Category: Playing Cards

SUSTAINABLE SUMMER DECKS WITH SHUFFLED INK

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Charles Levin - Affirmation Cards, Campaign, Card Games, Eco Friendly, Oracle Cards, Playing Cards, Post-Consumer Products, Press Release, Recycled Material, Sustainable, Tarot Cards

#SISustainableSummer

Join the stride toward eco-friendly solutions with #SISustainableSummer. Starting this month and through the week of Aug. 29, we are recognizing Shuffled Ink clients who choose eco-friendly materials for their card products.

Sustainable Summer Clients

June 2021 Feature

Card Project: Your Girlfriend’s No BS Love Oracle

“We chose the 100% post-consumer box because incorporating sustainable materials in our product packaging was important to us, and especially in what we offer to our customer base. An incredible amount of resources go into packaging daily around the world; we wanted to reduce our impact as much as possible in material choices for our products” — Meo & Shannon

Eco Tuck Box

100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers White Tuck Box

About

Printed on high-quality paper to produce beautifully sound colors, this 65-card deck is compact with pure vibrant energy. Designed as a love oracle deck, each card carries divine and raw insight, getting straight to the point about love and romantic soulmate inquiries. This deck can be used as a stand-alone oracle or paired nicely as a clarifier deck with other tarot or oracle decks.

July 2021 Features

Card Project: Cryptids of North America Playing Cards

“Every choice that we make, big or small, is impactful. Choosing @shuffledink to produce my playing cards was already a more environmentally responsible choice. And taking the next step to implement a 100% post-consumer box to hold my cards together was an even easier decision that resulted in a beautifully finished product.” –Shaun Wegscheid

***Eco* *Tuck Box***

100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers White Tuck Box

About

The majority of components for this project utilize greener alternatives. The entire card box and nearly all packaging material are made from recycled material and/or compostable.

This set includes 6 North American cryptids. Deck designer, Shaun W., put forth specific efforts to avoid a majority from any specific region of the continent. The 6 cryptids included in this playing card deck are Batsquatch, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Flitterbick, Mothman and Fresno Nightcrawler. Each card suit has been shifted to represent a Cryptid. The shape takes notes from both the traditional playing card suit, as well as the cryptid. The red hearts and diamonds use a blue and purple color scheme, and the black clubs and spades use a blue and green color scheme.

Card Project: Deck of Healthy Habits

“Launching a brand includes a multitude of decisions and working with a company that gave an option for more sustainable packaging was important. Choosing the 100% post-consumer box for my deck of cards was an easy decision, and partnering with @shuffledink gave me a beautiful product that I can also feel proud knowing was a more responsible choice for the environment.” –Samantha March

Eco Tuck Box

100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers White Tuck Box

About

Helping you stay inspired, this deck displays a healthy habit on each card. The tuck box is printed on post-consumer recycled materials

August 2021 Features

Card Project: Pop Quip! The Party Game for Everyone

“We were drawn to ‘family owned and operated’ and once we got down to business, @shuffledink exceeded our expectations in quality, professionalism and their ability to be competitive with their prices. While other companies made us feel like our product (@popquip) was a low priority and they weren’t interested in working with our special requests (plastic-free packing) and printing the tuck box on recycled, post-consumer paper, Matt (CEO) and Lisa (VP of Sales) were happy and excited to work with us. They have earned another loyal customer by going above and beyond to make sure we were 100% completely satisfied with their work. We look forward to many more orders with them.” –Adam Morley and Megan Robinson

***Eco* *Tuck Box***

100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers White Tuck Box

About

Locally produced to reduce the environmental impact associated with transportation, the Pop Quip! Game is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled fibers and packed without cellophane wrapping.

Game creators Adam Morley and Megan Robinson are a couple of pun-loving individuals striving to bring wordplay to life! FullIt’s compact so you can play anywhere. It’s great for road trips, game nights, airports, video chats and more!

Card Project: Crystal Universe Deck

“It is important to use ethical and sustainable practices with harvesting gems and minerals, and The Crystal Universe Deck gives people a chance to connect with the energy of crystals and minerals without having to over-consume.” –Deanna Jacome & Grace Harrington Murdoch

Eco Tuck Box

100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers White Tuck Box

About

Creators Deanna Jacome and Grace Harrington Murdoch welcome you seamlessly into the natural world of crystals and stones with their Crystal Universe Deck. Its powerful healing components enhance our connection to nature, from the smallest pebble below to the massive planets above.

They chose the 100% post-consumer box for their cards because caring for the environment is important to them. While creating the deck, they spent a lot of time connecting with nature. The 40 fine art paintings were often done outside for each card and the writing for each oracle card was done in a very grounded and mindful way, carrying messages to connect with the natural world as often as possible.

September 2021 Feature

Card Project: True You Cards

“I’ve always been drawn to the kraft style material on printed pieces because it comes across as more handcrafted and personal than most printed packaging. Especially since printing can be such a technical process, I wanted something that felt more human. When I was writing and designing my card deck, the words and visuals kept pointing towards our connection to nature and reconnecting with our innate, natural wellbeing as a result of this connection. The sustainable packaging option felt like the obvious choice.” – Gabriel Gandzjuk

Eco Tuck Box

30% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers Brown Eco Kraft Tuck Box

About

In October 2020, Shuffled Ink partnered with True Life Habitat creator Gabriel Gandzjuk to manufacture his eco-friendly True You Cards. We were extremely excited to dip our toe into sustainable packaging, as this was one of the first Eco Kraft projects that we produced for a client.

Along with the eco box, Gabriel also sent us complimentary sustainable packaging, including comPost packs & comPostable labels; both are available for purchase here.

Quiet your cluttered mind with a daily moment of pause and insight in this beautifully designed card deck. True You Cards were designed to see that mental wellness is closer within our reach than we think. Disconnect from your device and reconnect with the True You.

Shuffled Ink’s Sustainable Summer Decks

We are also thrilled to launch the Sustainable Summer Deck collection, inspired by our beautiful planet and made with components of post-consumer recycled fibers.

Earth Day, Every Day Playing Cards (Eco Kraft Tuck Box)

Earth Day, Every Day Playing Cards (Post-Consumer White Tuck Box)

Eco Oracle Deck (Eco Kraft Tuck Box & Paper)

Eco Oracle Deck (Post-Consumer White Tuck Box)

Make Your Next Project Eco-Friendly

Request complimentary samples of our eco-friendly products to touch and feel the quality for yourself.

Here are a couple of eco options that we offer:

30% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers Eco Kraft Tuck Box
100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fibers White Tuck Box

PLAYING CARD WORLD RECORDS

Posted on June 14, 2021 by EndersGame - Entertainment, Playing Cards, World Records

Many of us have our own growing collection of playing cards, and probably the thing that interests us the most is our “personal best” for the number of decks we possess. But playing cards have also been the subject of some fascinating world records. Perhaps some of these will inspire you to new heights with your playing cards!

● Largest (collection): Let’s start with the category that many of you will be wondering about – who has the largest collection of decks, and how big is it? According to the official Guiness World Records, the current record holder is Liu Fuchang of China, with 11,087 different sets of playing cards. Alternatively, if you just collect Jokers, you’ll need to beat Tony De Santis of Italy, who has 8,520 of them – all different! ● Largest (cards): The record for the largest complete deck of playing cards is quite impressive, considering that it required a full set of cards. In May 2016, Claes Blixt put together a beast of a deck that weighed over 200kg, with cards that were 158.4cm high and 104.4cm wide. Much bigger yet is the largest ever human playing card. It was the Ace of Diamonds, and consisted of 600 people at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in 2013.

