One more picture

some of the cards

This must be quite a rare deck of cards as it is not fully described in Chapter 33 - Novelty Playing Cards from the Hochman Encyclopedia. I shall attempt to provide greater clarity regarding this deck here. First, the designer of this deck has his name misspelled in the encyclopedia as Castleton. It is, in fact, George Frederick Castleden who was a British-born artist who ultimately moved to New Orleans around the time of WWI and opened his own studio at 622 St. Peter St. This address appears on the sides of the OB (please see first picture of back of OB below). Second, the correct name of these cards is not Mardi Gras cards but, instead, Vieux Carre Playing Cards. The term "Vieux Carre" means Old Square in French and is the French Quarter, the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans and a popular tourist destination. This deck is so titled because, to quote from the extra joker (please see second picture below), it is "A souvenir of the Old French Quarter of New Orleans, sketched from existing sites of historic and romantic interest by the noted artist Geo. F. Castleden in collaboration with Lewis A. Clapp." Each of the 52 cards contains an oval scene in black for the spades and clubs and in red for the hearts and diamonds. Samples of 3 of these cards are shown below followed by the court cards from the diamond suit. The court cards in the major suits, spades and hearts, are identical, showing the Mardi Gras King and Queen, while the jacks show a pirate. The court cards in the minor suits are also identical and essentially the same as the major suits but there are slight changes made to them. The following is a list of the scenes shown on each pip card.

AS - The Cabildo
2S, 2H - Duelling Oaks - City Park
3S, 3H - Stairway - House of the Two Sisters
4S, 4H - Old Louisiana State Bank
5S, 5H - Court of the Lions
6S, 6H - Madame John's Legacy
7S, 7H - Courtyard - Arts and Crafts
8S, 8H - The French Market
9S, 9H - Courtyard - Le Petit Theatre
10S, 10H - Pirate Alley

AH - Saint Anthony's Alley

AD, AC - Gen'l Jackson's Residence
2D, 2C - Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
3D, 3C - Doorway - The Absinthe House
4D, 4C - Courtyard - Gov. Claiborne's Res.
5D, 5C - The Napoleon House
6D, 6C - Old Mortgage and Deeds Bld.
7D, 7C - Saint Louis Cathedral
8D, 8C - The Paul Morphy House
9D, 9C - The Haunted House
10D, 10C - Courtyard - The Cabildo

As can be seen from this list, the scenes on the pip cards are repeated with the exception of the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Hearts making a total of 21 different scenes from the French Quarter plus the 3 different court cards. The card backs show a reversible image of Jackson Square with a one-way title Vieux Carre. There is an accent over the letter "e" in "Carre." The backs came in either red or blue. The entire deck would have consisted of 54 cards in total with a joker and an extra joker but, sadly, my deck lacks the joker. Should any other user of this website have an example of this deck in their collection, I would love to see a picture of this card. This deck was printed in New Orleans by Tropical Prtg. Co., Inc. in 1930 and is copyrighted by G.F. Castleden on 12-1-30. Mr. Castleden also published a series of postcards showing his artwork of various views of the French Quarter which he sold to tourists.

wow !!!! that?s amazing!!! thanks for sharing, I believe these cards are the most vintage I've ever seen

thank you very much for your willingness to teach and answer questions! We need more people like that, willing to share knowledge. that's why I salute you. Best,

After my nightmare with USPCC to produce Cybershock, I am almost ready for a new release. I am working on another cyberpunk deck and this time is a partnership with Deckidea. All feedback is appreciated (please be kind). They are just rough sketches but would like to know the community opinion.

I plan to use two foils on each tuck box. The courts were inspired by different references but the style mainly from that old cartoon Samurai Jack.

I am still researching the manufacturer (since USPCC and Cartamundi are overwhelmed) and so far best candidates are TWPCC and HCPC (any thoughts?)

I hope you all appreciate it and please give us your feedback!

We are launching our campaign on Kickstarter today (07/28) at noon, check it out.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/22120154/bicycle-cybershock-playing-cards-printed-by-uspcc

It was a long journey, I pretend to make a post later telling in detail all the steps I took to do this project. So far was the most difficult project I ever made, specially because of my lack of skills, since it is our first deck.

I hope you all appreciate and please give us your feedback!

You seem to be off to an OK start, but check this project out - it's Albino Dragon's Bicycle Synthesis deck:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460165270/albino-dragons-synthesis-playing-cards

This is probably the closest thing I've seen to a Cyberpunk RPG/NetRunner deck out there - and it's pretty darn good.  The artwork looks like an updated, full-color version of the art I remember from the Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 player's guide.

There's a general rule I like to talk about with new deck designers, especially when they're tackling a theme that's been done many, many times before.  Everyone remembers the first team to reach the peak at Mount Everest - and almost no one remember team #34,239.  So if you're going to climb the mountain, you'd better do it better and/or more uniquely than anyone else who went before you if you want to be remembered for doing it.  So if you're not the first to hit the top, you should aim to be the best, and if you're also not the best to hit the top, then be the guy who held Burning Man Nepal at the top, or who leapt off the peak in a wing suit and flew all the way down to the bottom, or who did it without an oxygen tank - something, anything (anything GOOD) that will make your efforts distinctive and worth remembering.

So, you're not making the first cyberpunk-themed deck by far.  Aim to be the best - or at the very least, aim to do it so distinctively differently than what went before that people have to take notice.  If you're not doing that, pack up your art gear and go back to the drawing board.

Also, don't fall into the trap that "unique" all by itself is synonymous with "good" - I assure you, unique is not automatically good.  I make "unique" things every time I take a trip to the bathroom, but I don't see anyone wanting to pay good money for them.  Old, fat guys in Speedo thongs in winter are "unique" - and I don't want to be anywhere near them!  Don't simply aim for unique - aim for unique AND good.

Best of luck to you.

I completely agree on most points and I thank you for all your advice. Albino Dragon's Bicycle Synthesis deck is really amazing and it shows a lot of netrunner´s spirit, however, cyberpunk is a very expanded universe and I might have set wrong expectations on my first post message. When it comes to cyberpunk everyone automatically thinks of the characters and I am trying to focus more on the machine aesthetics. Does not carry all cyberpunk lore but I believe (specially being my first deck) I should focus in a small part of this theme otherwise I would be stuck, lost or even taking years do design it, so I am trying to be simpler.

I don´t agree that are so many cyberpunk themed decks, in fact, compared with many other themes, I think there are just a few, but as you said I am not relying on being unique and I am aiming perfection as much as I can, trying to do something distinctively different from the decks I researched so far. That´s why I am trying to expose my work here since the beginning, to have this feedback from all of you along with the development.

Once again thank you Don Boyer, it made me rethink a lot of my planning.

When you all say border it means on the back of the card right? sorry, english is not my mother tongue lol

an update, wip of our tuck box front.

Very nice design, it seems that the novel is very good. I agree with Don about the indices be more clear or at list a little bigger.

Hello all, my name is August, I am new to the forum. I am a designer from Brazil. I designed a few decks for a company and now I want to launch my own kickstarter. I found the forum on google, searching for forums where I can engage with the community, get feedback on my work and new ideas for my next decks.