Notorious Gambling Frog by Stockholm 17

[steampunk52]

I snagged a brick. I think a few of them will be gifts. I haven't opened the gilded ones, so curious as to what these will feel like as well

[shkorc]

I really wish these would be sent from EU, alas...

[brownsl]

Grabbed a brick also. 10 left.

[balrog326]

bricks sold out now

[Bradius]

I received notice early in the morning from GW that my brick was in route. Here I am on Saturday and here is what I see.

Screenshot 2022-03-26 123948.PNG.jpg (26.2 KiB) Viewed 5677 times

I have no idea what is going on, but this is crazy. As far as I can tell, my package has been sitting in GW since Wednesday morning and it is now Saturday noon.

I just received another notice that GW just shipped my Poison rewards. I am afraid I will see something similar.

What is also so frustrating is that I can't even reach out to GW to find out what is going on. Hopefully, this will get sorted out soon.

What are the rest of you seeing?

[shunterino]

I really liked the theme of this deck when I first saw the tuck and was disappointed to find the rest of the deck wasn't really what I thought. It's still a cool deck, well executed and nicely coloured (and very affordable) but not really appealing to me. What it reminds me of a bit is Jackson's Tiger deck. Cool box but basically standard courts. It was only when I he put out the V2 with tiger faces that I picked up a deck. I'm not sure how popular the V2 was compared to the V1 but maybe something similar could be done with these? Would you buy the frogface version?

[steampunk52]

I received notice early in the morning from GW that my brick was in route. Here I am on Saturday and here is what I see.

Screenshot 2022-03-26 123948.PNG.jpg

I have no idea what is going on, but this is crazy. As far as I can tell, my package has been sitting in GW since Wednesday morning and it is now Saturday noon.

I just received another notice that GW just shipped my Poison rewards. I am afraid I will see something similar.

What is also so frustrating is that I can't even reach out to GW to find out what is going on. Hopefully, this will get sorted out soon.

What are the rest of you seeing?

Mine says the same. For what is worth, this has been my typical experience with GW lately. For kickstarters, my understanding is they initiate/print all the shipping labels in batches and them drop them off in bulk when the orders are ready. They may be treating this a similar manner since most of the orders came in on the same day. I have had package show ready to ship for almost a week. I try not to think about it

[GandalfTheWhite]

I had ordered just 2 decks and I received it this morning.

[brownsl]

My brick says the same.

[wingedpotato]

I really liked the theme of this deck when I first saw the tuck and was disappointed to find the rest of the deck wasn't really what I thought. It's still a cool deck, well executed and nicely coloured (and very affordable) but not really appealing to me. What it reminds me of a bit is Jackson's Tiger deck. Cool box but basically standard courts. It was only when I he put out the V2 with tiger faces that I picked up a deck. I'm not sure how popular the V2 was compared to the V1 but maybe something similar could be done with these? Would you buy the frogface version?

I'd buy a frog=face version in a heartbeat, BUT I really like the aesthetics of this deck. I'm a sucker for variations on standard courts when there are obvious and subtle differences. Like I'm playing with a deck from an alternate universe.

[balrog326]

My Brick says same thing, still waiting on the item at GW. along with my Minty gilded decks and some other stuff. Nothing has left GW yet for some reason....

[brownsl]

Same for my Minty decks. Supposedly shipped 8 days ago but DHL still says waiting to receive package from GW.

[rousselle]

Weird. I received mine in the mail a day or two ago.

These are now one of my favorite "standard" decks. Absolutely love these, and the introductory price made me love them even more.

[Bradius]

Latest update on my shipment:

Frog shipment update 2022-03-31.JPG (26.3 KiB) Viewed 5327 times

Yeah, that is no update in over a week. DHL is still waiting to receive my package.

Interestingly, below is my TWI Poison rewards shipment. The label was made the same day. Label made on 3/28, but it wasn't received by DHL until 3/28.

Hopefully I will get my Poison decks later today.

[vasta41]

I just saw this on the website and got very sad: "Cards Printed by WJPCC"
Considering how inexpensive these are, I might still pick one up but I'm on the fence now.

I actually used this opportunity (of cheap pricing) to buy 2 decks- one for the collection and one to put through the ringer. I want to see for myself just how these handle with some novice-intermediate XCM.