● Memorizing (single deck): In the early 1990s, the record for memorizing a shuffled deck of playing cards was more than one minute. Ben Pridmore of Great Britain was the first to get this time to under 30 seconds. But his record of around 25 seconds was eventually slashed by Zou Lujian of China at the 2017 World Memory Championships, who managed to memorize a complete deck in just 13.96 seconds! You can increase the difficulty of this by attempting it underwater. Poland’s Krzysztof Kuich stayed underwater without an oxygen supply to memorize an entire deck, which he then arranged in 4 minutes and 27 seconds. The most cards memorized unassisted while underwater is Christian Schafer’s 56. ● Memorizing (multiple decks): In 1993, Dominic O’Brien set a record by memorizing 40 complete decks (that’s 2080 cards altogether!) with only one sighting of them all, and only made one mistake in recalling them. In 2007, Canadian Dave Farrow took around 14 hours to memorize 59 separate decks (that’s over 3,000 cards!) on a single sighting, while the recall took around 9 hours. This record still stands today after more than 10 years. As for the most decks memorized in one hour, that is 37 decks (1,924 cards!), achieved by Munkhshur Narmandakh, also at the 2017 World Memory Championships. ● Holding (cards): Think you can produce a nice fan? To beat the world record for holding the most cards in one hand, you’ll need to beat the incredible number of 326. This was set by Ralf Laue of Germany in 1994. The exacting requirements for this record included the need to have the colour and value of every single card visible, using no aids. Abandoning the “fan” requirement of course makes things much easier, as Jack Webster proved in 2010 by holding no less than 992 cards in his hand at once. ● Holding (decks): Never mind how many cards you can hold in one hand; how many decks can you hold at once, using just one hand? The current record of 55 is held by Kaleb Morgan, which he’s held since November 2015. Surely one of our readers can beat that? This next category also sounds quite beatable: the longest time for balancing a deck of cards on your elbow is claimed by Gasper D’Anna, with 3 minutes and 42 seconds.

● Throwing: There are special techniques you can learn to throw playing cards long distances and at incredibly high speeds. Learning the basics of card throwing is actually not that difficult, while instructional DVDs will teach you advanced techniques. Ricky Jay made a name for himself breaking card throwing records. But if you want to beat the best of the best today, you’ll need to compete with Rick Smith Jr, who is the world record holder for throwing a playing card 65.96m (216 ft 4 in) at a top speed of 92 miles per hour. He’s also thrown a playing card a record 21.41m high. When you’re that good, you actually can slice fruit with a playing card! You can even buy special cards designed for throwing, like the Banshees deck which adds a “sonic scream” when the cards whip through the air.

https://youtu.be/TvNTcB6c-V8

● Sorting: If you are hyperactive and have a healthy dose of OCD, perhaps this is a record for you to beat: taking a completely shuffled deck, and sorting all the cards by suit and number (Ace through King). In 2017, April Choi apparently managed this feat in a remarkable 18.53 seconds, although according to Guiness the official record is 36.16 seconds, and was achieved by Czech Zdenek Bradac in 2008. Alternatively, try removing all the Spades from a shuffled deck as quickly as you can – Isaac Louie’s record of 11.51 seconds is yours to beat! ● Building: Bryan Berg is quite a record setter, and he holds the current Guiness world record for the largest playing card structure, which he set in China on 2010. It took 44 days to complete, and consisted of 218,792 cards! A replica of several buildings, its measurements were 10.39 m (34 ft 1.05 in) by 3.54 m (11 ft 7.37 in), and it was 2.88m (9ft 5.39 in) in height. Bryan also holds the record for the tallest house of cards (he’s set multiple times over the years), which is currently 7.86m (using 1,100 decks!). He has also created the most storeys in a free-standing house of cards, with an incredible 131! The quickest ever to build a three-storey house of cards is Italian Silvio Sabba, who managed to do this in 6.8 seconds in 2012. ● Breaking: Maybe you think it’s more fun to break things down than to build them up. Well this is a category for you: how about tearing playing cards with your bare hands? Bill Clark managed to tear two complete decks in 18.22 seconds. Even more impressive is the achievement of Scott Fraze, who ripped 13 complete decks in 30 seconds, for a televised episode of Guiness World Records: Primetime. Meanwhile Linsey Lindberg ripped 5 brand new decks within a minute in 2015, and is the female record holder.

● Balancing: Fancy yourself at card flourishing and doing card twirls? In 2018, Slovakian Pavol Durdik managed to balance a single playing card on his finger for no less than two hours and 15 seconds! Pavol also holds some other unusual records, including the most cards dealt while balancing an AA battery on a deck (212), the most cards dealt while balancing a table tennis ball on top of the deck (82), the most playing cards stacked on the back of a spoon (313), and the most cards stacked on a hand-held table tennis ball within one minute (36). His record of fitting the most playing cards inside your mouth (256) has since been beaten by Manoj Kumar (265). If you’re a fan of flossing, you might want to challenge Duren Wilson, who managed to hold 64 playing cards between his teeth. ● Cutting: How slick are your cuts? You might want to challenge Sky from Italy, who managed a Sybil Cut in 1.24 seconds, and Kamal Aslam from India, who managed a Triple Z Cut in 1.05 seconds, and 10 consecutive Charlier Cuts in 8.64 seconds. The record holder for the most Charlier Cuts in one minute is held by Polish Marcin Kacmarek, with an astonishing 94. Brian Pankey has numerous records, including a display of the WERM within 2.09 seconds. And how speedy are your card springs? Joshua Robinson of the USA has held the record for the most card springs in 30 seconds since the year 2012, when he performed 17 within half a minute. ● Shuffling: Do you enjoy a good riffle shuffle? How many can you do within one minute? In September 2017, Serbian Strahinja Stamenkovic managed the current record of 31 times. The record for the most riffle shuffles in 15 seconds is 8 times, by Dan Sheikh. ● Dealing: Brian Pankey managed to deal 126 cards using just one hand within a one minute time limit. The record for dealing a complete deck of cards goes to Simon Akerblom of Sweden, who pulled this off in just 14.19 seconds. If you’re good at flipping cards, try taking on the record of Guofinnur Tr of Iceland, who flipped an entire deck of cards one by one in 18.85 seconds. ● Picking up: Fancy yourself as somewhat of an expert at 52 Card Pickup? This is the classic “game” where the entire deck is scattered on the floor, and it’s your job to pick up all the cards. If you want to get the record for this, you’ll have to beat the Swede Alfons Lindsjo, who accomplished this in just 9.25 seconds! ● Guessing: Are you that guy that seems to lose at everything? Well perhaps this is a category for you. Try guessing the suit/value of a playing card, and the idea is to guess as many incorrectlyin a row as you can. In 2015, Mike K incorrectly guessed the suit and number of 391 playing cards in a row, before he finally guessed a card correctly. ● Buying: According to Joshua Jay’s Amazing Book of Cards, the most expensive deck ever bought was a vintage hand-painted deck that dates from 1470. It was bought by the New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art at a Sotheby’s auction in London in 1983, for the royal price of $143,352.

