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Re: Card/Deck-Related Kickstarter Projects - Updated WEEKLY
« Reply #75 on: June 25, 2012, 12:37:56 PM »
 

NathanCanadas

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As usual, Don, great report. I was wondering about this: could you by any chance be able to pick a different color for successful decks, decks who have just reached their goal with some time left, and not-yet-backed decks? It's just an idea, and since I've noticed you've made color changes for different kinds of decks, I think this would make it pretty cool and easy to read. Thx!
 

Re: Card/Deck-Related Kickstarter Projects - Updated WEEKLY
« Reply #76 on: June 25, 2012, 11:44:09 PM »
 

Don Boyer

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As usual, Don, great report. I was wondering about this: could you by any chance be able to pick a different color for successful decks, decks who have just reached their goal with some time left, and not-yet-backed decks? It's just an idea, and since I've noticed you've made color changes for different kinds of decks, I think this would make it pretty cool and easy to read. Thx!

It's already pretty easy to read, and I'm moving away from color alterations.  Successful decks are always at the top of the list because they're listed chronologically - to be successful, it would have met its goal sometime in the previous week.  Then I remove them in future reports.

Standard decks are in bold, while non-standard decks aren't.  Decks that are overfunded have percentages of 100% or greater.

The reason I'm moving away from the color changes is that this is a LOT of work to put together and consumes a good deal of time.  No color changes is more efficient from the writer's point of view.  From the reader's point of view, the color changes mean they'd have to keep a color chart just to know what all the colors mean, which also isn't exactly enjoyable reading.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2012, 12:01:34 AM by Don Boyer »
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Re: Kickstarter deck projects update
« Reply #77 on: June 30, 2012, 04:37:50 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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It's Saturday morning, June 30th, last day of the month - I thought I'd try getting a small head-start on this week's edition of the Kickstarter Card and Deck Projects Report!  I'm your host, Don Boyer, "live" from New York.

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Please note that all times for project endings are given in Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC.  This is the same as Greenwich Mean Time for all practical purposes, displayed in 24-hour time.  Subtract four hours for US Eastern Daylight Time, seven hours for US Pacific Daylight Time.

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Here's "The Rundown" - what's going on with the playing cards projects from last week?

Thu 05 July 2012, 21:57 - Patrick Burke and Ethan Soper's  ULTRAVIOLET Playing Cards: $15,089 raised, $15,000 goal, 101%.  A continued strong flow of backers and their cash barely brought this deck over the goal with a few days still left for fundraising.  Overfunding goals, anyone?

Sun 8 July 2012, 22:00 - Dave Huber's Custom Artistic and Photographically Unique Deck of Cards: $51 raised, $15,809 goal, rounded down to 0%.  Another week with no change from the last report, and only eight days remain.  Not much more to say, really - we're watching a sinking ship that barely made it into the harbor.

Mon 16 July 2012, 22:30 - Seth Thomas and Spencer Rohan's War of Currents Playing Cards:  $11,434 raised, $8,500 goal, 135%.  Still going strong.  No overfunding goals announced yet, but they've given backers a sneak peek at a video project they're working on that's apparently related to the deck's theme and done in a retro style like something from a 1960s educational film.

Wed 11 July 2012, 14:21 - Ana Cortez' "The Book of Knowing" - Extraordinary Playing Cards: $1,844 raised, $6,260 goal, 29%.  The project's only up about a hundred dollars this week - unfortunately, despite having some cool and vaguely surreal art, it doesn't appear that this deck is getting made.  Can't write it off completely, but it would require a true miracle to pick up over 70% of the needed funding in a week-and-a-half.

Fri 20 July 2012, 06:59 - Amy McBride and Maija McKnight/Tacoma Makes' Tacoma Artist Playing Cards: $17,707 raised, $13,000 goal, 136%.  It's only up a bit more than six hundred bucks this week - I guess they found all the Tacomans they needed!  :))

Sat 21 July 2012, 22:00 - Mark Baker's Valor Playing Cards: $685 raised, $7,250 goal, 9%.  It's only up about $80 this week, and only three more remain on this project.  This deck needs a lot more wind beneath its wings than what it's shown so far.

