychs

What is A Polyptych?

We've all seen ordinary playing cards.  But what really floats my boat is the extraordinary.  So when it comes to playing cards, I'm a big fan of novelty, originality, and creativity.  A deck will get my attention when the designer has come up with something unusual, striking, or memorable.

Come custom playing cards that feature flip-book animation are a fine example of this.  These decks have a series of slowly changing images, so that when you flip through the deck quickly with your thumb, it creates a miniature animated film.  It's a very visual effect that is sometimes described as "taking a deck to the movies", and gives these creative decks an instant appeal.  A special part of my personal collection is devoted to decks like this, and you can see a list of examples in my article on the subject.

But alongside decks with flip-book animation, there's another type of deck in my personal collection that you need to know about.  In this article I'll introduce you to another type of novelty playing card that I'm very excited about, and that is also worthy of attention for its extraordinary qualities.  In fact, let me give you a spoiler of what to expect right up front.



This, ladies and gentleman, is a fine example of what the art world calls a polyptych. That's a fancy word that simply refers to a panoramic image made up of multiple parts.  We're all familiar with a deck of playing cards being a miniature portfolio that consists of 52 separate miniature works of art.  But what happens if you combine those individual pieces in order to make a single large picture?   That's the idea behind a deck of playing cards which makes a polyptych.

The Pipmen World deck pictured above was my first introduction to this concept applied to playing cards, and I was immediately smitten.  When I first saw pictures of this amazing deck, I just knew that I had to get my hands on it.  After all, each individual card looks great on its own.  But when you put the cards together on the table to make a single massive image, it looks even more stunning.  At the same time, it's still a functional deck with indices on the corners, so it can still be used for playing card games.

As I immersed myself more in the world of custom playing cards, I've kept a special eye out for decks that are polyptychs, and I'm pleased to be able to introduce you to some splendid examples.  I'm still in love with the original Pipmen World deck that sparked my interest in this fascinating type of playing cards.  But now I've just found several other polyptych decks to love along with it.  And by the end of this article, perhaps you just might too.



Pipmen World Playing Cards (2017)

The Pipmen World Deck was created by Ben Jones from Elephant Playing Cards in 2017.  Already a few years earlier Ben had come up with the fun idea to have his playing cards inhabited by pipmen, a novel word coined by combining the words pips and stickmen.   Instead of stick figures, we have what he calls "little stickmen figures interacting with the pips to create a unique scene."

Prior to creating the Pipmen World deck, Ben had created several Pipmen decks, which proved to be a big success.  It's a brilliant concept after all, and as far as novelty decks go, the Pipmen decks are filled with terrific detail and humour, making them fun to use and admire.  But with his Pipmen World deck, this idea was taken to the next level.



As with the other Pipmen decks, every single card in the Pipmen World deck is a self-contained picture.  You'll find Pipmen divers exploring the bottom of the sea, Pipmen fliers in hot air balloons, Pipmen workmen digging underground, and even a romantic Pipmen couple enjoying the moonlight.

For example, on the 2 of Spades we see some adventurous Pipmen climbing a snowy mountain, and on the 4 of Diamonds we see some hard-working Pipmen digging tunnels below the earth.  That's already a degree of creativity to get excited about.



But the artwork was designed so that all these individual cards can be put together to form a single giant image that makes up an impressive panoramic work.

The original Pipmen World deck had white bordered cards, but a "Full Art Edition" was subsequently produced which removed the distraction of the borders, to heighten the visual impact of the polyptych even further. 



Ben spent nearly three years creating and developing this special deck of cards, and the stunning result speaks for itself.

Here's a close-up showing a cityscape, set beside a farmer's field and some desert camels.



Here's another example from the full art version that showcases some details from the deck.  This time it features an ocean scene, where our Pipmen friends are active both above and below the water.

The visual detail on the individual cards is already creative and striking, but when placed alongside each other in this way, the impact is even stronger.