So is this a complete list of all the playing card records there are? By no means! There are some incredible ones that I haven’t even mentioned, like Tai Star’s 7 storey high card tower, which is he stacked while performing a one-handed handstand. This is the same guy who managed a 10 storey high card tower that he balanced on his hand, and a 8 storey high card tower that he balanced on his foot. Then there’s Kamal Aslam’s 60 Charlier Cuts in one minute while riding a motor cycle. Clearly there are all kinds of novel categories, and if you want to take your card skills to record breaking level, try doing your favorite flourishes while spinning a basketball on one finger, juggling two tennis-balls, bouncing a golf ball on a mallet, spinning a toothbrush, or while doing a headstand. Or run a marathon wearing a playing card costume, which is what Lisa Wright first did in just under 5 hours in 2013. This record was subsequently beaten in 2016 by Jennifer McBain, a teacher who ran in just under 3 hours and 19 minutes in full costume, in order to inspire her students.

https://youtu.be/bthVcI9M2lg

Want to make some records of your own? If breaking records like these appeals to you, check out the longer list of playing card world records over on recordsetter.com. Other sources used for this article include the official guinessworldrecords.com and recordholders.org. Other articles you might find interesting:

Interesting Facts About Playing Cards

About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards. This article first appeared on PlayingCardDecks.com here. ● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk

SHUFFLED INK PARTNERS WITH GARDEN THEATRE

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Charles Levin - Campaign, Custom Design, Partnership, Playing Cards, Press Release

Shuffled Ink partners with garden creator

Shuffled Ink to donate all Winter Garden Deck proceeds to its local theatre

Shuffled Ink and Garden Theatre are delighted to announce an official partnership to celebrate and support the arts in Winter Garden, where Shuffled Ink’s new facility is being built. Winter Garden is home to a host of cultural organizations including theatre, art galleries and educational museums. The idea for this partnership was to design a product that emulated the town’s scenic biking trails, weekly Farmers Market and golf cart-friendly streets. The Winter Garden Playing Card Deck, hand-illustrated by Shuffled Ink’s Creative Art Director, Daniel Longman, is now available in Shuffled Ink’s online shop as well as at Garden Theatre’s box office. All proceeds are being donated to the theatre. The Shuffled Ink team is excited to support artists beyond just playing card and game designers. “We wanted to contribute all of the product’s earnings to a local nonprofit; one that aligned well with our adoration for and experience assisting artists,” said Matthew Levin, CEO at Shuffled Ink. “As we approach our highly awaited move to Winter Garden in the Fall, we look forward to building a strong relationship with such an inspiring Creative Arts organization like the Garden.” Garden Theatre’s Managing Director, Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, is equally thrilled with this new collaboration. “As a community-based arts organization creating professional theatre that is of and for Winter Garden, partnerships like this with our local friends and neighbors are essential to who we are,” Spencer-Kaplan said. “Shuffled Ink’s new card deck is a beautiful celebration of Winter Garden, and we’re so honored that they have chosen the Garden for this opportunity.”

Get to Know Us

Family owned and operated since 1999, Shuffled Ink specializes in everything custom and specialty print. From customized playing cards, games, tarot & flash cards, to packaging, marketing and event materials, we are honored to work with individuals and companies around the world. The move into our new Winter Garden headquarters and manufacturing facility will allow us to further grow and diversify our product lines and expand our fulfillment services. Garden Theatre is at the heart of Winter Garden’s artistic scene and celebrates its 13th anniversary during the 2020 – 2021 performance season. Originally built in 1935 as a single-screen cinema, the theatre was the first in Central Florida built for “talkies” and was a gathering place for locals to watch the latest newsreels and films of the day. The building was restored to its former glory in 2008 and equipped for modern performance. The 295-seat Garden Theatre has grown to a thriving performing arts center serving regional audiences and artists with a year-round season of world-class live theatre, as well as movies, concerts, dance, special events and an extensive arts education program. Shuffled Ink is a multigenerational family business that specializes in printing custom playing cards, tarot & flash cards, packaging and more for businesses and individuals worldwide. ● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk

10 TYPES OF PLAYING CARDS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Posted on May 6, 2021 by EndersGame - Cardistry, Entertainment, History, Playing Cards

People new to playing cards are typically familiar only with what they’ve seen and experienced firsthand, namely the classic Bicycle deck with standard court cards. The average person simply isn’t aware of the many beautiful custom decks of playing cards that are on the market today, and how popular these are. But as any collector will know, there is a wide range of fantastic and creative playing cards available today, and a vast array of different types of decks is being produced on a regular basis. Many of these display wonderful creativity in terms of their graphic design, with heavily customized faces and pips, card backs, and stylish tuck boxes. This variety is not a new phenomenon by any means. Already in the 15th and 16th centuries, when playing cards were first spreading rapidly throughout Europe, they were anything but “standard”. The history of playing cards is a rich tapestry that includes a wide range of different styles of playing cards. So what are some of the different types of decks that are available? In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of the more common types that have been produced. It’s not an exhaustive list, but is intended to serve as an introduction to some of the different types of decks that are available. The aim is to arouse your curiosity about these types, and perhaps whet your appetite to learn more about them, and explore some of the other kinds of non-standard or unique decks that you’ll find in the wonderful world of playing cards.

Standard decks

When collectors refer to a “standard deck”, what they typically have in mind is a deck that has a very traditional look. Over the years the court cards have become more or less standardized, and so has the shape and style of the pips and indices. While card backs vary, and the Ace of Spades and Jokers can also be customized, the rest of a standard deck typically looks the same. Typically the faces of the cards are exactly as you’d expect to see them in a normal Bicycle style deck, aside perhaps from minor variations, such as in the colours used for the court cards. Card gamers tend to prefer relatively standard decks like this, primarily for practical reasons. While it’s fine for a deck of standard playing cards to have a classy looking tuck box that exudes sophistication and style courtesy of embossing and foil accents, the cards themselves need to be functional and immediately recognizable, in order to play games with them. A standard deck of playing cards, with clearly recognizable indices and suits, will usually serve that purpose best. Most magicians also prefer to work with a standard deck, because they don’t want their spectators being distracted by fancy artwork or hard-to-read pips and indices. Furthermore, the sleight of hand skills they have developed will often make tricks seem more impossible and miraculous if the deck of playing cards they are using looks ordinary in every respect. So despite the success of custom playing cards, we can expect standard decks to continue to be popular for card games and card magic.

Novelty decks

A “novelty deck” is simply a different way of referring to a “custom deck”. The definition of the word novelty is something new, original, or unusual. As a result, any deck that has been heavily “customized” with original or unusual elements will sometimes be described as a novelty deck. In contrast to a standard deck, a novelty deck or custom deck will at a bare minimum have completely customized artwork for the court cards. Often the pips and indices will be stylized and customized as well. A fully custom deck is usually preferred by collectors since each and every card in the deck has a unique look that sets it apart from a standard deck.

