List of Playing Cards with Aristocrats Stock

[HankMan]

Can anyone help me to list playing cards that has Aristocrat stock?

Apart from the obvious Aristocrat 727 and the recent Aristocrat Classic from D&D.

something like
Seasons Playing cards by Alex Chin

thanks

[Don Boyer]

None.

USPC stopped making Aristocrat stock a handful of years ago.  Those decks were the last.  to be more accurate, they stopped creating pasteboard stock in that manner - they don't actually make the paper, but they do make the "paper sandwich" that forms the pasteboard used to make cards.  They can set thickness, level of pressure, humidity levels, emboss them, coat them, etc., but the flattened tree pulp comes from paper mills.

Tally Ho decks were made with a slightly stiffer version of Aristocrat stock, back when they stopped making Tally Ho stock.  But you'd be looking for Cincinnati-made decks.  But honestly, I've never felt cards like the Aristocrats reprints - not any modern decks, anyway.

A few decks came out in the last few years stating they were made on Aristocrat stock - but the reality is that USPC will allow people to give all kinds of names to their products.  Ever heard of "Apocalyptic Finish?"  There's a deck that has it.  (Diamond Jim Tyler's Doomsday Deck.  But it's just another way of saying "embossed with Magic Finish.")  How about "Premium Finish" - what kind of finish is that?  (It's another embossed card with Magic Finish - specifically, white Arrcos by NY Magic Project and the Blue Crown.)  I could call my next deck's stock "Angel Hair Stock" if I felt like it.  Propaganda cards from Theory 11 are "909 Edition" - what does that even mean?

Right now, USPC offers two stocks - Bicycle and Bee Casino.  They're measured by thickness, and they're in a range of thicknesses, not one specific thickness.  The ranges between the two stocks overlap - a thick Bicycle deck can be as thick as or thicker than a thin Bee deck...

The only caveat I can give you is that their best clients get their best service and products - it's not impossible to have them make Aristocrat stock again, but it's not on the menu.  But for the right person and the right amount of cash, they'll put it on the menu, I'm sure.  They're a business, like any other, and they're in business to make money.  For some guy making his first Kickstarter deck in the smallest-offered print run, they're not exactly going to jump through hoops for you.  Ask them for a six-figure-plus print run, they'll set the hoops on fire first!

I'd be interested in seeing a company like Legends or Expert come up with a stock that's comparable to the old Aristocrat and Tally Ho stocks...

[HankMan]

That is disappointing. So even the current aristocrat, they are not the original aristocrat stock?
How about Alex chin's seasons?

[Don Boyer]

That is disappointing. So even the current aristocrat, they are not the original aristocrat stock?
How about Alex chin's seasons?

The list of things that are disappointing about USPC today as opposed to a handful of decades ago is longer than the things that aren't disappointing...

That you'd have to ask Alex to be certain.  Like Shakespeare said, "What's in a name?"  That which we call a Bicycle stock by any other name would perform as advertised.

The Aristocrats reprints are probably the last real Aristocrat-stock decks.  The ones Dan and Dave were selling were vintage decks in brand new boxes - they were made about a decade ago.

[HankMan]

I just found another deck that claimed to have aristocrat stock - Galvanic Deck by Sean Whelan

looks like I have to stock up on some of the aristocrat reprints..

[Don Boyer]

I just found another deck that claimed to have aristocrat stock - Galvanic Deck by Sean Whelan

looks like I have to stock up on some of the aristocrat reprints..

I know the deck.  Aristo stock was still around when he created it!

[HankMan]

I just found another deck that claimed to have aristocrat stock - Galvanic Deck by Sean Whelan

looks like I have to stock up on some of the aristocrat reprints..

I know the deck.  Aristo stock was still around when he created it!

Now you convinced me for sure. That is a good reason for me to buy this deck

[Don Boyer]

I just found another deck that claimed to have aristocrat stock - Galvanic Deck by Sean Whelan

looks like I have to stock up on some of the aristocrat reprints..

I know the deck.  Aristo stock was still around when he created it!

Now you convinced me for sure. That is a good reason for me to buy this deck

We have a topic on it around here somewhere.  His first attempt to get it made failed at KS, but he retooled and made it the second time around, just barely - 105% funded.  Sean was working on a sequel deck to it and it was supposed to be first of a series.  But something happened and he dropped off the radar.  Deck #2 never made it off the drawing board, as far as I know.  Search around a bit on this board and Design/Dev and you're bound to find out more about it.

[HankMan]

I just found another deck that claimed to have aristocrat stock - Galvanic Deck by Sean Whelan

looks like I have to stock up on some of the aristocrat reprints..

I know the deck.  Aristo stock was still around when he created it!