I've been playing around with this deck for a bit but not as much as I would've liked since work and life are getting in the way. Which is just a long way of saying I'll be posting more later BUT here's what I've discovered so far:

Out of the box, these fanned great with no extra effort. Although they don't feel quite the same as a USPCC deck, I was still surprised how well they fanned. They did not faro very easily, however.

The stock felt thinner and didn't have quite the same "snap" as USPCC but didn't hinder me from doing some advanced cuts. ON DAY ONE...

The second day I opened the tuck and took the cards out, they were very noticeably bowed. If I held the deck with my thumb and middle finger at opposite corners, I could press in the middle of the deck with my index finger until the cards "popped." This definitely hindered me from doing some XCM.

While other decks I've played with have done this slightly, I've never seen this as exaggerated as I have with this deck. Again, I would say the jury is out but so far, this bowing is not a good sign. I'll report back once I use the deck more thoroughly.

Side note, I love the art- especially for under $10!

[steampunk52]

Latest update on my shipment:

Frog shipment update 2022-03-31.JPG

Yeah, that is no update in over a week. DHL is still waiting to receive my package.

Interestingly, below is my TWI Poison rewards shipment. The label was made the same day. Label made on 3/28, but it wasn't received by DHL until 3/28.

Poison Shipping Info - 2022-03-31.JPG

Hopefully I will get my Poison decks later today.

Same here - no movement. I also have another shipment (Instant Noodles v2) whose shipment label was created the day after Frog and its now at the distribution hub in my area waiting to get picked up by USPS. Maybe something about the bricks since singles seem to be arriving?

[Bradius]

My guess is GW is just slow to get the packages to the delivery service provider. I am sure they will get them off soon enough. Patience isn't a virtue in my opinion. Not when it comes to getting an anticipated shipment of playing cards!

[Bradius]

Lorenzo just sent an update to a few of us impacted. Evidently Gamblers Warehouse noticed an issue with some of the brick boxes that meant the boxes needed to be replaced. They expect to get them shipped out early next week.

Thanks Lorenzo for contacting GW for an update.

[hsbc]

Do you like this deck? Do you like the color orange?


.....

[brownsl]

Received my brick today!

[Harvonsgard]

... this bowing is not a good sign.

Indeed not good if two reviews already report a click.

[montenzi]

I love this deck!

Design - 100%
Boxes - 100%
WJPC quality - 100%, almost USPCC, wow!
Price - 10/10

My brick:

IMG_20220413_104812.jpg (205.79 KiB) Viewed 5062 times

[Curt]

... this bowing is not a good sign.

Indeed not good if two reviews already report a click.

I have used the deck quite heavily over the past week. It definitely was bowed and clicked on day 2 but that does go away after some decent use. Here is a picture of the deck now. Still fans beautifully and I cannot feel/hear any noticeable click in it anymore.

[Bradius]

My brick arrived yesterday and I broke out one of them. I am quite happy with the result. This is definitely a beautiful deck that would be great for game night. Just a beautiful all around deck. The handling is nice and I generally like the overall feel. I am not sure this would make it for a serous cardist, but for everyday gaming it seems like a winner. The retro design and vibe is spot on.

i should put my decks up on eBay for $500 each.

• Super rare. Italian designed deck upgrading antique artwork with 21st century printing by world renowned printer. Custom pips, courts and backs. Custom embossed tuck. Custom seal. Custom wall-to-wall luxury. Real signature of the delivery guy. Serious collectors and playing card enthusiasts only.

Free domestic shipping while limited supply lasts.

[Eric Lee]

Real signature of the delivery guy? That's a truly rare unique! $500 is a bargain for that alone!

[EndersGame]

We've now seen several reputable playing card creators using WJPC in recent times, with examples including the following:

• Elephant Playing Cards: Elephant (2018), Cyberpunk (2019), Circuit (2019), 52 Zoo (2019), Discovery (2019), For Dad/Mum (2019), Starry Night (2020), Mosaic (2020) etc
• Guru Playing Cards: Bharata V2 (2018), Kalevala (2018), A Motley Pack (2019), Bosch Mini (2021)
• Gakondo Playing Cards: Gakondo (2020), The Dark Continent (2022)
• Stockholm17: Notorious Gambling Frog (2022)

In my experience (shared by all the reports I've read) the handling of WJPC printed decks from 2018 through 2019 has been rather ordinary. But in the last year or two it has been a very different story.

