Interview with Collector, Creator & Consultant Max (Max Playing Cards)What is Max Playing Cards?The playing card community is a large one. Besides the consumers, like collectors, cardists, magicians, and card gamers, there are creators, artists, and retailers. And there are whole communities where people share their passion for playing cards, and talk about their favourite decks.
But how do we find out information about the latest and greatest decks to hit the market? You can follow all the newest projects on Kickstarter, or visit forums frequented by other collectors. But there are also dedicated writers that produce a stream of articles with reliable and helpful information about the newest playing card projects and releases, and following their blogs can be an excellent way to stay informed and in touch. Among the very best of these is Max from
Max Playing Cards.
For years already, Max has been writing about upcoming and new deck releases, and his popular blog now has more than one thousand articles covering a large range of modern decks. If there's a new deck hitting the scene, and particularly if it's a creative custom deck from the US market, Max will almost certainly have given it his well-researched treatment with one of his wonderful articles on his excellent
blog, where new articles appear every few days.
But Max isn't just a writer and collector, he's also a creator, having produced his excellent Bicycle Texture series of playing cards. I remember coming across his Metal deck and Wood deck when I was first exploring the world of custom playing cards. I was immediately smitten, because they stood out sharply from the typical custom deck, by providing a thoroughly traditional look, yet dressed in fresh new garments.
His latest initiative sees him entering new territory, as he offers his services as a
consultant to others wanting to create their own deck of custom playing cards. It's obvious that as a collector, creator, and consultant Max has an enormous amount to offer the playing card community. I'm pleased that he was willing to agree to be interviewed about himself and his work. In this interview he generously shares many great insights about the world of collecting playing cards and writing about them, about his own experience in creating custom decks, and about what he can offer others as a consultant.
The InterviewPART 1 - MAX'S BACKGROUNDFor those who don't know anything about you, what can you tell us about yourself and your background?First, thank you so much for your kindness in interviewing me. After having interviewed hundreds of companies, creators, and other people in the business, this is the very first time someone shows interest in me, so I feel very honored.
I am a Computer Science teacher at a university, and a husband and father, so my day is full of tasks and responsibilities. Playing cards is just my (not so) hidden passion, something I do in all my free time and in my long sleepless nights. How did you begin having an interest in playing cards?I began with magic many years ago. I was attending some magic courses and although I love it, I could not perform as I really wanted, and I felt a bit frustrated. Magic is one of the most difficult performing arts and requires thousands of practicing hours, so I ended giving up. Nevertheless, I discovered a hidden beauty in the Bicycle cards I was using and I began collecting.What involvement and experience with playing cards did you have with playing cards before you started the Max Playing Cards website?The interest for playing cards as a collector led me to buy many different decks around the globe. Nevertheless, I was in love with the Bicycle playing cards. At that time, crowdfunding projects popped up that were made by artists that gave a twist to the standard design and so I focused my interest on them. I wanted to be part of that new movement, and decided to begin this adventure.
Furthermore, I wanted to express myself also through my own deck of cards and, among other productions and collaborations, I was able to make three decks that became quite popular: The Bicycle Texture Series Playing Cards.PART 2 - MAX'S WEBSITEWhat motivated you to start your website, and how did you go about this?I was already part of ASESCOIN, the Spanish Playing Cards Collector?s Association, but I discovered I was almost alone in my interests. Spain has deep roots with the production and collecting of playing cards, but the French (poker) cards do not receive general interest here. I felt I needed to make something to spread a voice about the new wave of playing cards designers and their work, so I tried to create a community around them. That?s the origin of Max Playing Cards. What was the goal of Max Playing Cards when you started in 2012? Has your goal changed at all over time?At the beginning, I wanted to talk about design and about playing cards. At that time many of today?s popular websites and forums didn?t exist, so I planned to write good quality articles in order to talk about the new playing cards and put them in the spotlight. I wanted to reach out to everyone wherever they were, although I am not English native speaker. Thus I wrote in English and Spanish, which was a challenge, but also something exciting and unique.
Max Playing Cards has changed as times have changed and as even I myself have changed. At the beginning, posts were much more immature and ?shy?. Thanks to the personal contact with the artists, I was able to delve deeper and better into the inspiration behind decks, and talk about what goes far beyond a simple list of technical features. My goal has always been for my readers to "feel" the deck before knowing about the stock or the design. Also, the different inspiration sources allowed me to learn many new things about art, history and culture. So whenever I write a new article I like to read about the background and talk a bit about it to share that knowledge.
