We're now heading into the final 24 hours of the campaign. Those of you who got the Blue Choice know how great the deck feels and handles, as well as the prices it's been going for on the aftermarket. The KS campaign is the lowest price that the Cloverbacks will be offered, so be sure to snag yours now before the campaign ends.

Thanks!

Kevin

I'm having a heck of a time figuring out when the Circle Back Tally-Ho design first saw print.  I know Tally-Ho as a brand first hit in 1885, but as far as I can tell it was with a different back design.

Early Circle Back decks had a design that looked different from today's decks (see photos) but I can't pinpoint when they were first printed, or when the design changed from the photos here to the design we see today.

Any help is appreciated!

Kevin

Now live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/penguinmagic/choice-cloverback-playing-cards-designed-by-ben-ko

Hi everyone.  Just wanted to give a heads-up on our new KS campaign starting today.  It will be launching around Noon (12PM) eastern time.

EDIT: LIVE!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/penguinmagic/choice-cloverback-playing-cards-designed-by-ben-ko

Choice Cloverbacks are a follow-up to Blue Choice.  The design has been tweaked, and there are 2 new colors - Classic Red and Casino Brown.  Brown are limited to only 1,000 decks.

Like Blue Choice, these will be on Thin Crush stock from USPCC.

We have some great early bird levels, so please be sure to check it out!  I'll post back here with a link to the campaign page once it's live.

Hi everyone!  The coin and shirt options are now open for pledge or add-on over at the campaign.  We're just a stone's throw from successful funding!

Thanks!

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well!

I wanted to give you all a heads-up that Penguin will be launching our first Kickstarter in just over 24 hours. We're taking Valentine's Day, the sweetest day of the year, and adding a little Honey!

Honeybees are one of our favorite decks that we've produced, and were also our quickest to sell out.  We get messages every week about whether or not there will be another version, since many people either missed them the first time around, or they want more of them for their collection or day-to-day use. Since day one, we have also gotten a lot of requests asking if we would ever do a bordered version.  On Feb 14th at noon eastern, we're opening up the campaign to deliver on those requests.

The biggest difference in the deck is that the backs are now bordered.  The custom Tuck, Ace of Spades, Joker, and custom color/texture court cards are pretty much the same as the originals. There's a lot that everyone seemed to love about the deck, so it didn't feel right to change things that we thought were already great.  We're also making both the Yellow and Black decks available simultaneously.

I know some of you will ask, "Why Kickstarter, why now?"  For us it's more about the "crowd" and less about the "funding" when it comes to trying this out.  The first Honeybees sold out in 2 days, and a lot of people didn't get their hands on them. Doing a campaign like this hopefully gives folks plenty of time to pledge, and get them at the best price.  It allows us to print the correct number of decks to meet demand without significantly over or under printing.  I hope you guys will see from our goal (Only $12,000 for a 2-deck campaign) and our pledge pricing that we're not trying to make this a "lazy cash grab".

We also worked with Randy Butterfield to create an all-new version of the deck. This one will be a stretch goal and it is GORGEOUS.  It is a black ink and gold foil Metalluxe version of the deck.  If we hit the stretch goal, we're going to pull out all the stops with this deck - black paper tuck with multiple foils - individually numbered seals (limited to 1,000 decks), etc.  I really hope we get to produce it.

I'll be sure to come back tomorrow and update this post with a link to the campaign page.

EDIT: We're live!  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/penguinmagic/honeybee-v2-playing-cards-by-penguin-magic

Thank you!

Haha, thanks Fess!

Agreed, skulls are pretty cool, but used quite often in playing cards overall, not just Halloween ones.  We wanted something a little more fun and lively.

The back design was intentionally not over-the-top, since the focus of the customization is more about the faces.  With the back, we really just wanted to capture the essence of the overall autumn season.

And even more agreed on candy corn - great to use as a design element, but I sure don't want to eat it.  I need to dig up the clip of Louis Black discussing candy corn in his stand-up act...

In my measurements of decks printed on standard Bicycle stock (various) and decks printed on Thin Crush stock (also various) the full 52-card deck is typically a slightly more than a full millimeter thinner when comparing the two stocks.  It's noticeable purely by feel.  It'd be like pulling 3-4 cards out of your Bike deck.

Yup, quick rundown on the USPCC stocks as explained to me by them...

Bicycle and Bee stock are the same paper, but crushed to different thicknesses.  These were the only 2 options available in the recent past.  Thin Crush  (No official name yet) is the same paper, but with the pressure cranked up all the way to crush it to as thin as the USPCC machines will go.

So yes Thin Crush is a new offering from USPCC (to my knowledge no more than about half a dozen decks have been printed on it so far) and it basically puts us at options of Thin, Medium, and Thick to choose from when printing there.  Each is good, each has its purpose, and a lot of what people prefer will come down to personal preference.

The decks are available now, link below.

We have price break bundles of 3 and 12 decks.  ALL quantities (even single decks) have free shipping in the US.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/7524

Enjoy!

The Woodlands deck is now live, with lots of gallery photos and a hands-on video to check out on the product page.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/7447

This is the first time we've offered a 3-pack as well, which not only provides discounting below single decks, but also is treated as a single SKU for shipping. Shipping is FREE on the 3-pack in the USA, and should offer a good savings for our international friends.

Thanks!

Kevin

If you've felt the Red Wheel or Hollingworth decks, along that line of thinness. They feel really great!