Birth of Venus Puzzle Playing Cards (2018)

Famous works of art make good material for custom decks, because the canvas of a playing card is an ideal place for exhibiting paintings and other art-works.  As a result, there are already plenty of custom playing cards that depict works of famous masters. 

It is a small but logical step to take this to the next level, by devoting an entire deck towards recreating a single work of art as a giant panoramic picture in the form of a polyptych.  Creator Lynn Patricia has done exactly this in her Birth of Venus Puzzle Deck.



This is the first of two "masterpiece" decks that Lynn produced.  And as you'd expect, it is a tribute to Sando Botticelli's famous painting The Birth of Venus.

The borderless card backs have a floral decoration in soft colours, that matches the colours we'll see later on the reverse side.



While the card backs look pretty, they pale beside the main feature, which is found on the card faces.

When placed alongside each other and puzzled together, the card faces create a large polyptych, which shows Botticelli's painting in all its glory - including Venus in all her glory.



Recreating the painting only requires the number cards, so the court cards aren't part of the overall polyptych.

Instead, the three court cards of each suit form a separate triptych.  Each of these effectively zooms in part of the main artwork, and shows close-up details of the overall image.



Some collectors have found the artwork of this deck too lovely to keep inside the box.  I know of at least one instance where someone glued the cards of the large picture onto a firm backing material, and turned it into a visual art display to hang on their wall.

That is certainly a great way to display a beautiful deck like that, so that it can be enjoyed constantly.



Van Gogh Starry Night Puzzle Playing Cards (2019)

The Starry Night Puzzle Deck is Lynn Patricia's follow-up to her Birth of Venus Puzzle Deck, and is a tribute to the work of legendary Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh.



As a representative of the post-impressionist movement, van Gogh has had a major influence on Western art, especially as a result of his many oil paintings that showcased his recognizable style.

While his final years were marked by episodes of depression and poverty, the acclaim that van Gogh's paintings have received posthumously makes them among the most expensive in the world.



Fortunately, you don't have to splurge millions to get your van Gogh fix, because there are some lovely decks of custom cards that are a tribute to his work, including this one.

Among van Gogh's most notable works are paintings like The Potato Eaters (1885), Sunflowers (1887), Cafe Terrace at Night (1888), The Bedroom (1888), Irises (1889), and Dr Gachet (1890).  But no list of van Gogh greatest hits would be complete without including the one featured on this deck, The Starry Night (1887).



This is not the first deck to feature artwork of The Starry Night, with a Cartamundi deck the same year also featuring a distinctive image borrowed from the famous painting on the card backs.

But unlike that deck, Lynn Patricia's puzzle deck takes this to the next level by turning the entire deck into a giant display of the famous painting.  The faces of the cards all depict small parts of the famous Starry Night artwork, and can be put together to recreate the painting as a single massive work of art.



Considerable attention to detail has been given in the execution of this project.  As an example, the card values used for the indices have been taken from letters with van Gogh's own handwriting, and the pips from shapes in his paintings.

A custom deck of playing cards like this is a wonderful way to enjoy van Gogh's artwork without breaking the bank.  It also makes for a wonderful conversation piece that can still also be used for playing a card game if you wish.



Dance of Death Playing Cards (2019)

The Dance of Death Decks also feature a large polyptych that is created from the playing cards.  Even the tuck boxes of the three decks that make up this set have the feel of a polyptych.



This project is unique in that you need all three decks to get the cards needed to make the polyptych.  Each individual deck only gives you the cards for creating part of the large single image, so ideally you want the entire set.

Part of the reason for this is because not all the cards in each deck are part of the polyptych.  The number cards all have heavily customized pips, but are otherwise free of artwork.



The panoramic artwork is reserved for the court cards, Aces, Jokers, and extra cards.

Using cards from all three decks, you can create a single large art-piece, which looks like the picture below.



These decks are based on the work of engraver and artist Hans Holbein the Younger, who was a German artist and printmaker known for his woodcut illustrations.

His "Dance of Death" illustrations date from around 1526.  They originally began with a set of small woodcuts, which were later published extensively in book form, over multiple editions.