Game decks

Some standard decks have been slightly altered to optimize them for use in playing popular card games, even though many of these card games could be played just as easily with a traditional deck of playing cards. Often this simply involves adding point values to specific cards. A classic example is Canasta, which was especially popularized in the 1950s. Canasta sets usually consist of two decks, and point-scoring cards have their values printed on them to make it easier to play the game. The popular trick-taking game Euchre, on the other hand, doesn’t employ anywhere near a complete deck. Decks of Euchre cards typically include enough cards for two games of Euchre, along with special cards that can be used for scoring during the game. Wizard is another very successful trick-taking game, and is effectively just a standard deck with slight adjustments to incorporate custom Wizard and Jester cards. The classic card game Pinochle, on the other hand, requires a custom deck because it consists of two copies of the 9s through Aces in each suit, thus creating a 48 card deck. These are also sold separately, but strictly speaking it is no longer a traditional deck given the unusual composition of cards.

Gaff decks

Just like there are decks for gamers, so too there are decks for magicians. Most custom decks nowadays will come with some “gaff cards”, so collectors will usually be accustomed to getting a modern deck of playing cards that comes with a double backer or blank card. These cards are used by magicians for card magic, and are typically included because USPCC offers a 56 card deck as a standard when printing, meaning that there’s two additional cards besides the Jokers and the deck itself. While these can be used as ad cards, using these extra cards to include gaff cards increases the likelihood of a particular deck having appeal to magicians, and so creators will often choose that option. A gaff deck, however, is when an entire deck consists of gaffed cards, also sometimes referred to as gimmicked cards. Sometimes these will just consist of a deck with individual gaff cards that are intended to be used separately, like a double backer or blank card. But there are also some special decks created purely as “trick decks”, and these enable you to accomplish things that you couldn’t achieve with a regular deck. Highly specialized gaff decks are occasionally created for a single magic routine, but there are also some very common gaff decks that are widely known and readily available. These are often sold to the general public by pitchmen at fairs and markets, such as the Svengali deck and Stripper deck.

Marked decks

Another handy tool for the magician is the marked deck. Don’t expect me to reveal everything here, because some performers use these as part of their livelihood! Let me first say, however, that while it is true that magicians and mentalists will occasionally use marked decks, the bulk of card tricks you’ll see performed are accomplished with a completely regular deck, by sheer skill and sleight of hand. But occasionally a magician will rely on a marked deck, which is where the playing cards have secret marks on the back of each card, enabling them to identify the value and suit of the card in question. There are two main systems used by marked decks. Marked decks with reader systems actually have the name of the card written somewhere on the back – usually just with a number and letter that indicates its value and suit – carefully camouflaged into the artwork. Marked decks with coded systems indicate the value and suit of the cards using shapes or some other visual clue that needs to be decoded from the card back. Marked decks do have an Achilles heel, because they can usually be identified by “taking the deck to the movies”, or giving it a “riffle test”, which involves using your thumb to quickly flip through the entire deck, in the process watching the backs closely to see if there is any movement or change in the back design. Marked decks certainly shouldn’t be used for cheating in a card games or gambling, and are strictly to be used for performing magic type routines.

Vintage decks

Serious collectors will usually be careful to distinguish the term “vintage” from “antique”. While “antique” technically refers to something that is more than a hundred years old, the word “vintage” is more flexible, and can refer to anything from an earlier generation or time. A vintage deck, then, is a deck that hails from a previous era. Vintage decks from before World War II that are in good condition are often quite rare, because playing cards are a commodity that was created to be used rather than preserved, and most playing cards from that era have long since been thrown away, or if they do surface, are very well used. As a result, the market for vintage and antique decks typically brings prices into a much higher bracket, considerably more than what the average playing card enthusiast is prepared to pay. However just because a deck has vintage look doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be old. There are some delightful and eye-catching decks that look very tired and old, even though they are in fact made of high quality playing cards that are brand new. This can be achieved by using a graphic design which gives the cards a vintage or a deliberately distressed look. Sometimes these are actual replicas of a classic deck from the past, while other times they have artificially been given a vintage look using artistic license to create something that merely has the appearance of age. Either way, many of these modern decks can be described as “vintage decks”, and look like they have arrived into the present straight from the distant past, while still being quality products that feel great and perform well.

Reproduction decks

With the availability of technology that enables us to quite readily reproduce decks from yesteryear, a whole category of playing cards has sprung up that is devoted to producing reproductions of historically significant or rare decks from the past. This is not a new development, since historically important and attractive decks like the J.G. Cotta transformation decks have seen several reproductions of the original since it first appeared more than two centuries ago. But today’s technology certainly makes it easier to accomplish this, with the help of digital scans and digital art. And with the advent of crowdfunding and the internet, there are now more ways than ever before for collectors to find out about these projects and to support them. One of the publishers leading the way here is Home Run Games, who have produced some delightful and authentic reproductions of some of the very first playing cards produced in America. These include iconic and notable decks like Hart’s Saladee’s Patent (1864), Triplicate No. 18 (1876), Mauger Centennial (1876), Murphy Varnish (1883), and Tally-Ho No. 9 (1885). All of these reproduction decks were produced by USPCC in high quality editions with a modern air cushion finish, so they handle beautifully and look great. PlayingCardDecks has also been at the forefront of this development, and has brought some wonderful reproduction decks to the market in recent years. These include Eclipse Comic (1876), Faro Vintage (1887), Vanity Fair (1895), Hustling Joe (1895), Ye Witches Fortune Telling (1896), Circus Reproduction (1896), and most recently the J.G. Cotta decks (1805). Another contributor in this area is publisher US Games Systems Inc, and they have produced some lovely reproduction decks, although not with the same quality. I particularly like their Airline Spotter and Naval Spotter decks, and some of their other reproduction decks are well worth looking at as well, e.g. Samuel Hart’s 1858 deck, Cohen’s 1863 Patent National deck, and Cohen’s 1864 Highlanders deck.

Faro decks

Faro decks are a particular kind of Vintage deck, and have come to refer a particular style of deck, namely one with no indices. The name may be familiar from the Faro Shuffle, which is quite well known among playing card enthusiasts and cardists. That is a technically difficult move where you place the two halves of a deck into each other, card by card, and weave them together like a zipper. The name however, has its origin in a 19th century gambling game, which first appeared in France, and became extremely popular throughout Europe. From there it migrated to the United States, and quickly became the gambling game of choice in American casinos until it was eclipsed by Poker in the 1950s. Gambling decks from this era typically had one-way court cards that occupied the full face of the card, and had no indices. Indices only became standard on playing cards as a result of American innovation in the mid 19th century, and prior to this point, playing cards simply consisted of the pips and courts. Given the popularity of the game of Faro in the pre-index era, playing cards without indices have come to be described as a Faro deck, because they epitomize the look of the gambling decks from the Wild West when Faro was the game of choice. Today, the term “Faro deck” is an indication of the style of playing cards from this period, and can be used to describe any deck that has playing cards without indices.

Transformation decks

Now we come to one of my all-time favourite types of playing cards: transformation decks. These are playing cards where the pips have been incorporated creatively and artistically into a larger image. So for example, the pips on a Six of Clubs might be transformed into the leaves of a tree, and the pips on a Two of Hearts might be transformed into two swans, with the tree and swans perhaps being part of larger pictures that occupy most of the space on the card faces. A conventional transformation playing card retains the original location and shape of the pips, while a semi-transformation deck gives the artist more freedom to work with, because the pips can be altered and moved however the artist wants. A fine modern example of a semi-transformation deck is the Ultimate deck produced by Art of Play. It’s not hard to see that this type of artwork brings with it a real limitation on the part of the artist. At the same time it gives scope for tremendous creativity, since there is the challenge of producing something that is innovative and attractive, while operating within the constraints of the genre, and it is this creativity that makes them so attractive and popular. Transformation playing cards first started appearing at the turn of the 19th century, with the famous J.G. Cotta transformation decks being the very first complete decks of transformation playing cards that were published. This led to a period of real fascination with transformation decks, and some delightful decks were produced in this style towards the end of the 19th century, and again towards the end of the 20th century. In our modern crowd-funding era there has been a renewed appreciation for this type of playing cards. Some classic transformation decks have been reprinted in fine reproduction editions, while new transformation decks created by original designers have also hit the market and been well received.