Along the years, my articles have been the visible part of my work in Max Playing Cards. But those articles were just the tip of the iceberg, as there was a hidden but hectic activity trying to help others to make their decks real. I have spent endless sleepless nights and almost all my free time to build a small community around the playing card business, made up of artists, designers, printers, shops, wholesalers, fulfillment warehouses, and more. In this way, whenever someone contacted me for help, I provided all those contacts and know-how to help them achieve their goals. Sometimes I have also worked as a designer and consultant to improve a deck, or a campaign. All those experiences have given me good expertise and skills (without any income, by the way).
I needed to make this work more visible, so finally the biggest change on the website arrived.How would you describe your website today, and what can we expect to find on it?Till a few months ago, and mainly due to the lack of resources, I was not able to make changes to the website, so the site was basically just the blog. All the different versions that the website has passed though along the years have created tons of technical gaps and bugs, so each time I planned to make any change I had to give up. This frustration got worse with a hard personal situation. I had to decide to completely quit, or to try to overcome these hurdles, and give myself an opportunity to progress with the Max Playing Cards project. I tried once more, and began learning what I needed to make it real. After a few months of working really hard, the new website is ready and live.
The site has a new aspect and it now includes on the front page the new offer from Max Playing Cards. It states in a clearer way what I can do for all those that dream about making their own deck of cards. I am giving people the opportunity to contact me to ask for my help, knowing in advance what I can do. I plan to add some extra content, in order to make everything clearer and richer.
Of course, I will be offering the same quality articles in two languages, and spreading this on social media as I have always done.What groups of people would you say your website is geared towards, and who would find Max Playing Cards helpful?Of course, whoever is interested in playing cards (e.g. magicians, cardists, collectors, and innovative players) is invited to visit Max Playing Cards. People are increasingly seeking immediate information, but I am an advocate of quality writing. I try to combine agile reading with detailed information. But above all, I want to show the soul of the deck, its spirit, and the inspiration of the human being who created it. The regular reader of Max Playing Cards already knows how to read the articles, depending on the interest the topic has for them, or how busy they are in their everyday life.
Furthermore, after the latest updates, there is now a special place on Max Playing Cards for those who want to make their own deck of cards. I will help them to focus on the most relevant aspects of the production, and will guide them till the end of the process.How many articles about playing cards have you produced altogether now?At this moment I have published more than 1,000. Bearing in mind that I write in two languages, I could say I have written more than 2000 articles since I began in 2012.How long does it typically take to put together a single article, and what work is involved in this?I am happy about this question, because most people are not aware about what this job really means in terms of effort.
The time I need to finish an article depends on several important aspects. On the one hand, I like to research a bit about the inspiration behind the deck. If there is any reference to history, art, architecture, or science, I like to read a bit about that, in order to make something more coherent and solid (and to enjoy learning something new too).
Regarding the writing itself, I have always wanted to make my own original text, so I avoid any copying-and-pasting, just to offer my own style. I like to give the articles something that makes artists and creators feel special and unique. I also like to describe the main features of the decks, but try to blend this with high-quality writing to guide the reader along the whole text.
Writing in English and Spanish is also a challenge because I am not a native English speaker. I work alone so I need to trust myself about the result. Sometimes I begin writing in Spanish and then translate it into English. But for some weird reason, other times I begin writing in English, which makes it more difficult for me - but afterwards translating this into Spanish is quite easy. ☺
I usually need a couple days (some hours in my break time) to finish articles in both languages, and images, including also the social media promotion in the main platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).
Since you started, you have posted more than 1000 articles about playing cards. Are there any that you're especially pleased with or proud of, that we could take a look at? I somewhat miss the interview series. I had the chance in the past to interview the more relevant and emerging artists in the playing cards scene, like Lotrek, Jackson Robinson (Kings Wild), Alex Chin (Seasons), and Linnea Gits (Uusi), when they began working on playing cards. I have to admit some of them have become more unreachable due to their success and their busier lives (although I always try to maintain contact). But others still keep in touch and, along with the new creators that I have the opportunity to know, they remain an inspiration for me. That interview style is not easy, because it requires a lot of work (I have worked on answering questions for this interview for several weeks myself!). But I like to go beyond the artist and try to know the human-being.
I think my longest article was dedicated to the darker side of Kickstarter, where I interviewed Milan Colovic, a creator that was scammed, like most of the backers of the project. I tried to tell the truth about crowdfunding and about heartless creators that take the money and run. Unfortunately, I have been scammed many times too, so I wanted to talk about it, as I felt that pain.