Each scene followed the "Dance of Death" concept, a well-known artistic genre from the late Middle Ages, commonly designated with the French Danse Macabre.

It typically personified Death summoning individuals from all walks of life, and functioned as a visual allegory to remind people of the transitory nature of life. 



Hans Holbein the Younger's Dance of Death series is particularly famous.  It shows Death in many disguises, surprising victims from all stations of life.

Based on this well-known and influential work, creator Sergey painstakingly drew all these cards by hand, with many hours of loving work going into each of them.



Bosch Puzzle Playing Cards (2021)

The Bosch Puzzle Deck was produced by Sunish Chabba and Guru Playing Cards.  Sunish has successfully produced several unique custom decks already, but the Bosch deck is unlike anything that he has done before.



This is a fine art deck that is a tribute to Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450-1516), and incorporates aspects of his artwork on the playing cards.   

Bosch is renowned for his fantastic religious illustrations, many of which depict hell in a nightmarish manner. Borrowing heavily from Bosch's work and style, this cosmic setting of spiritual beings has been brought to life on the playing cards of this deck.



To create this remarkable deck, all of Hieronymus Bosch's seminal works were closely studied and explored for hundreds of hours.  These were then cleverly combined in an entirely original manner.

The result is an independent and unique work of art that is a creative and wonderful tribute to this famous master.



Of special interest to us is that each playing card has full-bleed artwork, so that the individual cards combine to make a complete puzzle.

Once again the entire deck forms a single massive picture, as all 54 single cards combine to make a giant polyptych.



An additional point of interest is that many of the cards have a semi-transformational style.  This means that the pips have been transformed to become part of the picture, making the individual playing cards beautiful pieces of art in their own right.

Overall this deck is a wonderful tribute to the unique artwork of Hieronymus Bosch, and has  been the subject of praise and enthusiasm from art fans and playing card collectors alike.



Final Thoughts

I'll be showcasing more decks with polyptychs in my next article.  But we've already seen enough to realize why a deck of playing cards that produces a polyptych is so appealing.  Most of us already appreciate seeing custom artwork on the individual cards.  But to see these separate pieces combine to form a single larger picture is an outstanding and visually stunning concept that immediately impresses.   Especially when it is done well, the result can produce a single whole that doesn't feel like a cobbled-together collection of disconnected pieces. Many collectors already find themselves drawn to uncut sheets of their favourite decks, and a deck that doubles as a polyptych offers the same kind of appeal.

It can also be a fun exercise to assemble the cards to make that single image, especially if you've never seen the deck before and don't know what the overall image looks like. I've enjoyed giving decks like these to family and friends as a fun puzzle challenge, and watching them solve it.   It's not as easy as you might think, and in my experience it usually takes them around 20 minutes to complete.  Most people are blown away by the concept, and really enjoy the process of discovering what the larger picture is.  When doing this at a family gathering or party, it also becomes an instant attention-getter, and you'll soon have other people gathering around, clamouring to see what is going on, and wanting to help.

If you ever needed reasons to justify your love for playing cards, polyptych decks provide you with two convincing ones: novelty and art.   I've often said that a deck of playing cards is a miniature portfolio containing over 50 separate works of art.  By turning this into a polyptych, creators have found a creative and novel way to turn these individual illustrations into a single whole, which is designed to be a beautiful work of art in its own right.  Not only is it a rewarding activity to piece the playing cards together into this giant puzzle, but it is also rewarding to see this final picture in all its glory.

These are wonderful decks to collect, and also make fine choices to display to friends and family who are wondering about the appeal of custom playing cards.  Get them busy puzzling with one of these decks, and by the time they're done, perhaps you'll even have a brand new playing card collector on your hands!



Author's note: I first published this article at  PlayingCardDecks.

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Puzzle Decks With Polyptychs

In the world of art, polyptychs have existed for centuries.  These are typically paintings composed of multiple panels, which function together to produce a single larger image.  They're found already in medieval manuscripts, and were used extensively in the religious art created by painters in the early Renaissance.