Regional decks

Playing cards aren’t the same the world over, not just in terms of the designs, but also in terms of the composition of the deck. Most of us are used to a standard Bicycle deck of playing cards which consists of 52 cards, plus two Jokers. But this is the result of centuries of development, and even the “traditional” artwork as we know is the result of a long period of evolution. Even the Joker is only a very late American addition. When playing cards first arrived in Western Europe in the late 14th century, and first spread throughout Europe, there was considerable diversity in the names and styles of the suits, and even the number of cards in a deck. The suits used in Italian and Spanish cards were cups, coins, swords, and clubs, and Spanish court cards consisted of a king, knight, and knave, with no queens. German decks adopted more rural flavour, with acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells used as the suits, while in Switzerland the leaves were replaced with flowers and the hearts with shields. A 52 card deck with the four suits of hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs only became dominant after the French developed techniques to produce playing cards more rapidly and cheaply than other parts of Europe, and it was their success in production that saw their form of the deck monopolize Europe. But regional decks still persist in parts of Europe, and many of them trace their roots back to earlier centuries. Such decks aren’t likely to disappear quickly, because they are closely linked to a particular cultural heritage, and also to regional card games that remain incredibly popular in these parts of the world. Many of these decks also consist of smaller numbers of cards, such as a 40 card deck or a 32 card deck. European publisher Piatnik still publishes many of these regional decks in large numbers for the European market, and they often have incredibly vibrant and beautiful artwork. One of my favourites is the Tell deck, which depicts characters from the story of William Tell.

These ten types of decks of playing cards don’t exhaust all that there is just yet. In a follow-up article we’ll be covering ten more different types of decks, including several types of novelty decks. About the writer: EndersGame is a well-known reviewer of board games and playing cards. He loves card games, card magic, and collecting playing cards. ● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk

PLAYING CARDS THAT PAY TRIBUTE TO POWERFUL BLACK ICONS: KEARRA JOHNSON’S CARD STORY

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Charles Levin - Card Story, Client Feature, Custom Design, Entertainment, History, Playing Cards

“I am someone who just chases their dreams and continues to go after things that I, myself, didn’t think was possible.” – Kearra Johnson, creator of the Revolution Card Deck and founder of Studio Lo

**The Revolution Card Deck is available for purchase at bystudiolo.com.**

During Kearra Johnson’s senior year at the University of Missouri, she turned an ordinary class project into an inspirational and widely successful product. The assignment was to create something both visually and conceptually powerful. Among the list of suggested items, one, in particular, intrigued the 22-year-old artist: a deck of playing cards. The Revolution Card Deck strives to encourage conversations on representation, activism and Black culture. It is dedicated to the dreamers who made a way out of no way. Suitably, the first Black icon to secure a place in the deck was The Dreamer himself, Martin Luther King Jr., and that’s exactly the title listed below his card portrait.

**The Dreamer, Martin Luther King, Jr., as the King of Hearts Court Card.**

She includes a subtitle below each notable figure’s portrait. Malcolm X, The Nationalist; Rosa Parks, The Activist; Michelle Obama, The First Lady. Johnson said if her image was featured on the cards, hers would read: The Visualizer. “I feel like you owe it to yourself and those who support and love you to continue to push what you want to see happen,” Johnson said. One formatting detail that you may notice about this deck is the in distinction between court cards and gender. Ida B. Wells is the Jack of Spades, Oprah Winfrey is the King of Clubs and George Washington Carver is the Queen of Diamonds. “I didn’t want there to be a hierarchy,” she said. “They are all powerful figures.”

**The First Lady, Michelle Obama, as the Jack of Clubs Court Card.**

Since the deck’s official launch in early February 2021, over 500 decks have been sold and there are plenty more on the way. Johnson is thrilled to expand the deck’s exposure through various partnerships that will be announced at a later date. The Revolution Card Deck is available for purchase both online and in-store at Made in KC as well as on the Studio Lo website. To stay up to date with this incredible artist and innovative playing card designer, be sure to visit her Instagram page and website.

Shuffled Ink is honored to print the Revolution Card Deck in our Orlando-based manufacturing facility.

**Creator of the Revolution Card Deck and founder of Studio Lo, Kearra Johnson.**

Kearra has also been featured in media outlets such as:

Shuffled Ink is a multigenerational family business specializing in printing custom playing cards, tarot & flash cards, packaging, and more for businesses and individuals worldwide. To receive complimentary samples of our card products, include your delivery address and phone number on your custom quote request form.

If we manufactured your card project and you would like us to share your Card Story on our blog, feel free to connect with our Marketing Team here.

You May Also Enjoy:

https://shuffledink.com/blog/changing-the-world-one-conversation-at-a-time-hannah-frazers-card-story/

● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR PLAYING CARDS?

Posted on April 8, 2021 by EndersGame - Card Magic, Card Trick, Entertainment, Playing Cards

The Amazing Colour Changing Card Trick

To start off, I need you to do a quick exercise. Don’t worry, it’s not difficult, and I promise you’re going to love this. I want you to watch this short video clip called the “Colour Changing Card Trick” which starts with a blue-backed deck of playing cards. Some of my readers have experience with card magic, but even if you catch the moves or know how this works, I think you’ll enjoy this a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iPrBrGSJM

So did you catch the moves? Or were you completely fooled, and did the colour changes completely fly by you? This is a fine example of a psychological phenomenon that we’ll explain later. But first, let’s try another little test.

A Quick Test About Playing Cards

To illustrate the same phenomenon, let’s quickly test your knowledge about playing cards. If you’re reading this, chances are you have used playing cards a lot. Perhaps you use them for playing card games, for performing card magic, for cardistry, or you’re just a collector. Either way, you’ve probably shuffled a deck hundreds if not thousands of times. Shuffling, dealing, and holding a hand of cards – it’s likely all second nature to you right? Well, then you should have no problems answering some simple questions about the playing cards that you have seen many, many times, right? Let’s assume a normal deck of traditional playing cards, like your standard Bicycle deck produced by the United States Playing Cards. Are you ready? You’re going to ace this test, surely! But strictly no guessing – if you don’t know an answer, just leave that question blank. Here we go: 1. Including black as a colour, how many different print colours do regular court cards have? 2. How many of the twelve court cards are looking to the left? 3. How many court cards are shown with a side view of the face rather than a front view? 4. Which Queen is holding something besides a flower? 5. Which King is not holding a sword? 6. Which Jack is holding a paddle/mirror? 7. Which Jacks have a fancy moustache? 8. Which Kings do not have a moustache? 9. What is the only suit where the Jack and Queen are not looking in the same direction? 10. How many of the 52 cards in a regular deck have an asymmetrical (one-way) design? So how did you do? No, I’m not going to tell you the correct answers, because you might just cheat. I know that I would be tempted to do so, if someone gave me a test like this! So write down your answers, and then actually grab a physical deck of playing cards, and see for yourself. Seriously. You might be surprised at the results! And you might notice some details on those cards that you’ve never noticed before. If you get a passing mark of more than five right, I’ll be very impressed. And if you did find that test too difficult, try this slightly easier online pop quiz about playing cards which will instantly give you a score out of ten.

