Platinum Plus: Cards from China are NOT Created Equal.

[Card Player]

With producers like CARC/Expert Playing Card Co. looking for alternative playing card manufactures, I would like to introduce to this forum a manufacture from China that makes cards that handle better then most of Chinese made playing cards. I'm not going to compare them to USPCC, they are not on the same level. The tuck box is engineered differently then the CARC Global Titans, so I don't believe they are the same Shanghai manufacture.

They can be purchased on a few wholesale websites. I had an interest in trying them out for awhile and found a wholesaler that would sell them to me by the brink (Not 144). They come in standard RED and BLUE. The tuck boxes come in a standard WHITE and also in a foiled SILVER option. The back design is not good but this is about the manufacturing card quality. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried these?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPjI1FQ079I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EvSl6YRK38

[john]

I haven't but since you talk so highly of them I would love to see you review them soon!

[Magic_Orthodoxy]

I have a deck of Platinum Plus at home, in truth I always thought they were crap. I'll go home at lunch and grab em and check them out. Pretty sure I got them at the grocery store.

[Card Player]

I have a deck of Platinum Plus at home, in truth I always thought they were crap. I'll go home at lunch and grab em and check them out.

I'm NOT saying they are USPCC quality but they most defiantly handle better then most Chinese made playing cards I've handled. I look forward to seeing a review on them for the sake of discussion.

I'd also like to see a review on those Raven Playing Cards you have. Those look interesting.

[Magic_Orthodoxy]

funny you mentioned that I grabbed them BOTH (ha ha) and will be doing reviews of each.

[Don Boyer]

The Chinese (and Taiwanese) do actually make some excellent quality cards.  A few of my favorite decks are Taiwanese-made.  The issue is that the majority of the best quality cards they make never leave the country.  The send the junk to us gwai lo in the States and Europe... 

"You my nerfherder!"
"No, you MY nerfherder!"

[Magic_Orthodoxy]

I posted my review of Platinum Plus to the review section and Raven will go up later today - spoiler alert, I hate them both. Ha Ha!

[Zenneth]

Few days I ago I was in China attending a magic lecture, someone came up and showed me the Marverick deck that said Made in China on the tuckcase.
Marverick still is one of USPCC's brands if my memory serves me right, the cards feel 99% the same if not completely identical to Aviator,
I would love to get the same factory manufacture my designs if possible, but it's improbable for me to track down that factory and meet their MOQ even if I could find it.

Yao Ji from Shanghai is perhaps currently the best selling brand/biggest playing cards manufacturer in China, they produce 0.7 Billion decks a year according to their website.

I know many Chinese friends are using Yao Ji deck for their private gambling games, and they use a new deck for every single round,
so a whole night of game will easily trash away a gross or even more decks.

To them, Yao Ji is already more than sufficient for the purpose, it has a reasonable quality, retails only $0.5 USD a deck in China and much less when buy in grosses.

I am sure a manufacturer like Yao Ji could of easily make very high quality playing cards, however, the problem is, Yao Ji, like most Chinese playing cards factories,
don't take small quantity order. (yes, even a 10,000 decks run is still considered a very small quantity to them)

Considering the fact that even intricate iPhone parts were made in China, there's no reason that Chinese playing cards factories cannot produce high quality decks,
it's just they don't have much business incentive to do so as their profit comes from quantity, not quality.

Many of my magic friends and myself included have done quite some research to find playing cards factories in China that produce high quality decks,
unfortunately, by far most Chinese factories that take small quantity order don't produce acceptable quality decks.

I was told that in order for them to manufacture USPCC quality decks, they would have to import paper stock from Germany,
so that the MOQ is way much higher than 15,000 decks.
 
However, if someone ordered a customized run of decks made with high quality paper stock but didn't use up all that paper stock,
and you are lucky enough to contact the factory right on time, then you will probably be able to print some high quality decks with Made in China price.
   

[kdklown]

Interesting info Zenneth.  Now it seems to me with labor costs presumably being lower in China that if one of these manufacturers shifted their focus to quality in lieu of quantity they could corner the market on inexpensive high quality decks. 

[Zenneth]

Interesting info Zenneth.  Now it seems to me with labor costs presumably being lower in China that if one of these manufacturers shifted their focus to quality in lieu of quantity they could corner the market on inexpensive high quality decks.

I imagine its not entirely impossible. 
If one of these factories would do something like USPCC did with David Blaine to collaborate with an international celebrity
and then put out a line of trick decks or simply a series of high quality decks to establish an international brand name,
I am sure they will definitely get quite some orders from non US based custom deck designers or companies.

         

[CrankUP]

The issue is that the majority of the best quality cards they make never leave the country.

Never thought of it like that before, but I guess it must be true.

I have bough "Made in China" cards here in the U.S and they handle horribly. That's coming from a practitioner of sleight of hand's stand point though.

I HAVE, however, been to China and purchased some very fine quality decks. One to mention was "Wasp" (I assume an ALMOST Bee knock off). It had a very unusual feel, almost candle-waxy, but I was surprised at the card stock (not so much the finish).

It's only a matter of time folk...

[Don Boyer]

Interesting info Zenneth.  Now it seems to me with labor costs presumably being lower in China that if one of these manufacturers shifted their focus to quality in lieu of quantity they could corner the market on inexpensive high quality decks.

I imagine its not entirely impossible. 
If one of these factories would do something like USPCC did with David Blaine to collaborate with an international celebrity
and then put out a line of trick decks or simply a series of high quality decks to establish an international brand name,
I am sure they will definitely get quite some orders from non US based custom deck designers or companies.

       

I'm telling you, from the stories I've heard about getting decks made pretty much ANYWHERE, there's always one issue or another when you're trying to do a custom design under a contract, be it with a Chinese firm, USPC or anything in-between.  I've secretly wished I could win the lottery just so I could create a boutique print shop of my own, dedicated to highest-quality custom playing cards.  Perhaps I should talk to some people and see about starting a business... 

[CrankUP]

I wanted to design my own deck before. My dad does a lot of business in China so I looked up a paper company based in Shanghai I believe. Their minimum order was 10,000 and it would have cost me about two bucks per deck. I never went through with it though. Didn't know what the stock was like and etc.

[Card Player]

I was told that in order for them to manufacture USPCC quality decks, they would have to import paper stock from Germany,

I look at a deck like the platinum plus example and to me the stock is not the problem. It's all plastic coated anyway. While its not bee or aristocrat stock, it certainly is not the biggest of the China made card problems. The problem is the sharp card cut and poor finish.