Given that a deck of playing cards is also a miniature work of art, it's no surprise that creative designers have applied the same concept to playing cards.  Most commonly this is found in the form of a simple diptych, which is a two part polyptych, where the two Jokers fit together to create a bigger picture.  Most decks of playing cards published by the Uusi brand have this feature, and the two examples pictured immediately below are taken from their decks.



In a previous article, When Playing Cards Become Puzzles, Part 1, I showcased five fine art decks that apply this concept on a much larger scale, and turn the entire deck into a single giant polyptych, using most or all of the playing cards.  Famous paintings from the world of art provide natural material for this, such as the examples pictured immediately below, which were covered in the previous installment.  But that's not to say that an enterprising and creative designer can't use this concept to create an entirely original work, as is the case with the wonderful Pipmen World deck.

But there are also other less orthodox ways of using playing cards to create a polyptych, and that's what this follow-up article is about.  Creators of playing cards have used polyptychs to send secret maps to prisoners, or to just add an additional layer of interest to an already creative deck.  In the hands of a brave creator, there's even room for turning a cardistry deck into a polyptych, as we'll see shortly.  So let's take a look at another five unique decks of playing cards that turn the entire deck into a giant puzzle.



Escape Map Playing Cards (2013)

Our exhibition of polyptychs begins with the oldest deck on this list, which is the Escape Map Deck from Bicycle.



Even though the version you can buy today was first published in 2013, this deck originally goes back to the time of the Second World War, and has a fascinating true story attached to it.

Being somewhat removed from the actual events behind this deck, it's somewhat difficult to determine all the facts with certainty.  But the general idea is that it was used in World War II to assist prisoners piece together a map that they could use to help them escape. As part of a special project, USPCC partnered with the military to create special playing cards in which a complete escape map was printed between the two pieces of paper that make up a typical playing card.



By including them in Red Cross packages, the decks were delivered to Allied prisoners who were held captive.  The idea was that soldiers could soak the cards in water, peel the two layers apart, and then puzzle together the pieces to create a map that would give them essential information about escape routes out of Germany.

This ingenious map has been commemorated with a special deck printed by Bicycle, so a reproduction version is readily available for collectors today.  Fortunately you won't need to soak this in water and start peeling back the layers to discover its secrets.  Instead the map has been printed on the card faces for all to see.



Only a handful of the original Escape Map decks are known to have actually survived.

Pictured here is a card from a limited edition reproduction that was made in 1990, which shows the map between the two paper layers of the card.



It can be a fun exercise to piece the commemorative deck of playing cards together, at the same time appreciating a true story of intrigue and ingenuity.  Extra cards that come with the deck include an information card briefly telling the story behind the deck, and an answer key that gives the solution for how the cards puzzle together.

To learn more, I recommend watching this video, which shows the entire deck pieced together, and explains exactly how the escape instructions work.



Odyssey Playing Cards (2017)

The Odyssey Deck from Glow Creative Innovations has largely flown under the radar of many collectors.  But it is a quality deck that was printed by USPCC and worthy of attention in light of a large polyptych that has been cleverly included on some of the card faces.



The concept of this deck is described by the creator as follows: "Odyssey highlights the struggles within humanity during the rapidly-expanding world of the 16th through 19th centuries.

It was a time when the landscapes of myth, magic, and legend were charted and mapped. Valiant heroes, fierce monsters, ancient gods, mighty tribes, and sea creatures were demystified and transformed into commodities of a global economy."



Of particular interest for our purposes is the fact that all the number cards combine to form a single larger image. 

Appropriately, these can be puzzled together to make up a large old world map, which is in keeping with the overall theme of the deck.



The level of detail is sufficient to recognize the presence of a map as the background artwork on each card.

At the same time it's not so distracting that it completely takes away the functionality of the cards for game-play.



Special mention should also be made of the stunning artwork by Michelle Lenkner, whose work has made the cards look absolutely exquisite.