Sun 22 July 2012, 22:52 - Timothy Niou's CORE: Playing Cards: $6,023 raised, $15,000 goal, 40%.  Up over $4,600 (about 31%) in a single week!  The designer announced the results of the deck back vote - the third design was the favorite - as well as two unique gaff cards: both are double-backers, but one has a card reveal on one side (very much like the Vaudeville deck) while the other has a core glowing red instead of blue on one side.  I still wish he'd tweak those pips into something more easily distinguished from each other, but it seems he's got plenty of backers eager for the deck just as it is.

Mon 23 July 2012, 02:59 - Jeremy Todd and Ali Dalsing's ReDraw artist collective's ReDraw deck: $921 raised, $1,200 goal, 77% with 22 days to go.  Nearly doubled its money in a five-day span.  Looks like a lock for getting made.  If they hit some serious overfunding, perhaps they'll look into getting a higher-grade print shop.  No art deck can be all that great when the print job is so insanely cheap.

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"What's next", you ask?  Why, it's "New Business", of course!  What new deck projects have made their presences known since last week?  Just one...

Sun 12 Aug 2012, 22:06 - Noel Quiles of Millville, NJ is here with Genesis "Aboriginal" Playing Cards.  Noel's started checking in here at the Discourse, seeking input on his deck's design - you'll recognize him as "tpxstuidios".  He's planning on producing it through USPC using Aristocrat stock - no word yet on the finish.  His stated inspiration for the deck is the first book of the Bible, which shares the same "first name" with his deck.  The deck's design is heavy on the parchment look, customized Aces but the same standard face cards, and a back meant to evoke Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  It's not a bad start, but I don't think there's enough elements of the deck that tie back to Genesis just yet.  Perhaps if he created court cards that evoked characters from Genesis, the first two obviously being Adam and Eve, possibly followed by Cain and Abel.  While his design is stated as being complete, he's not opposed to reworking his design to better suit his audience, as he's already shown with a reworked back design that removes the obvious one-way mark of the word "GENESIS" running through the middle of the card.  Possible alternatives include two placements of the word or none - none is so far the crowd favorite, and I'm in agreement with them.

The deck is at $1,099 raised on a goal of $15,000, putting him at 7% with about a month-and-a-half to go.

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And now, this week's "Not Your Average Pack" (yes, I changed the name) - your non-standard deck projects.  This does not include specialized games using non-standard playing cards, "deck building" games or collectible playing cards, but it does include art decks, traditional decks using designs other than the standard Anglo-Rouen 52-card deck (such as tarock, tarocchi, skat, hanafuda, etc.), and tarot and other fortune-telling decks.

Thu 28 June 2012, 00:57 - The Collective Tarot's The Collective Tarot, Round III: $26,891/$20K, 134%.  SUCCESSFUL.

Fri 29 June 2012, 22:18 - Brian Ciesicki's Triple Topper - 3 dimensional card system: $66/$5.5K, 1%.  UNSUCCESSFUL.  Brain gained $10 in the final days of his second attempt at getting this deck concept off the ground.  I'm seriously hoping he gives up after two spectacularly failed tries.  It's a flawed concept and it doesn't get better with age.

Mon 13 Aug, 11:05 - Chris Alan Martin's The Chris Martin Tarot: $150/$25K, rounded down to 0%.  Unchanged for the second week in a row.  Not exactly a surprise.

There has been no new projects in this category for this past week.

That's all for now.  Have a good week and keep on shuffling!
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Re: Kickstarter deck projects update
« Reply #78 on: July 07, 2012, 04:23:22 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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It's Saturday morning, July 7th - I hope everyone (in the US!) had a safe and happy Independence Day celebration on Wednesday the Fourth.  Welcome to this week's edition of the Kickstarter Card and Deck Projects Report!  I'm your host, Don Boyer, "live" from New York.