Inattentional Blindness Going through these questions has likely made you realize how little you’ve noticed about the playing cards that you’ve seen many, many times. Strange isn’t it?! How can it be possible that you have handled a regular deck of playing cards so often, and yet not know the answers to basic questions like these? I first came across these questions (which I’ve modified) in a blog post by Jan Isenbart, who is a magic enthusiast from Germany. He used this simple test to illustrate a phenomenon that psychologists call inattentional blindness, or change blindness. The idea of this is that when our attention is focused on something specific, it is possible for something else that happens right in front of our eyes not to register at all. Perhaps the most well known example of this is shown in the following video. It shows the results of a Selective Attention Test, that was part of a prize-winning experiment devised and run by two American psychologists, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. Many of you may already have come across this previously, but for those who haven’t, what you need to do is the following: Count how many times the players wearing white pass the basketball.” Stop reading this article and give it a try, and do genuinely concentrate and do the counting as instructed. The final result may surprise you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Similar to this test is another one called The Monkey Business Illusion. If you’re interested in reading more about this, check out the website from Simons and Chabris. It’s a companion to their best-selling book The Invisible Gorilla. Some of the videos they have produced to illustrate inattentional blindness make for fun viewing. Daniel Simons’ article “Failure of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness” is also a good read on the topic.

The Princess Card Trick

Inattentional blindness means that something quite significant can happen right in front of your eyes, and yet you can completely fail to register it. If we can miss a chest-thumping gorilla, then how many other things do we completely miss? Magicians have been using this principle to help them in card magic for a long time. One of the most well known examples is “The Princess Card Trick”. It can be found all around the internet, including many kiddie websites, and it can easily be reverse engineered, so I’m hardly guilty of exposure by explaining how it works. But first, try it for yourself here. Typically the online version works something like this. You are shown six playing cards, and you choose and remember one of them. When you click on the screen, one of the six playing cards has been removed – and it is exactly the one that you chose! This can create gasps of amazement, but the secret is very simple. While you were focusing on remembering the playing card you chose, you tend to ignore the exact identity of the other cards are. So in actual fact all five cards shown afterwards are different from the original ones (if you didn’t quite follow this, see a detailed explanation here). This trick can be made convincing by selecting a mix of cards with similar values and suits, but subtly switching some of the suits so that the change isn’t as obvious. It’s a little harder to perform a trick like this in the real world, but with a good presentation and some sleight of hand, there are ways to accomplish a similar effect (see a version performed by magician Lance Burton here). In one set of tests, this fooled 9 out of 10 people on the street that this was performed to. The Princess Card Trick is another good example of inattentional blindness. Research has shown that what we actually see is often very different from what we think we see. We can’t absorb everything, so our mind has to be selective, and it focuses on specific things, and eliminates other things that it considers to be distractions at that moment, effectively making us “blind” to certain details.

Misdirection in Magic

The phenomenon of inattentional blindness can be a very useful tool in a magician’s toolbox. For example, when spectators are preoccupied by counting cards that you’re dealing, they won’t notice if those cards have been set-up or arranged in a specific order. Or if we take a playing card from the top of the deck and use it to point at another card on the table, they won’t notice if we return that card to the bottom of the deck, because their attention is focused elsewhere. Magicians sometimes refer to this as “misdirection”. Good misdirection isn’t so much about making a loud noise or sudden gesture that is a cheap shot at directing attention away from something. Rather it’s about carefully constructing the plot of a magic trick so that all the attention is directed to something other than where the actual method happens. There must be justifiable reasons for having the attention directed elsewhere, and ideally this should be connected to your presentation. But when you can get all the attention of your spectators on something, then you can use inattentional blindness to get away with murder, if it is outside the scope of their current concentrated focus. Perhaps we aren’t nearly as good at multi-tasking as we normally think! We have cognitive weaknesses, like the ones demonstrated in the experiments above, and identified and discussed by psychologists. But we can exploit these cognitive weaknesses in a clever way to create powerful illusions. It’s been well said that magic is not so much about what spectators are actually seeing, but what they think they are seeing. By manipulating their attention, we can manipulate what they think they are seeing, while having chest-thumping gorillas in plain sight do the magic for us, and yet remain completely invisible! So why don’t you dig out that deck of playing cards again, and this time have a more careful look at the details on the cards. There are undoubtedly many aspects of the artwork that have escaped your notice for all those years, due to inattentional blindness. Maybe this will even enable you to appreciate your playing cards in a whole new way!

HOW TO BECOME A PLAYING CARD DESIGNER

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Charles Levin - Custom Design, Entertainment, How To, Playing Cards

“At Shuffled Ink, we make the seemingly unattainable attainable by helping you design the playing card deck of your dreams.“

Did you know that the playing cards that you’re dying to get your hands on can actually be designed by those very same hands? In just 3 easy steps, we will deliver the decks that you’ve dreamed up in your mind right to your doorstep.

1. THE ARTWORK

Shuffled Ink follows your lead when it comes to designing the perfect playing cards. You can print any design on the card backs and faces or just the card backs. It’s up to you! And get this: You aren’t required to put a limit on the number of cards in the deck either. When we say custom playing cards, we mean it. So, let’s start by laying out all the cards on the table – to become a playing card designer, you must first come up with a concept. No matter what stage you’re at in the design process, we are here for you, from start-to-finish. Finalizing artwork? Wondering where to begin? Ready for production? We got you, whether you’re a seasoned designer or first-timer.

We offer:

Complimentary samples of our top-quality products (simply include your delivery address and contact phone number on your custom request a quote form
Readily available client support, call us at 407-298-3579 anytime
Full-service graphic assistance
Convenient in-house printing
Low minimums, no setup or added color (CMYK) fees
Ultra-fast turnaround times
Authentic client feedback on Facebook and Google; video reviews

2. ALL IN THE DETAILS

CARD STOCK SELECTION

Card stock is the applied finish. It protects the cards and gives them a professional look and feel. Now, there isn’t necessarily one option that hails supreme. Really, the choice is dependent upon what you think will better suit your deck. Nevertheless, your project manager will provide you with their honest card stock recommendation based on your project specifications.

Smooth finish

An indent-free finish with a shiny appearance and polished texture. High resolution and detailed artwork (such as photos), as well as text-sensitive material, usually prints best on cards with a smooth finish.

Linen finish

Linen has a textured, cross-stitched pattern and is both visible and tangible for card players to see and feel.

Matte Finish

The display is non-glossy with a sandy-like texture. Our most popular finish is semi-gloss, which doesn’t increase the cost of your cards.