I do love being in touch with creators and the way they approach me to ask for help. I am pleased to do all I can to make their dreams true and feel, in some way, part of their success. That?s why the creative part of the articles means so much for me, and I enjoy writing them all.
I have also written interesting articles about global releases of companies like Art Of Play, Matsui, Gemini decks, and some others. I like collectors to check out what they have. I am preparing a cool article about Butterfly decks. I also like to talk about Bicycle decks made for promotional purposes and specially related to non-profit organizations, like the latest K-9 project one.
In the end, I do love writing about playing cards and knowing more and more people. That is what I really enjoy.How often do you get the published deck itself?I like to get the decks I talk about once they are real. I have backed hundreds of projects in the past when I was financially able to. Sometimes I get some decks for my promotion, but it is just a verbal agreement that it is not always fulfilled. Unfortunately, I have had to stop collecting a few months ago. I simply cannot follow the explosion of new releases and the huge (and sometimes stupid) amount of decks variations. Good times have gone, and I simply have no budget for that anymore. But I have been able to know cool collectors I can trade my duplicates with. It is a time-consuming task, but it is fun too. How do you stay current with the latest developments in the playing card industry?I try to read as much as I can. I don?t have too much time to be active in forums as I did in the past but try to read them and I have good friends among all those crazy members in United Cardists or Reina de Oros (in Spain) that share my passion for playing cards. I also visit social media although I am not as active as I would like, for the same reason.
Kickstarter is now the main source of new creations, so I try to check new releases there quite often too.What has it been like to correspond with creators, designers, artists, and producers of playing cards, and how many contacts do you have in the industry?That?s the best part of my work. As a playing card designer myself, I have also tried to be in touch with all parts of the playing card industry trying to make my name known. When you don?t generate thousands of dollars per month it is not easy to have permanent contacts everywhere, but I am proud of having been able to make good friends also in the industry. I have contacts with the main printers in the USA and Europe, wholesalers, dealers and online shops, fulfillment centers and, of course, dozens of artists and creators. I have helped them get in contact with each other, to help create fantastic synergies, and make many awesome decks real.
I am trying now to reactivate everything in a more solid way to offer my own consultant service, to make everything easier for the creator.How much feedback do you get from readers, and what does this involve for you to keep up with this?I usually receive good feedback from my readers and from the creators, and they contact me to express their compliments. I must admit I am not as good as I should be in the area of social media, and the community around Max Playing Cards needs to be more solid, but I am working on that. Nevertheless, I believe in my work, as I am passionate. I will go on working while my readers go on reading, and while creators go on asking me for help as the ?biggest bilingual living encyclopedia of contemporary playing cards?.What do people seem to appreciate the most about your articles?The way I talk about the deck. They enjoy knowing the story behind it. Sometimes the artwork is not the most important part. I have talked about really nice cards that have no soul, while there are other cards with less graphic qualities but are charming and deep.Does your website or social media generate any revenue for you at all, or is this purely a hobby project?Not at all. That?s in part the origin of my new focus. I have never charged anything for promoting playing cards in Max Playing Cards. As I said before, I try to have a verbal agreement to get some decks in return from creators, just to complete my own collection and to share with a small community here. Creators are usually grateful and fulfill their promises but sometimes they forget about me once they succeed.
Although originally planned as a hobby, Max Playing Cards has not been a hobby for years. I have poured myself into it body and soul, trying to give the most professional service to all those that believed in me. I remember finishing an article last year while I was being prepared for a surgery in the hospital. I didn?t want to disappoint those who trusted in me. I demand a lot of myself.
For that reason, I am trying to do things in a different way. In past years I have put creators and artists in contact with companies, printers and wholesalers without being part of that process. I thought that now was the right moment to ?change the angle? (you will understand this statement later).What is it that you especially enjoy most about running your website? Given how much content and work this involves, what motivates you to keep this up?People are the gasoline of my engine. Having the chance to know people and to make something relevant for them makes me feel happy and proud. In recent years, especially the last two, when I have been very ill and when my personal, professional, and financial situation have dropped to hell, I have been tempted to throw in the towel and to forget about playing cards. Nevertheless, keeping in touch with artists, collectors, and playing cards friends made me keep this up.What can we expect from you in the future? Do you have any goals to expand or do anything different than what you are currently doing?I want to go on helping others, but I would like to make my help more professional. I think I can get involved in specific projects as a consultant and as an agent, to allow designers to focus on designing.