The court cards and Aces are particularly gorgeous, and are bursting with colour and detail.  In the words of the ad copy, "Each court card was hand-crafted with attention to fine detail and the imagery exudes history, mystery, and great symbolism." 



They all use asymmetrical designs, which means that the deck is brimming with twice the usual amount of artwork you'd expect to find on the court cards and Aces, even in a fully custom deck.



The deck also comes with a card that describes the artistic themes of all the face cards.  In addition, a free PDF is available from the creator, which gives helpful educational information about the historical and cultural background behind each card. 

Clearly a lot of love has gone into this beautiful deck - and it shows.



Jaspas Deck Favourite Day Edition (2018)

Jaspas Deck had previously released numerous decks under his New Deck Order label, the brand known for producing "non-standard playing cards" that are optimized for cardistry by having identical faces.

But when he launched the Jaspas Deck Favourite Day Edition on April Fool's Day in 2018, he raised more than a few eyebrows.  The video trailer was released the day before and offered no clues whatsoever about what the deck looked like.



Jaspas is well known in the world of cardistry not just because of The New Deck Order, but also because of his work with The School of Cardistry, which is devoted to teaching cardistry.

He is also very active on youtube, where he regularly posts reviews and cardistry related videos, in his inimitable quirky and humorous style.  If you've ever watched his videos, you'll quickly learn that he's somewhat of a joker with a real sense of humor. 



So it's no surprise that the ad copy for this deck says that the 1st of April has always been an important day to Jaspas.   This deck was produced in a limited edition of just 888, and he deliberately released no teaser or images.  In other words, you had to purchase it on blind faith and trust in the man.  This didn't stop plenty of people from buying it sight unseen, because the deck still sold out, despite customers having no idea what they were buying.

Here's the ad copy: "1st of April has always been an important day to Jaspas Deck, and this year is no exception. This year, Jaspas challenges you to put your faith (and money) in him. No images of this deck will be released. Yes, you'll have to buy it blind."  It also promised a new stock and finish, and a new take on the classic Jaspas Deck design that "will destroy your perception of reality and make you doubt your understanding of "Cardistry", "Playing Cards", and "Design"."



The biggest surprise was with the card backs.  At first sight, these seem to be an ordinary black design with the signature split pip design common to many of Jaspas' playing cards.

But upon close examination, it appears that these actually make up a puzzle.  And sure enough, it turns out to be a polyptych that reveals the man himself: a large picture of Jaspas Deck, paradoxically holding one of the Favourite Day Edition decks in his hand, along with a selfie stick and a sword.



The biggest clue comes when you notice that the face of the Jack of Spades is black instead of white. When you turn it around, we see Jaspas himself staring at us.  Once you realize that the deck isn't all that it seems, you're all set to take on the challenge of piecing together the puzzle, featuring none other than Jaspas himself.

Eventually all would be revealed, courtesy of this video from reviewer The Gentleman Wake, which was produced with the blessing of Jaspas Deck himself.  So despite April 1st being the date on which the deck launched, it was obvious that Jaspas Deck hadn't swindled or disappointed his supporters.



The card faces have their own appeal. These feature pip arrangements in the usual Jaspas Deck style, with traditional artwork used for the courts, but the pips and art are all given a coat of colourful paint for a completely different look.

If this April 1st deck proves anything about Jaspas, it is that the man is clearly no fool.



World Tour: China Playing Cards (2018)

The World Tour: China Deck is one of five decks released by Vanishing Inc Magic as part of a set, designed to celebrate exotic places around the world.

The premise behind the set is that it is 1902, and a fictional magician named Ezra the Great is touring the world to perform his show.  To commemorate his adventures, he purportedly buys a deck of cards at different locations, which he sends back home as memorabilia.



Each deck features a design that reflects different aspects of the land and culture where it originates - France, Switzerland, Mongolia, China, and Egypt.   The tuck box of the China deck brings to mind an ancient travel document with official stamps and Chinese characters.

Your first impression of the cards themselves may leave you somewhat confused, because the backs are all different, with swirls of black on a plain white background.