300 GSM Premium Paper Stock – Smooth Finish
310 GSM Casino Paper – Linen Finish (this is a slightly denser and thicker card, allowing for greater “snap-back”)
28MM PVC (1,000-Deck Min.) – Smooth & Matte Finish
32MM PVC (1,000-Deck Min.) – Smooth & Matte Finish
35MM Plastic (1,000-Deck Min.) –Smooth & Matte Finish

GSM stands for grams per square meter, meaning if you had a square meter of card stock, the weight in grams is the GSM. Both the 300 and 310GSM paper stock options contain a black core, which is a lining built inside of the card stock that limits the light that may pass through the cards. This is an extra precaution that casinos take when using paper playing cards. The black core lining also contributes to the fantastic “snap-back”, “shuffle-ability”, and durability of the cards we produce. These stocks are sourced from the most highly regarded playing card stock manufacturers in the world. As previously noted, we will send you free samples of our card products by request. Simply include your delivery address and contact phone number on your custom quote request form.

SPECIALTY PACKAGING

We offer a variety of packaging options so that no matter the budget or vision for your project, you’ll have the right box to hold it all together. View the entire card box collection here.

White SBS Custom Tuck Box

3. THE GRAND REVEAL

Marketing your product is hands down one of the most important steps in successfully designing a deck. You are creating a one-of-a-kind product, so naturally, your promotions should mirror that. The grand reveal, or lack thereof, can make or break your product, regardless of how outstanding your idea may be. While this is the third & final step, you should be promoting your playing cards well before they hit the press. If you are unable to fund the project on your own, we suggest joining a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter. This is where creators set a funding goal & share their ideas with others through mock-up photos, detailed descriptions of the project’s purpose and story & more. For those who haven’t created a Kickstarter project or backed anyone else’s before, we can assure you that from our experience working with clients who have taken this route, we’ve seen a lot of success and promise. Of course, if you already have the means to produce a project, then Kickstarter probably isn’t an optimal choice for you. Take a look at some of our clients’ awesome Kickstarters:

Marketing Perks with Shuffled Ink

We offer a vast selection of free marketing services. Don’t hesitate to contact our marketing team about promo opportunities. If the options listed below don’t align with your vision, we will collaborate with you to determine the best feature for your product.

1. Social Media Feature

Promote your product(s) on our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter platforms with links to your website and/or Kickstarter as well as tags to your media platforms.

2. Product Photography

We snap professional photos of your cards that you can use freely on your own website, e-commerce shop, social media, etc.

3. Shuffled Ink Blog

Card Story: We interview you about your product, write the article and promote it on our social media with tags and links.

The Queen of Affirmation Cards

Client Product Links: In our relevant articles, we will include links to your product shop, website, social media, etc.

Choosing the Perfect Tarot Deck

4. Client Printing Videos

Similar to social feature but instead showcase your card’s production process.

Muscle Car Cards Printing

SI Playing Card Designers

“Creating custom playing cards has always been an art fantasy of mine. Collaborating with an artist friend made the process that much more fun.” – Georgette R.

“I ordered some custom playing cards of a game I reimagined that my late grandfather taught my family – and I am thrilled with the outcome. Great product, great quality and very responsive and helpful team members!” –Eric N.

“Top-quality products by caring people. You will love them as much as I do. They do an amazing job! They offered a fall art contest, which I entered. It’s such a wonderful way for artists to publish their works and to see so many fantastic works of art.” –Marna B.

“To say, ‘I love everything about this deck,’ is quite the understatement… when I requested for casino quality cards, from Shuffled Ink, they did not disappoint.” –Brodie C.

If there’s a deck you wish to possess, but it doesn’t exist yet, then you must create it. This serves as a reminder to both primed creators and the new kids on the block. At Shuffled Ink, we make the seemingly unattainable attainable by helping you design the playing card deck of your dreams. Go get started today! We’re behind you every step of the way.

Want to learn more about playing cards and how to create your own custom card decks? Click below for details!

Shuffled Ink is a multigenerational family business that specializes in printing custom playing cards, tarot & flash cards, packaging and more for businesses and individuals worldwide. ● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Card Games at: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Tarot Cards at: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Flash Cards at: ShuffledInk

THE MAGICIAN’S OATH

Posted on March 4, 2021 by EndersGame - Card Magic, Card Trick, Cardistry, Entertainment, Magician, Playing Cards

What is the Magician’s Oath?

You don’t have to know much about magic to be aware that that there is a long tradition around maintaining secrecy, in order to preserve the secrets of magic. There is even an ancient “Magician’s Oath”, which is a kind of magician’s code that practitioners of magic are expected to uphold. In its modern form is often worded as follows: “As a magician I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, unless that one swears to uphold the Magician’s Oath in turn. “I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic.”

What about the internet?

This oath is understandable in a context where the only way you could learn the secrets of magic was directly from another magician. Magic was carefully passed on from one conjurer to another, and an oath of secrecy ensured that these secrets would be carefully protected. In today’s age of the internet and rapid communication, it is much harder to preserve the secrets of magic. The infamous TV series by the Masked Magician (Val Valentino) entitled Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed put many inside secrets from the world of magic directly into the public eye. Today anyone can purchase books on magic from Amazon, buy tricks from eBay or your favourite magic retailer, or watch video tutorials on youtube that teach you how to do card tricks. Within hours of a magic performance on a popular show like America’s Got Talent, videos will start appearing online with apparent “Reveals” of the method. The internet hasn’t been all bad for magic. Improved technology and communication also means that magic can be promoted in a way like never before. Streaming video means that there are new and wonderful ways for people to watch videos of their favourite TV magic, including popular shows like Penn and Teller and Masters of Illusion. Serious students of magic can also easily exchange ideas, share videos, and access content that will teach some of the very best tricks of all time. In many ways it is an exciting time for magic, because the magic student has access to the very best resources at the click of a mouse, and the latest downloadable video content instantly becomes yours with the help of “Add to Cart” and PayPal. It’s easier than ever for a new generation to discover magic, get excited about it, and find the tools to begin their own journey of learning this time-honoured craft. But this exciting time does come with challenges, not the least of which is the danger of exposure, and of using these new tools to hurt magic as an art-form. On balance, is the internet hurting magic more than it is helping it? You don’t need to take a position on either side of that debate to recognize that in this new territory it is important for everyone with an interest in magic to think carefully about the ethics of magic, and to work with the underlying principles of the age-old Magician’s Oath in our modern day.

What does this mean for you today?

Ultimately the solemn and ancient pledge of magicians aims to uphold the secrets of the art of magic, in order to help promote and defend it as a unique performing art. If you enjoy doing card magic, even just as a hobby for family and friends, here are five things you can do to apply the underlying principles of the Magician’s Oath today: 1. Guard your secrets Regardless of whether or not you make a formal promise like this as a member of an official magic organization, the reality is that magic does have an informal code of secrecy and of ethics that is important to be familiar with and abide by. The real issue is not first of all whether someone finds out the secret of how we’ve done a particular trick, but whether we are hurting the art of magic or helping it. Exchanging ideas and secrets about magic with a fellow magician is very different from the kind of exposure that hurts magic. 2. Create magic, not puzzles The real heart of the Magician’s Oath is that it wants to uphold magic as an art-form that creates astonishment in our audiences. To cheaply reveal the method behind your magic robs them of that very sense of wonder and mystery that it’s your job to create in the first place. If we really want to give people the gift of magic, then we mustn’t turn our performances into mere tricks or puzzles that must be figured out, but retain this sense of surprise and amazement, and do everything we can to create wonder, rather than take it away. 3. Be an entertainer, not a superhero This is also the reason why magicians will typically shy away from suggesting that they have actual abilities to read minds or bend spoons. We want to entertain our audiences by means of a performing art. But that entertainment comes through creating a very believable and convincing illusion, not through making them think we have genuine super-powers. Our job is to bring our audience into a world of imagination where they can suspend their sense of disbelief, rekindle their childlike sense of wonder, and so escape the trappings of normal life for the brief time they are watching our routines. 4. Give credit where credit is due In addition, the Magician’s Oath implies that we must respect those who have gone before us, by recognizing that many magicians have worked hard to come up with the effects and routines we are privileged to perform. When we casually pass on the secret behind a commercial effect, we may even be hurting the livelihood of the creator. This is also why magicians are often so fussy about attributing moves and tricks accurately and carefully, and are insistent on preserving intellectual property. 5. Practice before you perform The commitment to practice sufficiently before performing an effect to a non-magician further confirms that the Magician’s Oath is ultimately all about magic as an art. If we are going to make magic entertaining and live up to the high standards of this art, then we cannot cheapen it by acting like trained monkeys, parading poorly practiced tricks that are full of sloppy handling and unrehearsed patter.

