Alpha & Omega Playing Cards (Kickstarter)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/el ... ying-cards
A set of three decks of custom playing cards featuring characters from the Early Church, Protestant Reformation & Great Awakening
Cost: ~US$13 per deck
Current funding level: over 800% funded!
Kickstarter ends: Tuesday April 20, 2021
The Alpha & Omega Playing Cards project currently being crowd-funded on Kickstarter consists of three decks, each corresponding to a different significant period of church history:
● The Early Church
● The Protestant Reformation
● The Great Awakening
This project will especially appeal to Christians like myself. But it will also have appeal to people who have an interest in history, or who simply appreciate high quality custom playing cards.
The person running this project is Ben Jones from Elephant Playing Cards, who is very well known in the playing card industry, and a successful and experienced creator of many wonderful playing cards. A few years ago I covered quite a number of his custom playing cards in a detailed pictorial review article entitled
Elephant Playing Cards - home of the famous Pipmen. Ben's
Pipmen World deck continues to be an all-time personal favourite of mine.
But his latest project is far from whimsical, and deals with very serious material: figures from church history. As Ben notes on the project page, Biblical themes are a deeply rooted part of our history and cultural fabric, and it was time to produce something without cheesy clipart, and that was a quality product. What's more, events like the Protestant Reformation have had a significant impact historically, and their theologically importance is profound and ongoing.
The series approaches these events from a Protestant perspective, which I personally happen to share. But you don't have to agree with Ben's theology to appreciate the quality of these playing cards.
Of the three decks included, for me the Reformation deck is especially of real interest.
It's a fully custom deck, where all the cards depict various Reformation-related individuals and ideas. For example:
● The Kings are the primary leaders of the Reformation in their respective geographic areas: Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Zwingli.
● The Queens and Jacks are other key figures who played important roles.
● The Aces are milestone events in the reformations (e.g. the Reformation Solas).
● The Jokers are the principal opponents of the movement: Pope Leo X and Tetzel.
The artwork of the court cards is very detailed, and in wood-cut style, e.g. Luther is depicted on one side of the card nailing his era-defining 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, while on the other side he is confined to Wartburg Castle to escape the Catholic Church; a scene complete with the ink stain from his encounter with the devil.
The card backs revolve around a central cross that has an open book design to represent the Sola Scriptura principle that was key to the Reformation movement. The tuck box features Luther’s Rose in embossed gold foil signifying the hearts of the Protestant Reformation.
The other decks have a similar approach to their areas of focus. So the cards from the Early Church deck include influential leaders like Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Athanasius, Polycarp, Chrysostom, and early church fathers like Clement, Origen, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Cyprian. The Great Awakening deck features individuals and preachers like George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Wesley.
The playing cards from this project are being produced on professional grade playing card stock with shiny metallic gold accents. I have several other decks produced by Elephant Playing Cards, and the quality is terrific. These particular decks are going to be printed by United States Playing Card Company, makers of the famous Bicycle brand, so that itself is a guarantee of quality.
As a bonus, all backers also get a free eBook with 10 popular card games that can be played with a regular deck.
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this project whatsoever, but I'm just a playing card enthusiast that appreciates creative and quality playing cards. As a Protestant Christian myself, with an appreciation of Reformed theology, I'm very pleased to see a high quality product that others can also appreciate. And as a collector of playing cards, I have a real appreciation for any custom deck of playing cards that is well done all round.
I've enjoyed many of the high quality custom playing cards from Elephant Playing Cards, and these look to be one of the best yet. Ben Jones is an experienced reputable creator, with a proven track record for delivering on what he promises, so backers can pledge with confidence. The project closes in less than a week, so if you want to get on board, now is the time to do so.
Kickstarter link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/el ... ying-cards