Please note that all currency listed is in U.S. Dollars and times for project endings are given in Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC.  This is the same as Greenwich Mean Time for all practical purposes, displayed in 24-hour time.  Subtract four hours for US Eastern Daylight Time, seven hours for US Pacific Daylight Time.  For Standard Time, subtract an additional hour.  Most of the U.S. currently uses Daylight Saving Time from the second Sunday in March at 2:00:00 AM until the first Sunday in November at 2:00:00 AM (with a few localized exceptions in places such as some Native American tribal territories and the entire state of Arizona, which do not observe Daylight Saving Time at all).

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Here's "The Rundown" - what's going on with the playing cards projects from last week?  New feature: completed projects are shown in italics, like this.

Thu 05 July 2012, 21:57 - Patrick Burke and Ethan Soper's  ULTRAVIOLET Playing Cards: $18,532 raised, $15,000 goal, 124% (up 23%).  SUCCESSFUL.  The deck had a very strong finish, stronger than I thought would happen.  Congratulations to Beta17 Design - I sure we're all looking forward to the next deck you create!

Sun 8 July 2012, 22:00 - Dave Huber's Custom Artistic and Photographically Unique Deck of Cards: $51 raised, $15,809 goal, rounded down to 0% (no change).  Only 41 hours remain for this beautiful but doomed deck idea.  Short of finding an angel investor, it's just not going to happen.

Mon 16 July 2012, 22:30 - Seth Thomas and Spencer Rohan's War of Currents Playing Cards:  $12,177 raised, $8,500 goal, 143% (up 8%).  They came up with a surprise campaign for the Fourth of July: 76 slots (as in 1776, of course) in the rewards for 4 decks at $35.  I'm guessing they went pretty fast.

Wed 11 July 2012, 14:21 - Ana Cortez' "The Book of Knowing" - Extraordinary Playing Cards: $3,111 raised, $6,260 goal, 50% (up 21%).  In one short week, roughly twelve hundred dollars was raised!  Cortez has vow that, Kickstarter or no Kickstarter, this project will be made!  With four days left, it's not likely to happen this time around, but she seems to have a growing support base - perhaps a second time around will do the trick for her.

Fri 20 July 2012, 06:59 - Amy McBride and Maija McKnight/Tacoma Makes' Tacoma Artist Playing Cards: $18,838 raised, $13,000 goal, 145% (up 9%).  It looks like some of the overfunding is going into the tuck box - they posted a mock-up of it, complete with custom seal.  It's one-color, but in this case that's a good thing; its style reminds me of some vintage decks of the past.  Vintage collectors - take note!

Sat 21 July 2012, 22:00 - Mark Baker's Valor Playing Cards: $953 raised, $7,250 goal, 13% (up 4%).  Two weeks remaining and this project just hasn't built up a head of steam.  Baker did recently added a new reward - for $8, you can send the deck to an active-duty member of the Armed Forces.

Sun 22 July 2012, 22:52 - Timothy Niou's CORE: Playing Cards: $9.390 raised, $15,000 goal, 62% (up 22%).  Another three-grand-plus and still climbing!  Niou's offered his backers another vote on the card design, this time for the court cards.  The first design was extremely abstract, while the newer design is still in the minimal, angular style he prefers, but more readily recognizable as court characters.  The voting closed on July 3rd, but the results haven't yet been posted.  I have to say, if the new courts are voted in, I'll have to reconsider this deck for my own collection.

Mon 23 July 2012, 02:59 - Jeremy Todd and Ali Dalsing's ReDraw artist collective's ReDraw deck: $1,308 raised, $1,200 goal, 109% (up 32%).  They hit their goal with over two weeks to spare - no surprise there, considering how low it was.  Zero updates, so no news about overfunding goals.  The decks are still terribly expensive, but considering what the Black Rock Collective deck sold for, perhaps it's not really out of the ballpark for an art deck.

Sun 12 Aug 2012, 22:06 - Noel Quiles' Genesis "Aboriginal" Playing Cards: $3,070 raised, $15,000 goal, 20% (up 13%).  This past week has been kind to this deck, with nearly $2,000 in funding pledges.  Quiles has been on this message board discussing the aspects of his deck and getting input from collectors and magicians on certain design elements.  I'd say the design has improved considerably from when it was first offered.  Let's hope the trend continues and that funding kicks into high gear; he's got about five weeks left, and if he continues steadily at this week's pace, he will fall about two grand short of his goal.

