how much for a prototype deck from uspcc ?

[Frost]

does any body know how much it costs for a prototype deck from uspcc ?

[Joshua Robinson]

Alex Should, And is it possible to get them to come with a finish on them?

[xela]

When I ordered mine it was $250 for a completed, fully cusotm deck. That includes the tuck case, the calendering, and the bonus cards. The cards do not have any finish on them, and are printed on really thick stock. This results in unique handling. The cards don't last more than a several hours of intense use, but they are ungodly when it comes to performance. My prototype deck still faro's well, and is awesome for cuts, but regrettably it no longer fans.

[Frost]

cool its because i am in the process of designing my deck and. I wanted to know how much it costs for a prototype deck so i can start saving up for that so when i am all done i can have it made to see how it will look like as playing cards .

[Don Boyer]

cool its because i am in the process of designing my deck and. I wanted to know how much it costs for a prototype deck so i can start saving up for that so when i am all done i can have it made to see how it will look like as playing cards .

Some people have been using Brahma Playing Cards for making prototypes before going to USPC.  They only charge $50 for a prototype.

[Frost]

oh ya i forgot about that company i might go there first then, its way cheaper . can they do any kind of deck like for example could the have done the tendril ?

[Don Boyer]

I have some sample decks from them.  They have a decent range of custom options available and they don't charge extra for setting up the art and all that stuff that USPC does.

[agera94]

I swear I read this on the forum front page as: "how much for a potato". Anyways, I believe you can make a custom backed deck with some recoloured courts, and get 1-500 decks made for you. Just check the bicycle website regarding custom designs or something.

[Don Boyer]

I swear I read this on the forum front page as: "how much for a potato". Anyways, I believe you can make a custom backed deck with some recoloured courts, and get 1-500 decks made for you. Just check the bicycle website regarding custom designs or something.

??  He wants a prototype.  "A", as in "one".  You're probably referring to the Personalized Decks they offer.  Those are dead-simple - exact same USPC faces that appear on all their decks (and probably a Bicycle AoS) with a single custom image (generally a photograph or other graphic) on the backs.  It's not quite the same thing as a custom deck.  They also have their "Zazzle" decks, but they appear to be printed on "blanks" - Bicycle faces with blank backs, ready to be printed with whatever image you submit, and there's a few color/style variations for the faces but you can't actually make any changes beyond their selection.

A true prototype for a fully-custom deck design will cost $250 at USPC, unless they changed the price from the last time I heard it.  There are usually ancillary fees for setting up the art as well.  At Brahma, you can get a full-custom prototype for $50 without any extra fees.

[agera94]

Yeah the zazzle thing was what I was trying to get at, but had forgotten the name. Cheers for clearing up the difference Sir. Donald 

[Don Boyer]

Yeah the zazzle thing was what I was trying to get at, but had forgotten the name. Cheers for clearing up the difference Sir. Donald 

My title is Discourse Moderator, not Discourse Nobleman!  And my rank is Platinum Member, not Knight of the Order! 

Those blanks I referred to are uncut sheets that are only printed on one side.  It's the reason why there's no letter codes with the Ace of Spades - when the faces are printed, there's no clue as to when the backs will be printed so no date is indicated.

They do the same thing for all of their Congress decks - they haven't had date codes on them for a few decades.  Makes it harder to date a deck of them, but makes it easier for USPC to almost print on demand whatever back they want without even needing to think of the faces.

They might make a million blank Congress decks at a run, and they sit on a warehouse shelf waiting for the next stage of the process - in fact, they might not even cut the paper roll into sheets, instead rewinding it onto smaller rolls of maybe 100,000 decks each.  They can leave a roll in the "Congress printer" and they're ready to fire it up and print backs at will.  It also means that the printer used can be smaller (since it's only used for bridge-sized decks) and doesn't have to do double-sided prints, which probably makes it less expensive.

It's possible they would use a sheet-fed press for it, but I'm thinking that due to quantities printed, they may use a web press or something similar designed for one-sided printing.

[twiscold]

good to know, but if you get a prototype else where what happens when you try to do a full production with USPCC

[Don Boyer]

good to know, but if you get a prototype else where what happens when you try to do a full production with USPCC

Pretty much the same thing that would happen if you didn't, except you wouldn't need a prototype deck - perhaps just a proof sheet.  They use the same digital files and print in CMYK.

[Frost]

can they put metallic ink on a prototype deck and can they make any color metallic or is it just some colors ?

[xela]

When I ordered mine, they could not do metallic on prototypes. This was one of the reasons I opted out of using metallic ink on the Vortex.

They can only make certain colors metallic. In other words, there is no "shiny black."

Unless you WANT dull, unsaturated colors on your cards, metallic inks blow pretty hard.

[Frost]

do you know if they can make metallic turquoise ?

[Don Boyer]

do you know if they can make metallic turquoise ?

You should actually check with the USPC Custom Department.  The standards and practices there have a tendency to change over time, so you never know what's an available option and what isn't at any given moment unless you get in touch with them in that moment.


Alex: while metallic black isn't available, David Blaine did something really cool with the silver Split Spades: metallic gold printed on black.  Looks subtly different and very nice.