by

Captive Souls Playing Cards

The minute I saw the Captive Souls deck on Kickstarter I KNEW I had to do a write-up on it. The creators of this deck, Holly Richards and Josh Smith, hope to not only help raise awareness of animal welfare by getting these cards into your hands, but also to raise money for Born Free in the process, to help with their fight against animal suffering. They will be donating 50% of the sale price to the foundation that works “throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering and protect threatened species in the wild.” Continue reading →

by

by

Fuego! Day of the Dead Inspired Playing Cards were successfully funded on Kickstarter in June 2015. 735 backers funded this deck to the tune of $21,762 USD. I have a few decks for sale in my shop – click HERE to get yours.

‘Day of the Dead’ or ‘Día de los Muertos’ is the Mexican tradition of honouring their deceased loved ones. It is not in the least bit morbid, but rather is a joyous celebration of their lives, and the festivities continue for two days from the 1st to the 2nd of November each year. In recent years, an abundance of Día de los Muertos inspired playing cards have been produced, each with their own unique take on the colourful skulls and costumes that are so ingrained in the traditions of the holiday. Continue reading →

by

by

Back in 2015 (10th of March to be precise) 1568 ‘backers’ clubbed together to raise $81,204 USD because they wanted to see the Leonardo Playing Cards in production. That – for those of you who haven’t yet heard of it – is what Kickstarter is all about. All of us, getting together to help someone we believe in, raise money for something that they want to be able to make a reality. One of the biggest Kickstarter playing card success stories, Leonardo, by French artist Dent-de-Lion du Midi, is an absolute gem of a deck, completely jam-packed with artwork inspired by the great Leonardo Da Vinci.

Leonardo Aces

Continue reading →

by

by

Prism Day and Dusk Playing Cards

Around about this time last year I was getting my knickers in a twist about a fantastic new deck of playing cards by Ben Jones of Elephant Playing cards. That deck was Prism: Night and it had me all a quiver. Not only was the deck one of the most colourfully stunning decks that I had ever seen, but the extra POW! of the gloss ink just made it stand out from the rest of the offerings on Kickstarter. (Read my review HERE.) Continue reading →

by

by

Get on over to the Kickstarter project page now to help support this fantastic deck of playing cards! Quick! Only 24 HOURS to go!!! 

And as a special promotion for followers of this site only, if you pledge for a deck, you can get the PDF book for the special price of just $3.00! That’s half price!!

For those of you with your fingers on the pulse… sorry… <ZAPP!> “Fingers On The Pulse”, you will remember my post a couple of months ago about the <BOOM!> ‘Mighty Super Heroes Playing Cards’, and you may even be thinking (or at least, you should be thinking) “hasn’t she covered this before…?” And dawg nabbit you’d be right!!!! I did!!!! But <POW!!!> (ok, enough of all that…) due to a certain small company called ‘Marvel’ they had to pull the last campaign and totally re-evaluate the artwork on the whole deck…. I’ll get back to that in a moment… But for now….

Continue reading →

by

by

“Roll up! Roll up!! Enter if you dare! Be prepared for some spine chilling sights in the Pit of Curiosities! The Greatest Show on Earth is here for your entertainment. Roll up!!”

“Children with candyfloss, and prizes of goldfish.

Young men kill tin ducks, in sharp shooter poses.

The laughter of the lovers, on the rickety stairs.

The rumble of the diesel, and the sounds of the fair…”

The opening bars of the song “Fairground Attraction” by the Scottish band of the same name started playing in my head when I first saw this Slideshow Playing Cards deck by Str8Games. These take you back to an era gone by where fairgrounds were bustling gatherings of all walks of society getting together to be entertained, amazed, enthralled and yes, even horrified. Continue reading →

by

by

This 2D, Harlequin-esque, minimalist, basically-designed deck of playing cards is an absolute must-have for the serious collector. Or even the not so serious collector. Or for you, even. Look at it. It’s beautiful. What would YOU do differently……? Can’t think of anything? No wonder.

Duel Playing Cards are live on Kickstarter right now and there’s just over 2 days left guys…..!!