Although I have made my own successful designs like the Bicycle Texture Series and have also made decks for others, this is the first time I am offering comprehensive advice for the whole playing card creation process. The Victorian deck, recently funded on Kickstarter, is one of the latest of these projects that I acted as an agent for. I have worked in every step of this process. That experience ended up being awesome. And there are some more in progress...Are there any other writers or video reviewers of playing cards online that you follow or admire, which we should also check out?Sure. I have a good and old relationship with Alex (Kardify). We even collaborated in the past although our editorial and strategic styles are quite different. I like his work in the playing cards arena, as he has built a huge community around it. I need to learn a lot about his social media strategies although I still need more time for that.
I miss ?Collector?, a great guy that posted in the Playing Cards + Art blog. He stopped posting in 2015 but we had a fantastic relationship, and I hope he comes back some day to continue his brilliant style. I hope he is reading this interview?
I also love the style of EndersGame (perhaps you know him ☺ ). Reading your articles is a pleasure, as you have one of the deepest documented styles when talking about playing cards and I learn a lot from every article.PART 3 - MAX AS COLLECTORWhen did you start collecting playing cards, and what got you started?I started two decades ago, buying many different decks without any specific criteria. I wanted to explore everything, but I especially felt an attraction for Bicycle decks (due to my frustrated love for magic), so I focused mainly on USA decks. My best help was eBay, as not only was I able to buy decks from around the globe, but I could also get to know many nice people (and not so nice too ☺ ).
I am basically a contemporary (modern) playing cards collector. I like fresh new decks, and collecting vintage or antique decks is something I don?t feel attracted towards (and something I cannot afford in general).
I also collect sealed decks. That is something not all the collectors share (nor understand). In fact, sometimes even I do not understand it myself, but I think it is part of some mental disorder, since for me opening a deck feels like a sacrilege! ☺
I used to be obsessed to get all the different variations of a deck. That?s really difficult with Bicycle playing cards, as there are tons of different print runs along the years, and quite difficult to collect them without opening the deck. What are some of the things you especially enjoy about collecting playing cards?Collecting is, for me, an interesting personal experience in connecting something material with special feelings, emotions, and experiences. A collector belongs to a particular species where all the individuals are completely different, and at the same time they share common interests and thoughts.
There are as many collectors as collecting styles, and discovering them all is as exciting as collecting itself. In fact, the best part of collecting came more recently when after many years I have had the chance to connect with other collectors, in order to trade decks and share different points of view.How many decks would you estimate that you currently have in your collection?It is not easy to know, because cataloguing is something I began too late and there is a lot of work to do yet. As an estimate, with the information I now have, I calculate around 15,000 (including duplicates), with around 5000 different decks. How do you organize and display your collection of playing cards?I have all the decks in my office. The room is not too big, but it is suitable to store many decks. Unfortunately, there is not enough space for having it as organized as I would like.
They are organized in two sections: the display shelves and the duplicates storage. The idea is to have some place to display all the decks in an organized system, and also to have storage room to manage the duplicates in order to share them with others.
I also have a collection of uncut sheets I bought in the early stages. I stopped buying them several years ago because I don?t have any place to display them and it is a pity to have them in tubes.
By the way, if anyone reading this interview is interested in buying the full collection of duplicates (around 8000-9000 decks) or the uncut sheets, please, contact me. I have been trying to sell these for months, but it is a difficult quest. ☺Do you have any special categories of decks that you focus on collecting, and what are your favorite types of decks to collect?My first idea was collecting Bicycle decks. After that, I collected almost everything during the first one or two years. Later I focused on contemporary decks made mainly in the USA.
I try to have collections inside my collection grouped by artist or company. There are some I like because of the artwork or the tuck case, and others are just ?assortments?. Unfortunately, the crazy strategies developed by many creators in producing a lot of different editions/colors without a deep reason beyond their greedy way to make money, have discouraged me to go on collecting them, which is really sad. I simply cannot follow that rhythm.
Anyway, Bicycle decks are still my favorite collectibles.How do you go about adding new decks to your collection?It is tricky because when I buy a deck from an artist, it is usually because I like the artwork, or the inspiration or the soul behind the deck or the creator. After that, I try to get everything made by the same artist following the collecting instinct. That can become an issue depending on the artist?s development and their strategy. It was easy to control in the past but not anymore.
Now, I am basically trying to complete through trades those sets and the artist categories that I stopped buying myself.What do you do with extra decks you receive that you no longer wish to keep?For many years, I have been sharing my duplicates with collectors that, that for various reasons were disadvantaged and weren?t otherwise able to get them. Bear in mind there has been no culture here in Spain of collecting USA decks. Most of the Spanish collectors are interested only in Spanish decks, so creating a community around US produced playing cards was my personal project and challenge.