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"What's next", you ask?  Why, it's "New Business", of course!  What new deck projects have sprouted since last week?  Well, we have two on deck for you!

Mon 30 July 2012, 03:10 - Straight from San Francisco, CA, "AlieN InK" - also known as Jeremiah DesLonde and Sebastian Brenes - bring you GalaxY CardS by AlieN InK.

What do I like about this project?  Well, the artwork to me is pretty gorgeous - it's all space-themed.  Traditional suits have been replaced with blue Earths, gray Moons, yellow Suns and red Ringed planets.  These are beautifully rendered in miniature on the number cards and just plain look cool.  For the court cards, we get to see images of the card suit progressing into eclipse and growing larger going from Jack to Ace.  To me, I think this was an elegant way to make court cards in a deck with celestial bodies rather than human ones.  The artwork impresses me, and more than a few people are hoping this is original design work and not a copy-and-paste from somewhere else on the Internet.  Have I mentioned how cool it will be to have a "ten of Earths" card or a "seven of Ringed planets" to look at?  Astronomy and space buffs would eat this stuff up, no problem.

What do I not like about this project?  It appears from their Facebook page that AlieN InK is not just the design firm, but also the manufacturer.  This is definitely not a USPC project, or attached to any major card company - they state as much in their home page.  Customized suits are a cute novelty, but not well-suited for serious play, despite the designers' suggestion of using the brighter suits (Suns and Ringed planets) as "red" suits and the darker ones (Earths and Moons) as "black" suits.  Magicians would be loathe to use these in performance because people would be too taken by the design to give any thought to the tricks being performed, while card flourishers might feel more fifty-fifty (beautiful cards can look good in displays, but again there's the "distracted spectator" factor).  They're using what could be a decent stock - French-made textured 310 gsm black-core, similar to what's used on Bicycle decks today - but the fact that it's neither Bicycle nor USPC will put two strikes against this deck in the minds of many collectors.  The goal being set so low (only five grand) will lead experienced deck backers to think the cards will be inferior quality compared to the rough average of fifteen grand being the goal for USPC-made deck projects.  The card indices are wide rather than narrow, meaning "squeezing" the cards into a decently-concealed hand may be difficult, particularly if you play card games that require large numbers of cards held in-hand.  Unless bought in decent quantities, these decks are pretty costly, coming in at $15 for a single deck reward, plus significantly higher costs for signed decks, something most companies give for little or no extra cost.  And lastly, at least for me - the funky UppeR CasE LasT LetteR of EacH WorD ThaT Isn'T an ArticlE in the company and deck titles is kind of juvenile (or at the least, amateurish), and calling investors getting a deck "Plaliens" (without even bothering to explain what the word actually means) doesn't help dispel that image.  It reminds me way too much of that creepy Skulkor campaign where everyone was being called "brother" and being asked to change their Facebook icon to the Skulkor logo to win prizes.

The project is currently at $1,872 raised on a $5,000 goal, putting them at 37% with three weeks to go.

Sun 20 Aug 2012, 15:23 - the 11-person design team from Mount Laurel, NJ, known as "Mecha-Muse" present the Spider Kingdoms Playing Card Series (3 decks).  Another in a long series of decks that tell a story (without actually telling the story), these decks come in three varieties.  We have the "<Red & Blue> 'New World Design'", the "<Black & Silver> 'Dark World Design'", and a Mystery Deck that will only be distributed if they reach the over-funding goal of twenty grand, double the goal needed to succeed.

Thematically, this reminds me a lot of the "Forgotten Realms" campaign setting from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, with spider kingdoms standing in for elves and drow (dark elves).  The court card art is both attractive and distracting, each being a figure standing in front of something resembling stained glass (a web, perhaps?) and a dividing line through the center with a spider symbol in the center (same symbol for all the courts) used to separate the two opposed images found on the tops and bottoms of modern courts.  Some may like the line, some may not - it does take a bit of the artwork space away and compared to the court images is pretty boring.  The pips have been tweaked - while the hearts and clubs look familiar, the diamonds have a more "shield" shape to them (the bottom half is elongated) and the spades look more like arrowheads.