{Anyone who wants to know any more about the workings of Kickstarter please click HERE for a breakdown.}

Continue reading →

by

by

Learning to speak a new language for any age group can be a daunting task. There are so many words and phrases in the English language that it’s hard enough keeping up with THEM let alone learning how to articulate ourselves in another dialect. Well, that’s where these cards come in. Aptly named ‘Learn Spanish or French (while) Playing Cards’ (gedditt??) this is one set of cards that you WILL be putting in the kid’s Christmas stockings. AND you’ll be packing them in your luggage too because they cater for both old and young. I’m an avid supporter of kids learning to play card games, and these 2 decks are surely the perfect introduction. The campaign is live right now on Kickstarter, and you have until 29th of September 2015 to get your hands on a few decks, so head on over there now.

Learn Spanish or French (while) Playing Cards

Continue reading →

by

by

I remember many, many years ago, a good friend of my Mum’s went to Greece for a holiday. She brought my Mum back a couple of hand-made and hand-painted plates, depicting various highly dramatic scenes involving Ancient Greek characters. I had no idea who they were or what they were doing. None. But I didn’t care. The plates were painted in dark reds and browns and blacks. The characters were strong and fascinating. I loved those plates. They hung on the living room wall for years – long after I moved out. Until of course my Mum was redecorating and they didn’t quite ‘go’ with the rest of the decor. She was going to store them away, but I asked if I could have them because I wanted them on MY wall. Well, I brought the plates home and, unbeknownst to me, my room mate put them into the dishwasher to clean them…. the dishwasher……… hand painted plates…. they were ruined….. I was devastated………. This deck reminds me of those plates :) The Fall of Troy ][ Epic Playing Cards are on Kickstarter NOW.

The Fall of Troy Playing Cards

Designed by Chris Staples of duxoop (if you’re wondering how it’s pronounced, his logo is a soup bowl with a duck in it…. geddit….?) this deck features the main players in the Trojan War which is believed to have taken place some time between 1260 – 1180 BC. Chris has taken inspiration from various artworks which have depicted the War, but he has painstakingly reworked each design to achieve the 2-way symmetrical images we are familiar with in ‘modern day’ playing card design. Ancient script adorns the background of each card – courts and pips – which gives this deck a truly raw, handmade feel. The pips are all custom hand-drawn too, so it’s clear to see that a LOT of work went into designing this deck. Which is no surprise really, considering that Chris Staples has worked on some of the most well known animated films and TV shows in recent years. {Keep reading for more details….:)} Continue reading →

by

by

Some of you may think this is a bit of a controversial review, given the nature of the subject matter. And up until recently you *could* to some degree have had a valid point. But taking into consideration that very recently, the US Department of Health has confirmed that cannabis CAN kill cancer cells, it makes sense that someone should create the “Medical Cannabis Playing Cards”, showcasing various cannabis strains and their effects. Funding is live on Kickstarter right now, so get over to the project page and show them your support.

Cannabis Sativa Plant

On its website, The National Cancer Institute (part of the US Department of Health) said: “Laboratory and animal studies have shown that cannabinoids (the active ingredient in cannabis) may be able to kill cancer cells while protecting normal cells. They may inhibit tumour growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth, and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumours to grow.”

While it has to be stressed that so far there has been no such claim made about treating cancer cells in humans, and that various cancer charities are treating this news with caution, it also has to be noted that the laws against the use of marijuana have been relaxed or amended not just in many US states but also in some countries around the world. I’m not making any major medical statements here, I’m just going to tell you about this deck in the same way as I’d tell you about a deck of unsolved murders without advocating going out and killing someone….

Medical Cannabis Playing Cards

This deck is the brainchild of  Mike Mikolajczyk and his wife Brenda of Philadelphia, PA. Brenda is described in their bio as a “compassionate registered nurse”. So I’m guessing that she has dealt with and treated many patients who she knows, in some way or another, could benefit from the use of medical marijuana. It must be very hard for someone who has dedicated their life to helping people in pain to have to sit back and watch them suffer when there is something out there that could help ease the suffering, if it was only legal… Mike describes himself as a “Libertarian, and a champion for those without a voice” and he says that “we hope this project will help bring more awareness to both the benefits of medical marijuana as well as the need for more research.”

Continue reading →

by