Pink and Silver Bicycle Decks at Walmart?

[MrSlaybury]

Hey.  My first post, and I hope I placed it in the best spot.  I searched and searched and can't seem to find the specific info I'm looking for...

A couple months ago, I went into Walmart looking to grab a couple Bike decks, and came across a Pink deck.  After learning about how certain decks are only available at Walmart, I'm trying to figure out if this is one of those decks.  I've also found the same deck in a Silver color, and I've searched 7 Walmarts looking for more and/or different colors.  I haven't seen anything else other than the Pink and the Silver.

When searching online, information has been limited, with a couple stores referencing these as a "vintage design".  Does anyone out there have some more info on these decks for me?  If they're "custom", who have they been made for?  Are they called something specific that may help me search for other colors?  I'd really appreciate any help or links or anything lol. 

I know about the "fashion" decks that are available through Walmart, and I don't think they're part of that line.  So far I've purchased Daybreak, Marsala, Coral, and Indigo.  Also stocked up on the Neon Cyclist decks when they went on sale for $2.  If I can find these specific decks in purple I'll be completely stoked!

Roaming the beachside this summer with the Pink deck might've gotten me a few pretty tourist's numbers...might've...Ill leave the stories to your imaginations   

[Don Boyer]

These Bicycle Rider Back decks aren't new, as far as I know.  Your Walmart may have simply received some old stock lying in the back of the warehouse.  They aren't custom - they were produced by USPC, not a third party.

Conjuring Arts Research Center (conjuringarts.org) used to have the silver Rider Back deck in stock; sold them out a while ago, aren't expecting more.  They were manufactured by USPC in 2009.  I think the pink ones are at least as old, maybe even a little older - I've seen playing card retailers selling them for years.  One retailer even added an "It's a Girl!" sticker to it, as well as an "It's a Boy!" sticker to a matching baby blue deck of the same design.

There's been a couple of different versions of a purple Rider Back deck, including one from Magic Makers that included gaff cards for magic use instead of ad cards.  They aren't hard to find if you check with magic shops that sell cards or card specialty retailers online.  Amazon.com has them as well.  They aren't terribly expensive as collectible decks go because demand isn't very high.

If you like color variations of the Rider Back design, Vincenzo DiFatta produced a boxed set sold in some magic shops - nine different colors of Rider Backs plus two inexpensive close-up mats (one red, one black).  The deck colors are red, blue, black, gold, silver, orange, green, fuchsia and turquoise.

This company's offering it through Amazon at a decent price, considering it's a collectible item these days: https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Color-Collection-Decks-Tricks/dp/B00NI5C0M0

Simply put, of all the Bicycle designs over the years, there are more variations (color and colorway) of the Bicycle Rider Back than any other card back design, and perhaps more than all the others combined.  These days, most people who aren't card collectors know the design simply as the "Bicycle design" because when the company moved to Erlanger, Kentucky in 2009, they removed the design name from the box as part of a tuck box redesign with a slightly more modern look, simply calling them "Standard" - which refers to the size and index type rather than the back design.

[MrSlaybury]

Thanks for all the info, Don.  I appreciate it.

Well, the manufacturing date on the decks I have open are all in 2016. As well as the copyright date on the box.  So that's interesting.  I'm going to have to try and talk to a store manager at my local Walmart and maybe they can get me hardcore facts, or even a brick of them.

I grouped them into the same category, but both the colors are designed differently.  The court cards are completely different.  Love them.

I've seen the DiFatta set, and really hope to buy it when I have the money to.  Although I'm new to collecting and card manipulation, I spend hours and hours online looking at decks and watching YouTube reviews.  I actually was one of 6 winners of 52Kards' giveaway for the Mint decks.  I won the Black Mint and should have it this week!

Even though I'm new, I still feel the collective pain of USPCC's decision to change the box.  But yet they still offer it as a separate purchase which is crazy.  I bought a MMS Blue Ice deck from Diamonds Magic in Peabody, MA, and I was incredibly disappointed in the quality.  To the point where I don't want to use the, because I feel like the cards are going to rip.  I reached out to MMS to ask if I got a knockoff deck it's that bad.  Two emails and they never responded back to me. 

I really find myself fascinated by the Rider Back design.  Not quite sure why.  I just received my second Ellusionist deck today, the white Ghost deck.  Pretty fun to play around with.  I've also bought the Richard Turner deck.  I wish I could find a deck of Bee's locally.  I'd like to own that classic diamond back design, and I love the thicker stock.

Again, thanks for the info.  If I find out more, I'll post it here just in case anyone else searches for the info in the future.  I'm injured right now and on SSDI, so I have plenty of time on my hands haha.

[Don Boyer]

Thanks for all the info, Don.  I appreciate it.

Well, the manufacturing date on the decks I have open are all in 2016. As well as the copyright date on the box.  So that's interesting.  I'm going to have to try and talk to a store manager at my local Walmart and maybe they can get me hardcore facts, or even a brick of them.