Price-wise, they're actually not bad at all.  While only being sold in pairs in quantities of less than six decks, a single pair is only $14 - $7 each deck.  This drops to as low as $5 for bulk purchases.  There's also a limited edition art book available - only fifty copies - which will also explain the story behind the decks.  The people pledging for it will actually get their names in it as well as the autographs of all eleven designers - and did I mention it comes with three pairs of decks and is only $75?  One caveat: there's no mention of who's printing the deck and the goal seems too low for USPC work.

The project currently stands at $1,362 raised on a $10,000 goal, putting this project at 14%.

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And now, this week's "Not Your Average Pack" - your non-standard deck projects.  This does not include specialized games using non-standard playing cards, "deck building" games or other collectible card games, but it does include traditional decks using designs other than the standard Anglo-Rouen 52-card deck (such as tarock, tarocchi, skat, hanafuda, etc.), and tarot and other fortune-telling decks.

But before I get to the reports, I have a question for my readers - the decks featured in "Not Your Average Pack" aren't usually the types of decks that people here go for, at least as far as I know.  I've been considering dropping this portion of the report, but before I decide, I'd like input from my readers about what they think of the idea and of the section in general (or anything else about my report, for that matter).  Please leave replies and post your feedback!

Mon 13 Aug, 11:05 - Chris Alan Martin's The Chris Martin Tarot: $225/$25K, 1% (up 1%).  He got one new backer to join the other two.

Thu 13 Aug 2012, 13:39 - Katenia Keller of Augusta, ME brings you the Sacred Geometry Deck.  It takes a different spin on the traditional tarot design, using strictly geometric paintings to represent the cards of the traditional tarot deck.  She completed and published the Major Arcana three years ago and is seeking funding to complete the Minor Arcana and release them as a complete deck.  I'd tell you more about the project, but there's not much more written about it - the home page is three brief paragraphs long.

She's including telephone tarot readings with the decks in her reward structure, and this really ratchets up the cost of a deck in the rewards.  A single complete deck, both Major and Minor Arcana, with a five-card, hour-long reading will set a backer back to the tune of two hundred dollars.  That's right - a two with two more zeroes to keep it company.  For just one complete deck.  At higher levels she includes artwork, both from the deck and new, original art, but only one reward includes the full deck, with some only offering the Major Arcana deck made in 2009, and none offer more than a single deck.  Only 100 Major Arcana decks and 500 combined Major and Minor Arcana decks are being made available.  It's a little shocking how costly the rewards are, especially for a project with such a low goal - it currently stands at $470 raised on a goal of $4,400, putting this deck at 11%.

Fri 31 Aug 2012, 18:14 - Noted Los Angeles, CA-based author Dusty White offers up Astrology Tarot cards: the complete reinvention of the tarot.  While the project name is a little unwieldly and out-there, the actual deck is to be called "Ouroboros Cards", named after the image of a snake devouring itself by the tail to form a closed circle.  This is a rather ambitious project with lofty claims.  The deck is astrology-based, and according to White more accurate than traditional tarot decks, giving clearer and more precise information about future events including details such as precise time of day, location, etc.  Furthermore, he states the deck is easier to use than a standard tarot deck and includes instructions on using the deck for everyone pledging for one.  Not just written instructions - personal phone calls, video and web instructions are included!

That would likely be the reason for the rather high cost of this deck: the starting-level package for a single deck with instruction is $45.  The price gets lower in bulk but never really reaches the "reasonable" level for the common user.  Some rewards also include instruction in standard tarot readings by White.  Interesting side note: in addition to his writings on tarot and astrology, White is also noted for a series of books of the "how to pick up chicks" variety, including one for women he co-wrote with two women on how to get men to give you whatever you want.

The deck is at $2,815 raised on a whopping $57,750 goal, standing at 5%.

