Shuffled Ink?

[Magistrate1500]

I’m thinking of using Shuffle Ink to order some prototypes for my campaign. The actual cards for the project will be USPCC. I’m curious if anyone has experience with them on the customer service/user experience side of things. Anything I should look out for or maybe use someone else for a small order for prototypes? Thanks for any advice.

[Räpylätassu]

Sunish printed the Kalevala prototypes from them so he should be able to tell you more. I own one of them and I can only say that the finished product is pretty great, especially for it being a prototype.

[JacksonRobinson]

If you are printing cards just for prototyping sake, I would steer you towards MPC. MPC's web/design interface is very, very, very, easy to use and the turnaround time can't be beaten.

I say this from the standpoint of having used both multiple times for projects.

[willroya]

I tired them and had a bad experience. They made a mistake and verified over the phone and email that if I sent them back the decks they would fix it. I did and they sent them back with still not fixing the problem. Very disappointed. They offered me 10% off on a future job. No thanks, wouldn't use them again if they paid me. I will switch back to using MPC. Many decks printed with them so far with no issues and faster / better service.

[rousselle]

Whoever you use, I strongly urge you to use whatever their equivalent of linen finish is, as opposed to smooth finish.

[Magistrate1500]

MPC with linen finish it is then. Thank you very much!

[EndersGame]

Sunish printed the Kalevala prototypes from them so he should be able to tell you more. I own one of them and I can only say that the finished product is pretty great, especially for it being a prototype.

This was my impression of the Kalevala prototypes printed by Shuffled Ink as well. I've also had them print a custom deck for me and written about it at length here. In my opinion the quality they compare most closely with are cards from Make Playing Cards (MPC), which is based in Hong Kong and China, so Shuffled Ink is a good US-based alternative.

The cards in the Shuffled Ink decks feel similar in thickness to those in MPC decks, although the MPC cards feel slightly stiffer. MPC cards also seem to have more friction in spreads and fans (i.e. they "grip" more), while Shuffled Ink cards slide across each other a bit more smoothly. But cards from both producers enable you to do relatively even spreads and fans straight from the box, but over time expect some clumping from both, which is quite common for cards from any manufacturer other than USPCC.

The edges of the Shuffled Ink decks are smoother due to the laser cutting technique, which can be a drawback for faro shuffling. Typically you wouldn't be using Shuffled Ink if you're producing a cardistry deck anyway. But for anything other than the high demands of cardistry, they're quite adequate, especially because they let you do smaller print runs, making them ideal for prototypes as well. Serious collectors, however, will usually settle for nothing less than the high standards of cards like USPCC or Cartamundi, given how smoothly their fans and spreads remain, even after significant use, but those manufacturers are typically only options for print runs of at least 1000 decks and more.