I grouped them into the same category, but both the colors are designed differently.  The court cards are completely different.  Love them.

I've seen the DiFatta set, and really hope to buy it when I have the money to.  Although I'm new to collecting and card manipulation, I spend hours and hours online looking at decks and watching YouTube reviews.  I actually was one of 6 winners of 52Kards' giveaway for the Mint decks.  I won the Black Mint and should have it this week!

Even though I'm new, I still feel the collective pain of USPCC's decision to change the box.  But yet they still offer it as a separate purchase which is crazy.  I bought a MMS Blue Ice deck from Diamonds Magic in Peabody, MA, and I was incredibly disappointed in the quality.  To the point where I don't want to use the, because I feel like the cards are going to rip.  I reached out to MMS to ask if I got a knockoff deck it's that bad.  Two emails and they never responded back to me. 

I really find myself fascinated by the Rider Back design.  Not quite sure why.  I just received my second Ellusionist deck today, the white Ghost deck.  Pretty fun to play around with.  I've also bought the Richard Turner deck.  I wish I could find a deck of Bee's locally.  I'd like to own that classic diamond back design, and I love the thicker stock.

Again, thanks for the info.  If I find out more, I'll post it here just in case anyone else searches for the info in the future.  I'm injured right now and on SSDI, so I have plenty of time on my hands haha.

The different court card design is typical of the Fashion series, which USPC did recently revive.  It's possible these decks are part of that series, especially considering the manufacture date.

Instead of a store manager, try contacting Walmart's corporate office.  The managers are less likely to have the full story behind their store-exclusive merchandise, while the head office would be most likely.

It's unlikely your Blue Ice deck is a knockoff.  I've only see counterfeits of two types of decks - Bees (because they're popular in China, thus frequently imitated) and decks for which there's a good return on investment for a forger (a prime example being the Ellusionist Ultragaff deck, which normally sells for $25 new).  Best known example of forgeries of valuable decks would be the Jerry's Nugget deck - they're a few hundred bucks a pack among collectors today and the market was at one time flooded with bad-quality knockoffs.  Today, the knockoffs aren't good enough to fool anyone but they are of significantly better quality, or so I've been told by people who've acquired them.  The bad ones were total crap, the good ones are at least functional.

The Rider Back is a classic design - I think it originated in 1893, if I remember correctly.  Interesting fact - USPC doesn't allow any alterations to the design any longer, nor to any of their classic, widely-used card backs or their jokers and Aces of Spades.  The reason has a lot to do with trademark and copyright law.  Most of their art for their classics is too old to be copyrighted and resides in the public domain - but trademarks are a different story, renewable ad infinitum, so the company tries to protect them as trademarks.  Trademarks can't be protected if the owner "dilutes" them by allowing design variations to exist.  Thus, gaff cards with alterations to the Rider Back design (including marked decks) are no longer permitted - the company will recommend you use one of two newer look-alike designs, the Mandolin Back or the Maiden Back, instead, both of which being new enough to be copyright protected and thus can be altered more freely while still having copyright protection under the law.

If you like the Turner Bicycles, you might like the base versions of either of those two newer designs - they're made on Bee Casino stock and are traditionally cut just like the Turner decks.  Also, be on the lookout for two older Turner decks - Turner Bees and "Gamblers," both made to the same specifications but considerably harder to find as they're quite rare and long out of print.

[MrSlaybury]

Wow.  Awesome info on the Rider Back design.  That got me stoked.  I wondered why you don't see any "official" rider back marked decks.  Like when I went into that magic shop all the rider back decks that had been gaffed had open seals; like the owner made them himself or something.

I am definitely going to look into those two newer designs.  Thank you so much for letting me know that.  I do like that stock, although after playing around with my RT Bike deck for a little while today, I'm not sure I like them as much as I did when I first go them.  I can really see how someone who does more table work would like them more.  I've broken in a dozen or so decks since I bought the RT's, and Ive used all the tips I've read about breaking in decks.  They really do perform how you want them to based on how you break them in.  Ive found I can mail a perfect faro both directions for quite a while with a deck. 

I often find myself smiling just thinking about the history with cards in general.  Like Whist, for example.  It is my favorite game to play, and to imagine people in the old west betting on hands just like I did is crazy.  Or someone 100 years ago practicing a sleight that I'm trying to learn.  Unfortunately having a hard time finding anyone that plays Whist near me.  I learned when I was living in MA, and up here people don't seem to know the game, or lmao, "their grandparents play it" 😂.

Thanks for the idea of contacting Corporate too.  Being someone who's been in retail management for years, I don't know why I didn't think of that lol.  I went to the beach and practiced for 4 hours straight, and really got to thinking that despite of all these flashy designs and new magic specific decks and cuts, I think a normal Bicycle deck is just what makes sense to practice with.  Especially finding them for $2 a pack at Target.
Thanks Don, you're a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate it!