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A final note in closing - I will be on vacation from approximately mid-August until the second week of September.  My updates may not be as regular during this time period.  It's a big trip for me - I'm heading to south Florida with my fiancee to get married - so I'm sure you'll understand if I'm a little too preoccupied to post as regularly as I usually do.  :))

That's all for now.  See you next time and keep on shuffling!
« Last Edit: July 07, 2012, 04:30:03 AM by Don Boyer »
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Re: Kickstarter deck projects update
« Reply #79 on: July 16, 2012, 03:28:16 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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It's Monday morning, July 16th, and it's time for another semi-regularly scheduled edition of the Kickstarter Card and Deck Projects Report!  I'm your host, Don Boyer, "live" from New York.

Please note that all currency listed is in U.S. Dollars and times for project endings are given in Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC.  This is the same as Greenwich Mean Time for all practical purposes, displayed in 24-hour time.  Subtract four hours for US Eastern Daylight Time, seven hours for US Pacific Daylight Time.

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Let's get started with "The Rundown" - what's going on with the playing cards projects from nine days ago?

Sun 8 July 2012, 22:00 - Dave Huber's Custom Artistic and Photographically Unique Deck of Cards: $26 raised, $15,809 goal, rounded down to 0%, UNSUCCESSFUL.  It actually lost twenty-five bucks in funding in the home stretch...

Wed 11 July 2012, 14:21 - Ana Cortez' "The Book of Knowing" - Extraordinary Playing Cards: $3,148 raised, $6,260 goal, 50% (up <1%).  UNSUCCESSFUL.  The huge twelve hundred dollar kick she got last week didn't carry over to the deadline, but I feel that this isn't the last we'll hear from Cortez on this project...

Mon 16 July 2012, 22:30 - Seth Thomas and Spencer Rohan's War of Currents Playing Cards:  $14,326 raised, $8,500 goal, 169% (up 26%).  This deck's doing very successfully - but it closes TONIGHT, so if you like this deck and want in on the action, NOW is the time!  These decks almost invariably go up in price at retail - if they even make it to retail.

Fri 20 July 2012, 06:59 - Amy McBride and Maija McKnight/Tacoma Makes' Tacoma Artist Playing Cards: $20,142 raised, $13,000 goal, 155% (up 10%).  I may not be a backer of this deck, but honestly, I'd be interested in seeing what the finished product will look like - and I've never even been to Tacoma!  It's a very handsome deck and I have a feeling this will be one of those really rare decks that collectors pull their hair out looking for a few years down the line, like those Bicycle "Tall Stacks" decks and a few others.

Sat 21 July 2012, 22:00 - Mark Baker's Valor Playing Cards: $1,042 raised, $7,250 goal, 14% (up 1%).  Only five days remaining with little hope in sight.  I seriously hope that Baker retools his deck and gives it another go - the basic idea isn't all that bad, it's just that the functionality of the cards really isn't there, and this needed some real court cards instead of capital letters in the center of the card.  He could have made the four branches of the Armed Forces each represented in one suit of court cards!  It's a natural, right?

Sun 22 July 2012, 22:52 - Timothy Niou's CORE: Playing Cards: $13,251 raised, $15,000 goal, 88% (up 26%).  This deck is really going to go down to the wire, closing in about six days from now.  Now that it's also BICYCLE-BRANDED, I can easily see this deck hitting the goal - but without you investors, that ain't gonna happen, so give this deck a look if you haven't already.  Bicycle collectors, you have no excuse left to NOT look!  :))

Mon 23 July 2012, 02:59 - Jeremy Todd and Ali Dalsing's ReDraw artist collective's ReDraw deck: $1,660 raised, $1,200 goal, 138% (up 29%).  I haven't heard "boo" from the designers of this deck, there are zero comments and zero updates.  And yet it got funded...  It's a real anomaly.

Sun 12 Aug 2012, 22:06 - Noel Quiles' Genesis "Aboriginal" Playing Cards: $6,140 raised, $15,000 goal, 41% (up 21%).  The pace is indeed picking up for this deck - while it's still no shoe-in, it's looking better for this project's chances.  I'm guessing that USPC dropped the minimum deck order to 2,500 cards again, since this deck's coming out in a release of 2,500 decks and it's not the only recent deck project I've seen in such low numbers, both on Kickstarter and from self-funded designers.