https://youtu.be/Xlyp43F7lhk

Astonish and entertain!

In the end, the reason we all love magic is precisely because of its ability to astonish and entertain. So have another read of the Magician’s Oath, and think about the ways that you can promote magic as an art-form, not just by working hard to create a real sense of wonder in your spectators, but also so that future generations can continue to enjoy magic just as we do today. Where to learn? If you’re interested in learning card magic, I highly recommend the terrific videos from Big Blind Media with self-working card tricks and easy-to-do card tricks. Also see our previous articles on How to Get Started in Card Magic and Recommended Resources for Beginners in Card Magic.

Other articles you might find interesting:

Golden Rules For Magic

SHUFFLED INK BREAKS GROUND ON NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITY

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Charles Levin - Ground Breaking, Manufacturer, Meet the Team, Playing Cards, Press Release

Shuffled Ink's father-son duo, President Charles Levin (left) and CEO Matthew Levin (right) celebrate the official groundbreaking at the site of their new production facility.

UPDATE 8/17/21: After a 5-month lapse, Day 1 of construction has officially begun, bulldozers and all. We are projected to join the Winter Garden community in Summer 2022.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTFyYm7JaBD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

October 1, 2021, the concrete foundation was laid and smoothed out.

November 9, 2021, progress was made brick-by-brick.

November 24, 2021, and then there were walls.

January 13, 2022, reaching new heights.

February 14, 2022, inside the shell of our new home.

Feb. 6, 2021, Groundbreaking Ceremony

The Shuffled Ink Team celebrated its soon-to-be home at the Winter Garden site in February 2021. This new complex allows Shuffled Ink to further grow and diversify its high-quality custom playing cards and games. We are excited to expand our specialty box and packaging options, client fulfillment services, as well as produce paper/waterproof menus, wedding invitations and so much more for individuals and businesses around the world.

Matthew *(left)* and Charles *(right)* congratulating each other at the company groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 6, 2021.

The Shuffled Ink Team at the site of our soon-to-be home.

Charles Levin, President of Shuffled Ink (previously known as QPC Games), started the manufacturing company in 1999. Matthew Levin, Chief Executive Officer, moved back to Orlando from New York City in 2016 to help run the business with his father. Lisa Levin, Vice President of Sales, worked at the company part-time for many years but now oversees all customer services and sales. Throughout the early 2000s, the Levin family used the dining room table to create card prototypes. As sales blossomed and new opportunities arose, Charles moved the family business into his three-car garage, where marketing, sales, administration, and shipping took place. For the past 9 years, Shuffled Ink has operated in an 8,000 square-foot office production facility in Orlando, Florida.

Levin family (left to right): Matthew, Melissa, Jonathan, Charles, Lisa and Lori.

We always tell our clients that we strive to ensure that their card visions meet reality and their success is our success. Now, we are turning that around by thanking all of our clients, suppliers, service companies, and of course, incredible staff for making this vision for our new 16,800 square foot building a state-of-the-art reality.

Our talented Creative Art Director, Daniel Longman, designed a scale model of our new manufacturing facility and office space.

Meet the Shuffled Ink Team:

Project Managers

Graphic Designers

Accounting Department

Production Department

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Shuffled Ink is a multigenerational family business that specializes in printing custom playing cards, tarot & flash cards, packaging and more for businesses and individuals worldwide. To receive complimentary samples of our card products, include your delivery address and phone number on your custom request a quote form. ● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Tarot Cards at: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Card Games at: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Flash Cards at: ShuffledInk

THE JOKER: USELESS OR ESSENTIAL?

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Charles Levin - Custom Design, Entertainment, History, Playing Cards

The History

A standard pack of playing cards, and even most custom-designed ones, hold 54 cards with two Jokers included. But have you ever wondered why deck designers continue to insert cards that are usually discarded? Let’s take a look at its origins to determine if the Joker is, in fact, useless or essential. During the 15th century, the French created what became today’s standard playing deck, featuring the four suits in two colors: black for spades and clubs and red for hearts and diamonds. But here’s the kicker. This deck carried only 52 cards. Why? Because the Joker card was not yet invented. The first-ever Joker card was designed and printed in 1867 by Bicycle Playing Cards. Introducing Euchre, the purpose for the Joker’s creation. This game deemed the Joker a trump card, or “the best bower,” rather than a discard. Oh, the irony! In regards to card games, other than being used as a wild card in a few poker variations, you may feel strongly about calling the Joker useless, but it’s important to remember that a deck’s purpose is not entirely contingent on playing card games.

Joker Card Art

Enter the world of playing cards: a community that sees cards as art; a community dedicated to preserving, discovering and cultivating cards with artistic and technical qualities. If you think about the following cards — King, Queen and Jack — their standard design most likely entered your mind. Now, think of the Joker. Not as easy, right? Well, that’s because the Joker doesn’t necessarily have a standard appearance… and this brings us back to our initial question: Is the Joker useless or essential? The Joker’s lack of a traditional design isn’t a bad thing. It actually enables playing card artists to try to create what could potentially be labeled as the standard design for a Joker — among other goals. Ironically, to become the standard, you have to be the opposite: stand out among the rest. That’s exactly what the French deck accomplished, and six centuries later, it is still the standard playing card image. Luckily, there’s nothing standard about creating cards with Shuffled Ink. We offer a wide spectrum of customization options to help you accomplish practically anything. Our card creators can personalize the:

Card Backs & Faces
Card Size
Number of Cards per deck
Card Box/Packaging
And More…

Here are some of our awesome clients’ customized Joker cards:

Final Fantasy IX Playing Cards

Darling Playing Cards with Morgan Harper Nichols

Incantation Playing Cards

Posse Paper Goods Playing Cards

SD Office of Highway Safety Playing Cards

Astrodog Media Playing Cards

Whether you want to design a deck with only Jokers or a card game where the Joker trumps all, the Shuffled Ink team will make sure that your vision meets reality. So, useless or essential? We’d love to hear what you think in the comments below! Shuffled Ink is a multigenerational family business that specializes in printing custom playing cards, tarot & flash cards, packaging and more for businesses and individuals worldwide. To receive complimentary samples of our card products, include your delivery address and phone number on your custom quote request form. ● Official Shuffled Ink website: ShuffledInk ● Make Your Own Custom Playing Cards at: ShuffledInk