Quote from: Propazoid on May 22, 2013, 03:47:23 PM

Hello,

I am new to playing cards but not to game design.  My fantasy card game was recently funded on kickstarter. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/654947744/hunters-guild-card-game

I wanted to start on a playing card deck next.  My question is I see a lot of decks on kickstarter have the Bicycle brand.  Can someone explain to me how you go about getting the approval to use their logo?
I assume they print the cards, but do they have to approve your designs as well?

Thanks for the help!
Robb

Welcome to the boards, Robb.

By "they", you mean the US Playing Card Company (USPC).  Don't say they're being "printed by Bicycle", because that indicates you don't know who's actually making your cards.  USPC has people in the Custom Department that assist with Kickstarter projects where people intend to use them as the printer.  They'll give you a few do's and don'ts.

If you want to use any of the USPC brands (Bicycle, Bee, Tally Ho, etc.) your project a) will cost a bit more and b) must be approved by the brand manager for that brand at the company.  Most cases you'll be fine - the strictest guidelines they have are regarding their trademarks, like the appearance of the brand name itself, their own Ace of Spades, backs and joker designs, etc.  You are not required to use their backs, jokers, etc., but if you do, you can't alter them other than for how they're colored.  The brand on the box must appear in a specific manner, and deviations from that will require correction before they go to print.  You also must own any custom artwork you submit to them for your deck design.

The advantage of putting up with all the requirements is that you'll have that name-brand recognition for your deck, which in most cases will help boost sales.  The disadvantage, obviously, is that USPC has more approval authority in the design itself - you can't just design what you please and slap their name on it.

As far as straight-out censorship, they have some leeway but will stay away from the controversial - the one time I've seen them flat-out refuse a deck was the initial design of the Bicycle Karnival Inferno deck because of too much imagery that they construed as demonic/Satanic.  The deck was redesigned to something a bit less impressive and was made without the Bicycle brand on it.