Quote from: axther on November 05, 2015, 10:36:04 AM

Thanks for all the answers

I'm thinking about buying atm the killer clowns bike and looking for other interesting decks that have a unique design and unique Jokers , I'm looking at different stores on the web (US and Europe)

btw, is it possible to collect the Jokers aside? I mean I would collect the decks, but I want to play with them and use them here and there, but I won't play with the jokers themselves (and the add cards or any other extra card that is not needed in gameplay), so can I like collect them and keep them only in a "perfect" condition by the side and the rest of the deck as a different collection? Like to showcase the Jokers in 1 place and the decks them self in another place

I'm guessing that you're a younger collector, new to the whole thing.  That's cool.

There's a popular version of card collecting called "single swap."  Those collectors love the card back designs, but find the hobby a little too expensive or that it take up too much space - but for whatever personal reason, they collect single cards from a deck rather than the entire deck itself.  It's a lot cheaper to collect singles than entire decks, and an entire collection can fit on a single bookshelf with room to spare, while I can personally attest to the fact that a collection with a few thousand decks in it takes up a LOT of space and is VERY HEAVY (I moved a few months ago)...

Some collectors of single swaps specialize by collecting a specific card from a deck.  Most popular would be the Aces of Spades and the Jokers, followed by the court cards.  They'll get that same card from every deck they collect, and just that card.  Finding specific cards from each deck is a little more challenging, because by focusing, for example, on only the Ace of Spades, you've just eliminated 53/54ths of all the single swaps on the market as potential candidates for your collection.  That would be 52/54ths eliminated if you're a joker collector, unless you specialize there, like getting only the "color" joker, the "big" joker or the joker that doesn't have the USPC Guarantee on it.

Ye I am only 18
every shipment to Israel takes at minimum a month, so I can't buy from now to now and I wouldn't hold myself for a whole month without playing with some decks I want to get, and the joker is an unused card so I thought of looking out for the joker cards more then the other cards, like saving him in a perfect condition (unlike the rest of the deck which I will play ones a month or even less, depends on the mood lol)

Yes those are mostly new decks at the bike shop. It's USPCC's storefront for bikes. Amazon and ebay are also great places to pick up playing cards, as are some of the fantastic outlets around the world. There are many quality retailers out there who try to offer a good price if you shop around I'm sure you can find them. When you find a deck you really like it shouldn't be difficult at all to have in your hands unless it's an out of print deck and even then, not too terribly hard to get in most cases.

Sorry for so many questions, but just another one, can you explain me how the kickstarter decks work?
 Like is it a way to guarantee yourself that specific deck when it is released?
And should I start and getting decks from kickstarters? Couse there some cool ones that got my eye already :p

Hello Axther. welcome to the forum!

Collecting bikes is a great place to start. If you find you want to branch beyond bikes, there's plenty of that too. I think you'll have a great  time collecting playing cards, I know I do. There's lots of good information on various modern decks, bikes included, as well as a ton of information on vintage playing cards.

I'd say if you want to start collecting bikes, it wouldn't be a bad idea to swing by the bike shop. The site is a little hard to navigate and find what you're after, what they have for sale and what they're just showing off. Really not very good web design for a store. Still with some digging you can find their latest releases as well as some of the previous releases. Club 808 is now free to join as well so you'll find access to those decks there until they sell out.

Don't be afraid to jump in to share your opinions and observations as you join the conversation. Everyone is/was new at some point and it's always great to see each others thoughts on the various happenings in the hobby.

Thanks! I'll take a look of it, btw I'm from Israel so if I want a certain deck it will take sometime until I get it, and is it ok to buy different Bikes on Ebay and Amazon? or is it risky?

Fix me if i am wrong or misunderstood, but the decks in the website you gave me are new ones right?

Welcome, Axther.  Definitely take your time, look around, and get accustomed to the place.  Start at first with the new decks - you'll get some bargains, relatively speaking, and your new rare extra decks today can be used as trading fodder for older rare decks tomorrow, rather than blowing the wad and spending all your cash on sold-out rarities no longer in print.  You'll almost always get a better deal by trading than by buying in cash, though it's a little more challenging - at least you're in the right place for it!

Well I mainly want to collect them for show and to brag off to my friends of the cool decks I have, so I don't really know if I'd like to trade decks, adding the fact I live in Israel and I don't think we have a community for playing cards collecting, but the challenge of trading sounds fun!


Small question, are there any rules or stuff that are like a normal thing to do when collecting playing cards? Like am I allowed to play with the cards I collect or it will hurt the value (Trading wise)? Can I unseal them or they have to stay sealed for maximum value(For trading as well)?   Sorry for my little knowledge of the subject