Look closer. Those Classic playing cards are Cartamundi decks, made in China.
I didn't know the brand, but yes, made in China, and it definitely shows.
The Classics appear to be replacing Mavericks as the dollar deck this year.
I don't believe I've ever seen Mavericks at any of our local DGs, however, they do seem to be the prefered deck brand for Big Lots here; despite being a more known brand, I never usually hear much positive things about Maverick . . . I guess that's why Big Lots has them, lol. I actually have recently noticed that each individual grocery store chain seems to carry a different brand, in additional to also stocking Bicycle (which is almost always found in the check-out lines). For example, in addition to Maverick at Big Lots, some of the grocery store chains in my town also stock Hoyle at Kroger (in a double pack like Walmart does with Bicycle), Bee at Food City (I bought a red and blue deck there), and Eagle at Ingles. Food City and Ingles also carry different decks of Bikes, such as Pinochle decks. As I said, they're usually found at check-out, but some cases, they'll have their own end-cap, usually at the end of whatever aisle has beer, soda, and chips.
The center "button" on the back design has changed slightly on various editions of this desk. Sorry, my decks aren't readily accessible for pictures right now.
Here's some quick scans I did to share:
![](http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k290/snowthbo/classic1_zpswoffsxvz.jpg)
![](http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k290/snowthbo/classic2_zpsymtjaenh.jpg)
Like Don said, the face cards are really bad - like low-quality digital print-outs or something: the outlines sort of bleed into each other, and the color quality is like trying to compare an off-brand box of crayons to Crayola. And that Ace of Spades isn't much to sneeze at either; I like a nice-looking Ace of Spades (Bee is probably one of my favorites), but this isn't one of them. Like I said, I got this deck at DG several, several years ago: it was the first deck I ever bought for myself, mainly because I wanted to get a deck of playing cards for a party, so I just grabbed the cheap deck at DG. I forget why I ended up buying the two decks of Bikes a year later, but when I did, I "woke up" and realized the difference in quality between a paper deck that was printed, coated, and finished here in the U.S. of A. and a plastic deck that was printed in China.
I will say this about that plastic deck: it
is durable. I accidentally spilled a bottle of water on them once, and aside from the plastic stock warping and swelling slightly (it's a really fat deck now), the cards themselves weren't really damaged at all . . . unfortunately, when some of my Bikes happened to rest on a wet ring on the desk, that was it, I had to replace the deck, which is why I try to take good care of my Bikes and Bees, lol. I know a lot of people prefer plastic decks for that very reason, but just for my personal preference in terms of feel and handling, I do like a nice, coated, finished paper deck. Heck, I can still remember the smell of that Cartamundi deck when I first opened it. . . . not pleasant.