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Designing a New Deck of Cards

mrdude42

mrdude42

May 30, 2009
16
4
Bay Area, California
I'm working a custom deck of cards and I was wondering if anyone had any comments and/or suggestions so far. I'm thinking about making them without numbers. Just the pips like older style playing cards. I can post some pictures so you can all see what I mean. At this point I'm still designing the court cards but I have them about 75% done and I need to do the Jokers, Ace of Spades, and the card backs. Oh and I was also thinking of maybe making it a 4 color deck in stead of the standard 2 colors. (ie Blue Diamonds, Green Clubs, Red Hearts, Black Spades)

Is there anything you all would like in terms of something you would want to use for magic? Should I stick to just red and black pips? With/without numbers? Should I keep the backs like standard bicycles? (I'm having the USPCC print the cards)

Any gaff card ideas? I think I'll be able to have a couple cards I can make into gaffs. I was thinking a double back for one and I'm not sure for the other yet.

Any comments/suggestions are welcome!

I just added a picture of a few of the cards so you can see how they are so far. There's the King of Clubs, Queen of Spades, Jack of Hearts, and the 10 of Diamonds.

 
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Ezekhial

Mar 4, 2012
11
0
i think that is is a great idea of having no corner pips on the number cards, albeit it makes it a little harder for card magic. i also like the idea of no numbers on the court cards.

what do you think about having one of the gaff cards being a half change card ( half of the card a number card, say the seven of hearts, and the other half a court card)?

personally i don't recommend using four colors for the pips, but if you want to use something different how about using blue and red or black and blue, red and green, red and green.

i think that if you decide to keep the standard backs then it would look nice to match the special color of the pips (if you choose to do so), but i don't think you should do so, i think that it would be cool if you edited the standard back and gave it a subtle one way back.

but hey in the end it is all up to you and what you want I'm just making a few suggestions.
 
S

Seanhawk23

Oct 13, 2008
167
0
Using four colors and the standard bicycle back design would prove quite detracting, so I recommend against those. What you have in style reminds me of the Art Deco era; perhaps you could tailor the deck back design to fit such a theme.

I like the idea of no numbers, something people don't generally go for. The lack of letters in the court cards is also pretty cool :), but one thing I would have done would be to either publish an alternate deck with the number/pips, or even just the numbers but no small pips. makes sense?
 
S

Seanhawk23

Oct 13, 2008
167
0
Ezekhial said:
i think that is is a great idea of having no corner pips on the number cards, albeit it makes it a little harder for card magic. i also like the idea of no numbers on the court cards.

what do you think about having one of the gaff cards being a half change card ( half of the card a number card, say the seven of hearts, and the other half a court card)?

personally i don't recommend using four colors for the pips, but if you want to use something different how about using blue and red or black and blue, red and green, red and green.

i think that if you decide to keep the standard backs then it would look nice to match the special color of the pips (if you choose to do so), but i don't think you should do so, i think that it would be cool if you edited the standard back and gave it a subtle one way back.

but hey in the end it is all up to you and what you want I'm just making a few suggestions.
Click to expand...

You make some pretty excellent points there, Ezekhial. However, I disagree with subtle edits to the back design. The style, elegant and conservative, could use a substantially better back, so that it wouldn't look too out of place in James Bond's hands at Casino Royale. Considering what he has shown us so far, I think that a full-blown redesign is well within the realm of possibility.

Also, the gaff card idea with the half card? AWESOME :)
 
W

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,889
2,948
Ezekhial said:
personally i don't recommend using four colors for the pips, but if you want to use something different how about using blue and red or black and blue, red and green, red and green.
Click to expand...

Changing the colors of the pips will create confusion. I've encountered it with things like E's Ghost deck, which all the index pips are black. People are expecting one thing, and changing that will make them have to focus on the cards, not the magic, or they'll forget.

i think that if you decide to keep the standard backs then it would look nice to match the special color of the pips (if you choose to do so), but i don't think you should do so, i think that it would be cool if you edited the standard back and gave it a subtle one way back.
Click to expand...

Do you mean putting the color of the pips on the back of the card? That will be something of a give-away, don't you think? If clubs are green, and the back is green, you know they're holding clubs.

Also, I could be wrong, but the standard Bicycle design still cannot be altered last I checked.

Personally I dig the design, but it's not good for card magic or card games. In short, it will be really easy to confuse one card for another unless someone is paying close attention, and making them pay that close attention to the prop will take away from your ability to focus on presentation because you'll have to keep reminding them to check the cards. All higher number cards will look alike, and all the court cards will look alike. If you doubt me, watch someone who isn't super familiar with chess trying to set up a basic chess set. Everyone picks up the queen and the king and looks at them for a moment before going, "Which one's which?"
 
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Ezekhial

Mar 4, 2012
11
0
ChristopherT said:
Do you mean putting the color of the pips on the back of the card? That will be something of a give-away, don't you think? If clubs are green, and the back is green, you know they're holding clubs.
Click to expand...

sorry not being more specific with that, but no i don't mean that. i mean that if he decides to go with say green and red (which i don't reccomend) he should not make the backs green, but incorperate green into all of the backs to match the special color of the pips(not red and black).

and you are right. what you were thinking of would be a give-away and in my oppinion shouldn't be done.
 
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WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,889
2,948
Ezekhial said:
sorry not being more specific with that, but no i don't mean that. i mean that if he decides to go with say green and red (which i don't reccomend) he should not make the backs green, but incorperate green into all of the backs to match the special color of the pips(not red and black).

and you are right. what you were thinking of would be a give-away and in my oppinion shouldn't be done.
Click to expand...

Ok, now I get it. That was the other impression I had, but wanted to clarify.

As a note, I want to point out that I'm not saying this is a bad design. I actually just purchased a reproduction of a civil war-era deck with no back design, no pips, and all the cards look hand-painted. I want to use it for certain fairs and events (like steampunk stuff)
 
mrdude42

mrdude42

May 30, 2009
16
4
Bay Area, California
Still working on Backsides

This is not done yet but what do you guys think of the backside I've been working on for this deck? I'm trying to design it so it can be easily turned into a marked deck too.

705CC027-9008-4CFE-B3A1-D41E1D77D4C1-1397-0000002B737A38FD_zpsa5b4174b.jpg


JackSpades_zps7c34ff98.png


KingDiamonds_zps7d901b56.png


KingHearts_zps78a351e3.png
 
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