They offer a lot of different stocks, but of all the ones with German black core paper, the most popular ones seem to be 310gsm (more firm) or 300gsm (softer). In my own experience WJPC's 310gsm stock compares quite favourably to a standard Bicycle deck, whereas their 300gsm stock compares quite favourably to USPCC's crushed stock. I read somewhere that for cardistry style decks, the 305gsm Italian black core paper is a good choice, but I haven't personally had the chance to try a deck with that card-stock.

I didn't get one of the Notorious Gambling Frog decks myself - does anyone know what stock was used for this? I'm guessing it was either the more durable 310gsm stock, or the softer 300gsm stock?

And has anything been mentioned anywhere about what finish/coating was used for these decks, and whether it is WJPC's most common "butter finish" which they seem to use for the majority of their decks?

I've been very interested to hear what people have to say about the looks and handling of these decks in light of the above. Here's the collected feedback so far, which is generally very positive. Anything to add, or any updates? We're now a few months further down the track, and perhaps some of you have been able to give these even more of a workout.

Gotta say USPCC isn't the creme of the crop all the time. Black No.17 for example felt crappy and looked dull (which can be a matter of print data though so not exclusively a fault of the printer) imho. WJPCC definitely delivers alright to good decks in the current era.

I actually used this opportunity (of cheap pricing) to buy 2 decks- one for the collection and one to put through the ringer. I want to see for myself just how these handle with some novice-intermediate XCM.

Out of the box, these fanned great with no extra effort. Although they don't feel quite the same as a USPCC deck, I was still surprised how well they fanned. They did not faro very easily, however. The stock felt thinner and didn't have quite the same "snap" as USPCC but didn't hinder me from doing some advanced cuts. ON DAY ONE...

The second day I opened the tuck and took the cards out, they were very noticeably bowed. If I held the deck with my thumb and middle finger at opposite corners, I could press in the middle of the deck with my index finger until the cards "popped." This definitely hindered me from doing some XCM. While other decks I've played with have done this slightly, I've never seen this as exaggerated as I have with this deck. Again, I would say the jury is out but so far, this bowing is not a good sign. I'll report back once I use the deck more thoroughly.

WJPC quality - 100%, almost USPCC, wow!

I have used the deck quite heavily over the past week. It definitely was bowed and clicked on day 2 but that does go away after some decent use. Here is a picture of the deck now. Still fans beautifully and I cannot feel/hear any noticeable click in it anymore.

My brick arrived yesterday and I broke out one of them. I am quite happy with the result. This is definitely a beautiful deck that would be great for game night. Just a beautiful all around deck. The handling is nice and I generally like the overall feel. I am not sure this would make it for a serous cardist, but for everyday gaming it seems like a winner.

[hsbc]

I didn't get one of the Notorious Gambling Frog decks myself - does anyone know what stock was used for this? I'm guessing it was either the more durable 310gsm stock, or the softer 300gsm stock?

And has anything been mentioned anywhere about what finish/coating was used for these decks, and whether it is WJPC's most common "butter finish" which they seem to use for the majority of their decks?

From Lorenzo's Patreon:

printed by WJPC in China, as the Quartermaster, same paper stock.

[vasta41]

I have been meaning to follow up on this. Long story short, I am blown away by the quality of these cards. I was rolling my eyes the second day I handled these due to the extreme warping. But from day 3 on, they have been fantastic. To the point where I would now consider them as a "major player" when before, I wouldn't touch a project using WJPC with a ten-foot pole. As far as handling goes, USPCC is still the holy mecca but I would pop these in the 2nd tier with Cartamundi and EPCC.
These cards have been able to take any basic XCM move I throw at them: springs, shuffles, fans, etc. Faroing is about the only thing that I notice isn't amazing but still very, very good. I'm so happy these were sold so cheaply or else I never would have discovered this. Thanks, Lorenzo!

[Bradius]

In addition to the decks, Lorenzo also offerred for sale some of these prints on custom paper that were also signed and numbered on the back. This was also a nice add-on.

[montenzi]

But from day 3 on, they have been fantastic.

I think they use a different amount of oil, so in 3-7 days, an average USPCC deck becomes clumpy and dirty on the edges, while the WJPC deck starts performing better for up to 3-4 weeks of heavy usage.