But when you stay in a foreign country long enough, you will eventually learn the language and figure things out, and it is the same with this deck.  The challenge here is to piece together all the cards, in order to arrange them into a single large image made up of 9 rows of 6 cards each.

Unlike some of the other polyptychs we've seen, the World Tour: China deck doesn't reveal a picture, but two giant Chinese characters.



Fortunately the ad copy helps us with a translation: "This unusual deck boasts a back design that isn't a design at all. Instead, when all the cards are arranged in new deck order, in a grid, they create a mosaic of the Chinese character for Mystery."

The face cards can also be puzzled together into a single whole, which depicts something in Chinese characters as well.



And if you do get stuck in figuring out how to arrange the cards, you can use the answer key provided on one of the cards.

The World Tour: China deck is certainly an unusual set of playing cards that evokes something of the culture that it represents, making it a unique novelty item well suited for the collector.



Hanafuda Playing Cards

There are plenty of examples of custom decks that use the concept of a polyptych on a smaller scale.  An example of this is when the two Jokers combine to form a single image, which is known as a diptych.  You'll occasionally come across a deck with a triptych, where three court cards from the same suit make up a larger picture in the same way.

The number of decks that employ diptychs and triptychs is too numerous to cover here.  But special mention has to be made of  the delightful Hanafuda cards created by Jason Johnson and artist Antonietta Fazio-Johnson of IndianWolf Studios.  These playing cards create numerous smaller polyptychs consisting of four cards each.  The technical term for this is a tetratych, which comes from the word "four".  But each of these tetratychs is unified by a single theme that runs throughout the deck, and they are all stunningly beautiful.



● Hanami Edition (2018)

Hanafuda literally means "flower cards", and hanafuda are playing cards of Japanese origin which are also commonly used in Korea and Hawaii.  They likely originated between the 1600-1800s, and have a long history of use for gambling games, as well as many social games.

Hanafuda cards normally have twelve suits, each representing one month of the year and designated by a different flower.  Each set of four cards for each month combines to make a panoramic image. Hanafuda cards are also typically very small and thick, but IndianWolf Studios came up with the idea of bringing Hanafuda to standard playing cards.  Their first deck, the Hanami Edition Deck, features some especially beautiful panoramic artwork.



This deck begins in January with Pine flowers under a blanket of winter snow.  The first signs of spring are apparent in the images used for February, which showcases the blossoms of the Plum.  This will eventually give way to warmer weather of summer, which sees the appearance of beautiful flowers like the bright yellow orange Peonies for June.

The uncut sheet gives an overview of the entire deck, in all its incredible breath-taking beauty.



Each panoramic polyptych has its own visual appeal.  As we get into the middle of spring, we see the Iris flower adorning the vista for the month of May. The month of August features The Suzuki Grass is easily one of my favourite panoramas, with a spectacular image set against the backdrop of a colourful moon-filled sky.

Since there are only 12 months in a year, a thirteenth set of four cards depicts koi, which are common symbols of prosperity and longevity in Asian culture.



Despite being on poker-sized cards, this Hanafuda deck from IndianWolf Studies doesn't have the suits and values of a standard deck of playing cards, making it suitable only as an art-piece or for playing Hanafuda games.  However the creators also published a companion Hanami Fusion deck at the same time.  This has white instead of black borders, and includes the indices of a Western deck, thus enabling it to be used for regular card games as well.

● Sensu Edition (2019)

Following the success of their first project, IndianWolf Studios created another Hanafuda deck, entitled Sensu Edition Deck, with Sensu meaning "fan".  Not only do fans give a lot of artistic possibilities, but they also have a rich and positive symbolism in Asian cultures.

The Sensu project also produced a pair of decks, the second one being a fusion deck that included standard indices, while the first deck again has black borders and focuses on the artwork.



The cards from the Sensu decks have a less playful feel from the preceding deck, courtesy of more earthy colour tones and different style.   Shown above is the month of May's Iris flower that we saw previously in the Hanami deck, but now depicted in a totally different way.