Now you convinced me for sure. That is a good reason for me to buy this deck

We have a topic on it around here somewhere.  His first attempt to get it made failed at KS, but he retooled and made it the second time around, just barely - 105% funded.  Sean was working on a sequel deck to it and it was supposed to be first of a series.  But something happened and he dropped off the radar.  Deck #2 never made it off the drawing board, as far as I know.  Search around a bit on this board and Design/Dev and you're bound to find out more about it.

it looks like he struggled a little there.. the second deck also unfunded twice.
Hm.. what is wrong though? I don't mind the design at all.. anyway hopefully he will come up with something new.

[Don Boyer]

I just found another deck that claimed to have aristocrat stock - Galvanic Deck by Sean Whelan

looks like I have to stock up on some of the aristocrat reprints..

I know the deck.  Aristo stock was still around when he created it!

Now you convinced me for sure. That is a good reason for me to buy this deck

We have a topic on it around here somewhere.  His first attempt to get it made failed at KS, but he retooled and made it the second time around, just barely - 105% funded.  Sean was working on a sequel deck to it and it was supposed to be first of a series.  But something happened and he dropped off the radar.  Deck #2 never made it off the drawing board, as far as I know.  Search around a bit on this board and Design/Dev and you're bound to find out more about it.

it looks like he struggled a little there.. the second deck also unfunded twice.
Hm.. what is wrong though? I don't mind the design at all.. anyway hopefully he will come up with something new.

Well, it was a different time - there wasn't as much interest in playing card projects on KS at the time, weren't as many people backing such projects.  That tipping point came around with the Misc. Goods Co. deck from Tyler Deeb, the first deck to crack the six-figure funding mark.  Combine that with how he was finishing school and going into the "real world" to make a living, and I'm guessing that he decided playing cards weren't cutting it for him.  He vanished off this site, I know that.

[HankMan]

He is still active on his Facebook page. He is still working on Lucent deck.
Not many people responded to that though. I wonder if he will be back on this site. He could get more constructive feedbacks

[Brian M]

Don, do you have a notion of the last year when casino-branded Aristocrat cards would have been printed using the "old" stock?  How far back are we talking?

[Don Boyer]

Don, do you have a notion of the last year when casino-branded Aristocrat cards would have been printed using the "old" stock?  How far back are we talking?

Honestly, when it comes to casino decks, different standards apply.  It's entirely possible that for casino customers, they're still offering the stock.  I only know that for people ordering through the Custom Department rather than whoever handles the casino accounts, they don't offer more than two stocks.  Bear in mind, you're talking about companies that order HUGE print runs, perhaps into the six figures - when someone drops that much cash in your lap and they say "Jump," you usually say nothing more than "How high?"  And don't forget that these guys aren't "one and done" deck makers like the typical KS project, either - they keep ordering, on a regular basis, as long as the casino keeps playing cards with its customers!

[HankMan]

I don't really understand why USPCC only make 2 type of stock available now. Aristocrat stock is quite popular and wouldn't it be better if they have kept it available for custom decks?

[Don Boyer]

I don't really understand why USPCC only make 2 type of stock available now. Aristocrat stock is quite popular and wouldn't it be better if they have kept it available for custom decks?

For the same reason any company offers a smaller selection - it saves time and money.  There was once a trend in the restaurant industry to make menus that were freakin' huge and carried a wide selection of foods to accommodate nearly anyone's tastes.  Then people started to realize what a freakin' pain in the ass it was tracking that much food and ordering it in a way that they don't run out but they use it all before it goes bad.  Chain restaurants can do the massive menu, but these days, you go to a well-run, profitable, independent, single-cuisine restaurant, especially if it's high-end, odds are the entire menu's going to fit on a single page with room to spare - that's it, aside from whatever the daily special is on that given day.  Even some chains are following suit - Bareburger offers a good selection of burgers, but it's still is a single-page menu because they offer burgers and practically nothing else.

Remember, USPC isn't just USPC and hasn't been for a long time - it's a division of Jarden, a large consumer products conglomerate.  Jarden really cares little about what Aristocrat stock is and cares much, much more about the bottom line and how efficiently they can run USPC and all their other divisions.  They make more Bee Casino and Bicycle decks than any other types, so clearly they decided the other stocks were superfluous.

Now, if you were a casino chain and you placed an order for a hundred thousand decks with the potential for more orders to come, they'd likely be more than happy to accommodate you by creating the Aristocrat stock especially for your order if that's what you desired for your company - but for Joe Artiste making his first Kickstarter project, they can't be bothered with having a larger selection than two types of paper.  Their giant rolls of pasteboard make nearly 11,000 decks each, which is really 10,000 and their +/-10% error margin, so that the casino order would be ten full rolls, start to finish, while Joe Artiste's only using maybe a quarter of a single roll, and they'd have to keep the left-over paper in storage, already cut into sheets, waiting for the next two or three orders of Aristo stock before they get used - too much hassle for them.