Mon 30 July 2012, 03:10 -  Jeremiah DesLonde and Sebastian Brenes' GalaxY CardS by AlieN InK: $2,381 raised, $5,000 goal, 48% (up 11%).  They're doing OK, but OK won't be enough - at this rate, they won't meet the goal in the 13 days this project has left.  The art is really pretty nice - I just wish the deck didn't have so many other issues.

Sun 20 Aug 2012, 15:23 - Mecha-Muse's Spider Kingdoms Playing Card Series (3 decks): $1,971 raised, $10,000 goal, 20% (up 6%).  This is a pretty slow pace for a project that's so ambitious, especially one with an overfunding goal of twenty thousand dollars.  Five weeks might sound like a long time, but without some kind of boost, it'll never make it at this pace.

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Now, for New Business.  What new decks are people screaming at each other about?  Just one, this week.

Sun 12 Aug 2012, 22:30 - Out of Victorville, CA, comes Christopher Lazarus Wolk and his new deck, "The Great Lazarus" Playing Cards.  We've seen art from this deck in the past, but what's mystifying to a number of people on this board is why he's ditching earlier designs that were actually better than the ones he's replacing them with?  The indices look like they were carved out by Fred Flintstone - and not in a good way.  The courts are standard courts, but to make them look custom, they're in negative and monochromed, using shading for the black courts and some sort of red-orange fire-looking pattern for the red courts, supposedly representing the Tomb of Lazarus and the Ressurection of Lazarus from the Bible.  The back is an ambigram (how original), purchased from an online website rather than designed on his own.  There's a joker reveal, a barcode reveal, a sticker seal reveal - he's got all the bases covered for the less-discerning magician or collector.

Here's a quote, word for word, from his project's home page - complete with syntax errors.  I'll give him some credit; at least the spelling appears correct once the syntax gets cleaned up...

"This Exquisite Deck is an Tribute to my Grandfather "Lazarus Wolk", who flew 53 Successful Bomber Missions for the U.S government, In 3 major war's, for the Freedom we have Today! He's an Amazing man, Hero, Mentor & The Best Grandfather a Grandson could ever ask for."

For a tribute deck to his grandfather, there's nothing other than his name on this deck that would indicate as much.  And why bother with the Biblical references if that's the case?  Is it a tribute to his grandfather or to the character Lazarus from the Bible - or to the project owner's own middle name and oft-used message board handle?

But the thing that's making me stay away from this project first and foremost is that on a budget of merely $5,000, he thinks he's going to get 2,500 decks from USPC and get them shipped out to all his backers, along with any other rewards he's promising them.  He hasn't indicated anywhere that there's additional behind-the-scenes funding, and I have to grant you that such funding could exist, but why not say as much?  Assuming there isn't such funds, there's no way on Earth that Wolk can deliver what he's promising.  He's offering a lot in overfunding goals, but it's looking more to me like he wanted to insure the project's success with the low goal and is counting on the overfunding just to get it made.

The project's at $2,882 raised on a goal of $5,000, putting it at 58% of its goal with just under a month remaining

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Due to general reader disinterest, I'm cancelling the "Not Your Average Pack" section from this and future reports.  If I find a deck that's pretty exceptional for one reason or another but doesn't fit into the standard playing card mold, I'll just post it with the other decks in the report or add it in a sidebar.

I'd like to end by reminding my readers that I will be on vacation from approximately mid-August until the second week of September.  My updates may not be as regular during this time period - there's a chance I won't post at all.  If anyone's interested in sitting in for me on this report while I'm away, send me a PM and we'll discuss it.

That's all for now.  See you next time and keep on shuffling!
« Last Edit: July 16, 2012, 03:30:40 AM by Don Boyer »
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
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Re: Kickstarter Card and Deck Projects Report - updated almost every week
« Reply #80 on: July 18, 2012, 02:35:41 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Thank you, readers - if you haven't heard yet, I've been promoted to PCP Mod, and I've folded this report into the New Deck Report on the PCP board.  Check in there for future updates!

So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
Playing Card Design & Development Consultant
Deck Tailoring: Custom Alterations for Magicians and Card Mechanics
Services for Hire - http://thedecktailor.com/
Pre-Made Decks for Sale - http://donboyermagic.com/