Each set of four cards still has a unified theme that focuses on the same flower, but the focus on an expansive panorama isn't quite as pronounced here as it was with the Hanami deck.



● Night Parade Edition (2020)

The third Hanafuda Fusion project from IndianWolf Studios was their Night Parade Deck.  Like the previous decks, it's considered a Fusion deck because it doubles as a Hanafuda deck and as a standard deck of cards.

As with the Hanami and Sensu Editions, the artwork features 13 separate polyptychs, with each set of four cards combining to form a single panoramic image.  These illustrations depict the yokai that enter the human world at night.  In Japanese folklore this term covers a whole range of supernatural beings and strange phenomena, including monsters and spirits.



Stories about these yokai describe them in the form of a night parade, which can range from an orderly procession traveling the roads, to an unruly horde that creates chaos.

Once again the creators have cleverly incorporated standard playing card indices, as well as icons that enable it to do double duty as a Hanafuda deck.  The Night Parade deck also came with a bonus booklet with the rules for a shedding/climbing game called Orochi, which was specifically designed and created for this deck.



Final Thoughts

In various ways the above decks of custom playing cards take the concept of a polyptych beyond what we've previously seen with art playing cards.  As beautiful as those decks are, in the case of a fine art deck the goal of creating a single image that replicates a large masterpiece or painting is straight-forward.  But what about if you step outside the box, and where this goal isn't quite so obvious, or is perhaps secondary?

The Escape Map deck is a good example of this, because the original deck required you to peel apart the layers of paper to access the different parts of the polyptych, and it had a functional purpose that went far beyond novelty or art.  Like the original deck, the replica version readily available from Bicycle today has standard backs, so you can still use it for games if you really want.

But with some other decks with polyptychs, using them for game-play is simply out of the question.  The distinctive features on the back of the cards effectively turns them into a marked deck, allowing you to identify what's on the face of the cards once you become familiar with the deck.  That's the case with both the World Tour: China deck, and the Jaspas Deck: Favourite Day Edition.  But these decks aren't designed to be used for card games in the first place anyway, but have been conceived as unique pieces of art or creativity.  The China deck is a collector's deck that is all about novelty, where all the aesthetics serve the purpose of capturing aspects of a foreign culture.  Most collectors don't play games with their favourite decks anyway, but prefer to preserve them in pristine condition, or enjoy them as artwork.  Similarly, the Favourite Day Edition from Jaspas Deck is first and foremost a cardistry deck, where handling and performance take priority, as well as being a unique novelty item and keepsake that served as a reward for fans prepared to order it in blind faith.

With the Odyssey deck, the polyptych takes more of a back seat to the deck's first purpose of being a well-themed and beautiful custom deck that remains functional and can be enjoyed for card games.  There are more decks on the way that also use the polyptych concept to create a map in much the same way as the Odyssey deck.  A notable example is Stockholm17's upcoming The Eye of the Ocean, which incorporates the idea as part of a larger puzzle challenge.

While not producing a single giant polyptych, the 13 tetratychs on the three Hanafuda decks from IndianWolf Studios feature colourful and eye-catching scenes with a visual beauty that gives them instant appeal for different reasons.  These decks draw on a rich artistic and cultural tradition that relies on floral motifs and symbolism.  In addition, the Fusion versions of these decks cleverly blend Eastern and Western traditions by incorporating the indices that most of us are used to, thus enabling both Hanafuda games and other classic card games to be played on poker sized cards. All this makes these beautiful decks a unique and important contribution to the playing card industry.

All of these are highly collectible decks of custom playing cards, and their novel aspects make them real standouts in today's playing card market.   With so many new playing cards being printed all the time, unique decks like these offer us something different to enjoy and appreciate.  If you don't have any polyptych decks in your collection, consider picking one up.  Even non-collectors cannot fail to be impressed with their creativity and beauty.  Not that we have to justify our passion to others, but with decks like these on our hands, there's every chance we may find our family and friends growing in their appreciation for what we've enjoyed all along.



Author's note: I first published this article at  PlayingCardDecks.