The Most Awesome Poker Set in the World (w/custom cards-KS)

[Don Boyer]

PS: You kind of screwed a lot of people by shipping only within US. =(

We can probably offer cards to international backers very soon, but the weight of the full poker case makes every shipping quote we've gotten ridiculous (as some people speculated.) I don't know how other weighty KS projects have managed to offer flat-rate shipping internationally- we're talking w everyone we can trying to figure this out. We could definitely use the lift from international backers.

Re: Don Boyer on chips, insignia, borders, colors

Really, really helpful post.  The Generalissimo has a lot of fans- we can correct the problems with the pips to make it a true two-way design in the next revision. We meant to use the insignias thematically and not literally- we'll reach out to a few of our veteran friends for some more opinions. For appropriate width white margins- I hear you. Our next step is to get the top 2 designs cleaned up and production ready ASAP.

Re chips and international customers: can you find an alternate, overseas source for the chips?  Especially if you're using the basic generic home poker kit chips - they should be available from some manufacturer overseas.  Alternately, there is that idea about shipping chipless and letting backers use locally-acquired chips instead.  That would certainly cut down on the weight/cost.

Re Generalissimo - it is a good design.  Quick ideas: change the five stars in each corner to four pips and that should make your back two-way.  The staff sergeant stripes can be left alone with nothing in the center - it's how they usually appear anyway, at least in the US military (they don't add anything there until you've got three rockers under the three chevrons).  And that pattern in the background - could you make it a symmetrical version of old-school jungle camo, or maybe new-school digital camo?  (Just be careful to choose a pattern that's not patented or anything like that!  I hear some of the newer ones are.)  That would fit the theme much better than that - what is that, anyway?  I wanna say paisley but I know that's not right... 

[ronyo_faukx]

Re Generalissimo - it is a good design.  Quick ideas: change the five stars in each corner to four pips and that should make your back two-way.  The staff sergeant stripes can be left alone with nothing in the center - it's how they usually appear anyway, at least in the US military (they don't add anything there until you've got three rockers under the three chevrons).  And that pattern in the background - could you make it a symmetrical version of old-school jungle camo, or maybe new-school digital camo?  (Just be careful to choose a pattern that's not patented or anything like that!  I hear some of the newer ones are.)  That would fit the theme much better than that - what is that, anyway?  I wanna say paisley but I know that's not right... 

Further to this, the back design and colour (green) of the Generalissimo will also create a much closer association with the ammo tin you are selling these cards in.

This will help you to sell the complete package as it will demonstrate a chain of thought and focus on design to combine everything together.

As for a secondary colour, may I suggest a mid to deep blue, similar to that used for the Legacy back. This will allow a close association to the US Airforce which uses blue as a part of the insignia and has a similar appearance to the chevrons you currently use as a part of Generalissimo.



Hope this helps.

[Don Boyer]

Naval ranks would do as well there, perhaps better since they're more common - the Navy and the Coast Guard have the same basic rank system.  A blue camo for the background color pattern would work well.

[SamG]

Really like the airforce insignias- the star and laurel from the Chief Master Sergeant appears in several of the designs.

The "paisley" design, let's call it French Wallpaper, in the back of Generalissimo is gone. We tried digital camo- it's pretty busy behind all the geometric stuff in the foreground.  And it has a hard time playing with the arcs in the design.  I like it from a theme perspective, though.  Hopefully we'll be able to include a short, printed insert with each set- some of these good ideas can get a second chance there.

Right now we're showing a deep green and a brighter blue, I think @ronyo_fauks is right- it should be deep blue and an army green.  Just have to make sure there's enough contrast between them.

We're getting some bites from some of the bloggers now- hopefully we can get enough steam to get the project across the finish line!

[Anthony]

Way to bring your project around Sam, kudos! It's great to have designers actually be an active part of the discussion. I think my 2 favorites are Illuminati and Honor Guard.

[Don Boyer]

Really like the airforce insignias- the star and laurel from the Chief Master Sergeant appears in several of the designs.

The "paisley" design, let's call it French Wallpaper, in the back of Generalissimo is gone. We tried digital camo- it's pretty busy behind all the geometric stuff in the foreground.  And it has a hard time playing with the arcs in the design.  I like it from a theme perspective, though.  Hopefully we'll be able to include a short, printed insert with each set- some of these good ideas can get a second chance there.

Right now we're showing a deep green and a brighter blue, I think @ronyo_fauks is right- it should be deep blue and an army green.  Just have to make sure there's enough contrast between them.

We're getting some bites from some of the bloggers now- hopefully we can get enough steam to get the project across the finish line!

Suggestion for the background: use older, non-digital camo, such as the Vietnam-era jungle pattern, and reduce the contrast, bringing the shades of the colors closer together.  This way, it fades more into the background, becoming very subtle in appearance.  Then there's no clash with the surrounding designs.  It can be done in blue as well, or, more suited to the branch of the military you're choosing (Air Force), you can make a midnight blue sky with faint, wispy gray clouds.

If his project is a great success, you may find the funds to create some of those other designs that we're fond of, y'know...

[ronyo_faukx]

Really like the airforce insignias- the star and laurel from the Chief Master Sergeant appears in several of the designs.

The "paisley" design, let's call it French Wallpaper, in the back of Generalissimo is gone. We tried digital camo- it's pretty busy behind all the geometric stuff in the foreground.  And it has a hard time playing with the arcs in the design.  I like it from a theme perspective, though.  Hopefully we'll be able to include a short, printed insert with each set- some of these good ideas can get a second chance there.

Right now we're showing a deep green and a brighter blue, I think @ronyo_fauks is right- it should be deep blue and an army green.  Just have to make sure there's enough contrast between them.

We're getting some bites from some of the bloggers now- hopefully we can get enough steam to get the project across the finish line!

Suggestion for the background: use older, non-digital camo, such as the Vietnam-era jungle pattern, and reduce the contrast, bringing the shades of the colors closer together.  This way, it fades more into the background, becoming very subtle in appearance.  Then there's no clash with the surrounding designs.  It can be done in blue as well, or, more suited to the branch of the military you're choosing (Air Force), you can make a midnight blue sky with faint, wispy gray clouds.

If his project is a great success, you may find the funds to create some of those other designs that we're fond of, y'know...

I second the motion.

[SamG]

Hey everyone- thought I'd post our final card designs for print along with the boxes.
(xpost from UC forum)




We also opened up two new reward tiers- one for people that already have their own or better poker chips and just includes the case, and one that has custom laser engraving on the poker set.  The laser engraving is slow, so we can't do it on all the cases, but it comes out looking pretty sweet. 


We can etch the sphinx, or do a personalized message or artwork within a 5x6" engravable area. We're making a big push to try to get 60% of our backers on board this week- you guys have been an awesome sounding board- now I'm humbly asking for your support on the project.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/421928137/the-most-awesome-poker-set-in-the-world
Any pledge ($1) is greatly appreciated, and even the chip-less set pledge goes a long way towards getting us closer towards our goal of offsetting the machining costs.

Many thanks,

-Sam