You Are In Charge of Playing Card R&D...

[Don Boyer]

A playing card company - doesn't matter which - just hired you to be in charge of R&D.  They want you to make some of the finest decks, things that collectors would want to have their babies with.  You can pick and choose whatever features you want, as long as it's technologically possible.  You can make whatever designs strike you.  You can promote the decks, sell them, set rarities, etc., ANY WAY YOU WANT.  There's only one caveat - this has to be something that will sell, big-time, to the community, and perhaps even cause it to grow larger.

What do you decide to do, now that you're in charge? 

[MrMollusk]

I always wanted to see a Rorschach deck. Classy, stylized, inky pips, custom court cards, and a killer back/AOS.

The box could be vellum made to look like yellowed paper, and a glossy black ink embossing in one of those old-timey typographic styles could be the text.

Oh, and of course the tax stamp seal.

But I would NEVER have enough talent or dough to design a deck like that.  Too bad. It would allow form an awesome reveal.

[John B.]

unicorn blood instead of ink.


though in all seriousness. I think a deck based of the 4 elements, done classy would be nice.

[JacksonRobinson]

I would like to develop a black paper stock to print on so when I wanted to create all black cards you would never get the chipped edge look.

[Card Player]

A playing card company - doesn't matter which - just hired you to be in charge of R&D.  They want you to make some of the finest decks, things that collectors would want to have their babies with.  You can pick and choose whatever features you want, as long as it's technologically possible.  You can make whatever designs strike you.  You can promote the decks, sell them, set rarities, etc., ANY WAY YOU WANT.  There's only one caveat - this has to be something that will sell, big-time, to the community, and perhaps even cause it to grow larger.

What do you decide to do, now that you're in charge? 

Why would I want to tell anyone my ideas on this forum so some magic company can read it and make money?

[JacksonRobinson]

A playing card company - doesn't matter which - just hired you to be in charge of R&D.  They want you to make some of the finest decks, things that collectors would want to have their babies with.  You can pick and choose whatever features you want, as long as it's technologically possible.  You can make whatever designs strike you.  You can promote the decks, sell them, set rarities, etc., ANY WAY YOU WANT.  There's only one caveat - this has to be something that will sell, big-time, to the community, and perhaps even cause it to grow larger.

What do you decide to do, now that you're in charge? 

Why would I want to tell anyone my ideas on this forum so some magic company can read it and make money off of it?

True True. But they are only gimmicks and fads and thats all most of them have now.

[Don Boyer]

Jackson's got a good idea - who hasn't wanted a black deck that won't chip to show white underneath?  I know we've talked about it here many times before.

Try to think along the lines of innovations, as well - for example, I've seen Bee decks for the Chinese market that had really sweet-looking holograms etched into the cellophane wrapper as an anti-counterfeiting measure.  Imagine something like that but with something more decorative on it.  Hell, imagine the holograms on the tuck case itself!

In other words, think of the kind of features that would make you drool with lust...    Things that people in the community would be climbing over mountains of dead corpses to purchase with a smile on their faces.

(OK, maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea...)

[Don Boyer]

bump bump - this topic's got to have more life to it.  What do you guys want to see as far as playing card innovation?

[Card Player]

I would like to develop a black paper stock to print on so when I wanted to create all black cards you would never get the chipped edge look.

That is a great idea but it also sounds very expensive in terms of how much a retail customer would have to pay per deck. The black paper process would have to be done before the stock ever gets to USPCC. I suppose they would add a black color to the paper mix at the paper mill. If they can do it with construction paper, I don't see why not playing card stock. I would also assume because of low demand, USPCC is not going to keep much black paper stock in its inventory. When you consider the small percentage of custom decks to the millions of standards that are made by USPCC, black paper storage and reduction of white stock per shipping volume to add black stock would also add to the expense. You also have to consider the changes to colors when the ink is applied. Bright red might not look like bright red when printed on black paper.

[Don Boyer]

I would like to develop a black paper stock to print on so when I wanted to create all black cards you would never get the chipped edge look.

That is a great idea but it also sounds very expensive in terms of how much a retail customer would have to pay per deck. The black paper process would have to be done before the stock ever gets to USPCC. I suppose they would add a black color to the paper mix at the paper mill. If they can do it with construction paper, I don't see why not playing card stock. I would also assume because of low demand, USPCC is not going to keep much black paper stock in its inventory. When you consider the small percentage of custom decks to the millions of standards that are made by USPCC, black paper storage and reduction of white stock per shipping volume to add black stock would also add to the expense. You also have to consider the changes to colors when the ink is applied. Bright red might not look like bright red when printed on black paper.

I see where you're coming from on this.  But imagine if USPC decided to make some "special edition" Rider Backs in black, with the regular colors of a Rider Back deck but with that slick-looking black stock?  That could be an awesome idea, and I think they'd find it popular for poker sets and the like.

I'm not at liberty to discuss this in detail, but USPC actually makes a fair amount of profit on their Custom Department, enough to make a concept such as this feasible.  You do raise a valid point about how this would involve changes at the paper mill and not at their factory, but if any company would have the pull to get it made, USPC would be that company.

The biggest trick about printing on a black stock is just that - it's black.  Applying ordinary ink would not work very well.  But if it was some kind of, oh, I dunno - a silk-screen type process? - that would apply something that adheres to the surface in a thin layer, thin enough that the layer of laminate applied after printing would smooth out the surface and keep the applied ink from scraping off the card or interfering with the cards' movement against each other and hard surfaces.  Or - and this would be an interesting concept - make the applied ink thick enough to actually be three-dimensional, something you can feel.  It would be the first deck readable by a blind man that wasn't printed in Braille.

[Paul Carpenter]

You could print on black stock without  terribly major change in process. You basically have to hit all colored areas with white, perhaps 2-3 times to set a solid white area to print over, then lay down your color as you normally would.

A few more steps but it wouldn't be rocket science. It's been done.

[john]

Just made plastic cards with finish that never breaks down, therefor plummeting the custom card market sales! Wait... this ISN'T Civ Rev?

[Don Boyer]

You could print on black stock without  terribly major change in process. You basically have to hit all colored areas with white, perhaps 2-3 times to set a solid white area to print over, then lay down your color as you normally would.

A few more steps but it wouldn't be rocket science. It's been done.

I like that - but that would probably really push up the price of the deck, yes?

But simply put, it can be done!  And it would make a superior black deck.