TEMPO Playing Cards Series by Ark Playing Card Co

[HFMJ]

If you like fancy/different type of tucks I think you will like this.
The campaign seems pretty confusing at first, but from what I understood it has 4 decks. 2 Tempo original who are limited to 800 and already gone and the Plus versions which are 2500 each.
I personally pledged for the Lab Plus version, which seems to be foiled on both front and back. I think it looks nice.

[hsbc]

Gimmicky tuck is gimmicky... but I'm still in for one Reminds me of Luna Moon, I backed the first campaign but none of the later ones with the same basic tuck design. Here's hoping these guys don't just coast off of recolors of this until 2024

[hsbc]

Also here are some pics and info from the KS page Because wow there is a lot going on with these decks

Tempo Original, neon yellow (ed. 800)



Tempo Lab Original, red/blue (ed. 800)



Tempo Plus, concept w/ UV box set (ed. 2,500)




Tempo Lab Plus, concept w/ UV box set (ed. 2,500)

[Harvonsgard]

Seeing the recent success of Trident and company, this project was doomed to be a jackpot. Not my cup of tea but definitely an interesting project. Is the manufacturer mentioned? I would be curious how they handle.

[Decknowledgy]

They print in house, that is, "Ark Playing Cards"

Hello,
It will be printed by APCC (ourselves)
We have our own factory and machines. Using the world's best German black-core paper. The quality is almost the same as USPCC's.

Guess it's a trend now, following TOPCC by Skymember Presents' project. Potentially, I think this signals the printing techniques have been duplicated in China and now the facilities are starting to boom. It's kinda like how Amazon has tons and tons of rebranded same items, with the original legitimate brand drowned out by the same or slightly lesser quality, different branded, cheaper Chinese knock offs. But in terms of competition, I think it's a great warning sign that top tier printers need to up their game. (I'm talking about you, USPCC, your awful registration.)

On the contrary, these Chinese facilities still still have some way to go with the inking process. There's just too many decks in 2019-2020 printed in China/PRC that has bleeding and cards sticking together problems. I got those from JNs printed by Expert, and then another stuck together one by Legends.

[Timmargh]

[...] I personally pledged for the Lab Plus version, which seems to be foiled on both front and back. I think it looks nice.

Me too but, to be honest, I'm already thinking about cancelling; just a bit too gimmicky.

[Entaro]

This blew up, it was at like $100k in 15 minutes and funded in like 30 seconds. I jumped on the bundle, but was somewhat annoyed they added a double bundle which wasn't in the preview and when I went to change from the single to the double it was sold out lol

[MagikFingerz]

Hmmm... That purple foil looks nice, and an included UV-light is kinda cool. But it's not exactly cheap, and the "in-house" printing makes me skeptical to handling.

Gonna hit that "Remind Me" button and sleep on it.

[shermjack]

Looks like a rip off of Gemini decks...Toomas had a deck named Tempo (though different look), the coloring is bold like Gemini decks and the pattern reminds me a lot of the Superfly Royal Green deck

[Decknowledgy]

Interestingly, Toomas is coming out with the TEMPO Ark edition deck as well... One would've thought he'd stay away from the name to avoid confusion with Ark Playing Cards who's producing their TEMPO on Kickstarter now, but no

Confusion of DA HIGHEST ORDA

[TheFrozenSlime]

In for a single Lab Original. Gimmicky tuck, yes, but I like the look of it.

[james001a]

Its neat, but do I really need it? Maybe.

[MaxPower]

It will be interesting to see if, like the Card College sets, these ship very soon after the campaign ends. I’m optimistic that they will.

[Strag]

Yes another campagin pimped by the TCC/Artisan guys who love to have multiple accounts all fronted by Hong Kong and then offer rude and then non-responsive customer "service". Easy pass and one of the reasons I'm almost completely off KS.

[HFMJ]

Did anybody else that backed this project receive an incomplete package? Or had to deal with them in the past on another project?
I initially backed a Tempo Lab plus gift box and then changed my pledge for an Original Tempo and added the Tempo Lab plus as an add on.
When I received the package it had only one deck, the Tempo one...
I wrote them a message on Kickstarter a week ago, but no response. I also added a comment in the comment section.
I really wanted to get the Lab plus version, but now seems unlikely I will get it.

[Strag]

Try getting at them on Socials (in particular Instagram). It worked with me for TCC, maybe it will work with Ark. Either that or do a temp backing on their latest monstrosity project and comment there about their lack of response on this one. That might get some action. Like at TCC and TCC-related projects, their customer service is just about non-existent.

[HFMJ]

I wrote them an email at the gmail address from the campaign page and last week received the second part of my pledge.

[rousselle]

Glad that worked out!

[hsbc]

[hsbc]

You can see in the pics above that the inner paper in the display box got pretty beat up during transit - I emailed TCC about it with a picture and they sent me a new insert, double-boxed and in much better condition!

[laitostarr777]

I got Tempo Plus from a local friend, which he won through a giveaway and he offered me this willingly. I must say, it is a very interesting cardistry deck: a hidden UV elements as the pattern for the back design, and hidden faces as well! The box itself is really unique, definitely worth inspecting and studying! Gimmicky yes, though it is very interesting! I can say this pretty much beats Babylon Fontaine XD
Plus, I got myself a stronger UV365nm flashlight, and it's USB rechargeable! I'll make sure it lasts long!

Cards fanned under normal light

Cards fanned with UV light

Fancy packaging box

Inside of the fancy box

Tuckbox and Flashlight

The ad card showing the pattern in red and green

Joker cards

Faceless courts

I think my impression of Ark Playing Cards is that... I feel they are trying to imitate Alex Chin? (please don't roast me, I am still acknowledging Alex Chin is the best) You know, fancy words, fancy packaging, all the intensive research and development? It's so crazy on everytime they launch a project, it's just reaches to ten thousands of dollars and reached up to 1000%-2000%. It's just beyond me on how powerful of their impact! Printed by their own company.... hmm... interesting. I feel the cards printed by them, it almost close Kodiak Playing Cards by LPCC (can refer to how the cards fanned out!)

[laitostarr777]

In curiosity, I try to use two different UV lights to shine upon these cards: one is UV395nm and the other is UV365nm
Both these lights are fine to use to see the Babylon text in Babylon Fontaine, but for these cards, it's another story. Turns out, if you use the UV395nm, the colors becomes washed out and pale, and you can't see the red and green patterns. So, it's only worked with the UV365nm

Using UV395nm

Using UV365nm

Physics Lessons:
Visible light that we can see is ranging between 400-700nm, so basically what's below 400nm is invisible light. We called it UV light [ultraviolet]. The wavelenght will determined how powerful it is. 395nm is closer to 400nm, so we can see the purple hue. 365nm is further deep, so there is no purple hue can be seen!

[hsbc]

Tempo Green (2021), x/2500



This is a secret variant of the TEMPO Playing Cards by ARK. Information about this deck remains unknown, but according to ARK - this is a free gift deck given to the inner circle of the brand.

[hsbc]

Wounded Corner: Tempo Lab Plus Concept (w/ light), $29.95