I also like to trade decks with other collectors. That allows me to get new releases and to share interesting ?older? decks that are more difficult to find.What thoughts do you have on the explosion of custom playing cards that we are seeing today? I love variety and I think the market has a place for everyone. I love to see new creators trying to engrave their names in the playing cards hall of fame. Nevertheless, thinking about some of the strategies carried out by big companies (and some individual and popular creators) and their greedy minds makes me feel sad. When I began, you could collect almost all the new releases because there were not so many color variations, gilded decks, exclusive editions, deluxe sets and private reserve items. It is obviously impossible to collect all the decks released now. But what is more and more sad, is that it is difficult to collect even all the decks from a few good designers because their production approach has made it impossible for an average budget.
Of course, this is just supply-and-demand, so I just ask for fairness, and good, original and thorough designs.What impact do you think crowdfunding like Kickstarter has had on playing cards and on collecting?Kickstarter has completely changed the playing cards scene and business. I do love the original idea of supporting a project before making it real. Part of that spirit has been lost due to the way campaigns are handled today. I understand that creators are there to make money, but the common protocol sometimes does not take care of the backers that are the ones that are really making a project possible. I hate seeing decks in online shops before the backers receive their rewards, or even when they are cheaper than during the campaign. A backer deserves to receive the deck the first and the cheapest.Which deck (or decks) in your collection is your favorite, and why?Well, this is not arrogance, but my favorite decks are the Bicycle Texture series decks. It is just for an emotional reason. I had to deal with a lot of issues in order to be able to make my dream a reality: creating a Bicycle deck with my name on it. Having a series of them is simply amazing, and that makes me feel happy and confident.What would the most valuable deck in your collection be, and what accounts for its value?Honestly, I could not say. I have many valuable decks in my collection, and most of them are valuable more for sentimental reasons than for the price itself. In my case, it is more linked to the way I got that deck and who sold or traded it with me.
One of the items I appreciate more from the ones I acquired recently is the set given to those who were lucky to be at the recent event in New York to celebrate the union of Cartamundi and USPCC. It would have been impossible for me to get it unless someone attending the event was so kind to share it with me. The person who sent it means a lot to me, and I appreciate his friendship and kindness.What do your family and friends think of your collection, and of your interest in collecting and reviewing playing cards?I have to say this is something I don?t share with family and close friends too much. They have always been supportive with all I have done but, in general, they are not very interested in playing cards, and to them I seem like a freak regarding that. That?s why I mainly share this with other collectors and fans of playing cards who appreciate it much more.
My daughter is perhaps the exception. Although she is not crazy about cards, she loves helping me in whatever she can, and she is now learning some strategies to enrich my social media and make it more attractive. It is awesome to have her on board because she is quite creative and sensitive, and that?s essential for my focus.Do you belong to any playing card organizations, or connect with other collectors, either online or in any other way?Yes. I belong to Asescoin, the Spanish society for collectors of playing cards. Most members of this cool society are only interested in Spanish decks, so for years I have been trying to infect them with my passion for modern US decks, which is not easy. I also get inspiration from them as expert researchers of the history of playing cards, and to stay connected to the roots of Spanish playing cards. They make a fantastic publication every year, La Sota, which is an awesome knowledge source. They also publish an annual deck. Both are sent to the members as part of the annual membership, what is a great deal.
I was also a member of 52 Plus Joker for a couple of years. Unfortunately, being so far from the USA made this membership too expensive for me. I would have loved to be there and take part in the annual meetings and many other activities. Anyway, during my membership I had the possibility to know (from afar) Lee Asher and other cool members of the association, and that experience was fantastic.If you would start collecting all over again today, would you do anything different?I?m not sure. The way you handle your collecting is very important for the future. Collecting is addictive and if you decide to collect deck variations, or many different brands/creators as I did, you will need to change the focus and cut it out at some point. At the same time, the wider your collection is, the more you learn, so you get increasingly inspired and experience more. It is true I had to stop collecting in the way I used, because of the speed the market grew.What advice would you give someone just starting to collect playing cards today?I have given some speeches about collecting cards, and the advice I give changes depending on the audience. Nevertheless, I always suggest looking inside you, and to find the reason you want to collect playing cards. When a collector becomes just a deck picker, the original passion slowly dies, and things can lose sense.
I also suggest having a good source of information, and fellow collectors to share the passion with. That helps a lot to feel involved and to feed the passion.