Bee Lotus Casino Grade Playing Cards [CARC]

[george]

These popped up for Murphy's retailers in the last week and something about them left me curious. I picked mine up at Penguin. (https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S31745)

The product copy tells a story of an un-named USPC casino customer that ended up not being able to buy these for some convoluted reason and they're being offered for sale now. (It reminds me of the tale of the Brown Wynn Casino cards that popped up at Theory11 ages ago.) Twice they try to draw comparisons to how Jerry's were sold/discovered. Anyway...

My deck came, and the stock is quite thick or at least snappy. I'm guessing that is the Bee stock that as described. The cards are a great deck of cards, especially for the price.

The ACE of Spades code on my deck is 2812-R1110H, which I believe puts these at 2012 production date?

The tuck has Cincinnati address but the Guarantee Ad Card lists the Kentucky address.

It has the standard faces as described. The red pips are the brighter ones found in Retail decks, not the darker red I've always seen on Casino decks. I'm also puzzled by the retail Ad cards of the era, which I'm not used to seeing on Casino decks.

I don't see anything about the Lotus design that the listing mentions, it appears to me to be a basic Bee back. The box calls it out as the standard "Poker 92".

My question to you, has anyone else picked these up? Did I get a one-off deck, is yours any different? Anyone care to weigh in on the story of how these came to be offered?

[Harvonsgard]

With that ad card they're a must for Simon.

[redux]

Quite cheap and free shipping. Might grab them despite of standard courts. Is there a lotus logo on the back?

[george]

Nope, mine looks like a standard Bee back to me.

Curiously, the reviewer on Penguin describes a different deck than I got, talking about the variation on Bee back and the darker red pips, and offset sticker seal:

(Penguin Review)
The marketing best describes the cards. It has the “perfect pips” for the faces (slightly smaller indexes), dark casino reds for the red cards, aristocrat waffle like back (really similar to bee but slightly different) with a picture of a lotus end to end. Very simple cards. Borderless back. The tuck box sticker is off center as described so you can tell it apart from regular bee cards in your collection

[redux]

Ok. If there's such a variation/gamble it's a no from me.

[flyers3003]

Nope, mine looks like a standard Bee back to me.

Looks like you got the wrong deck. I got mine, also ordered from Penguin, and I have different extra cards as well as the expected back:

[george]

Thanks for chiming in! I had a hunch it was just a mistake, so I ordered the other color a couple days ago. Glad to get a preview to see what's supposed to look like!

[Eric Lee]

I was going to post this here earlier, but decided it wasn't worth the effort once I found out that it costs more to ship 1 brick, even in the US! $19 for a brick, $22+ for USPS shipping. 2 bricks at $31.10 shipped.

At that price, it's better for you to get them from Penguin Magic at $3.50 per deck, free worldwide shipping and you get to mix your colors for 1 brick. Furthermore, at the right time, you can get free stuff from Penguin magic based on your order.

However for those who really wanted to stock up by the bricks, I'm sure Conjuring Arts will be doing another sale soon enough. Sign up for their newsletter.

Here's the link :
https://store.conjuringarts.org/product ... ds-bricks/

They're back! Don't miss your chance to get more Bee Lotus Casino playing cards!

These new and unopened casino playing cards come from an interesting history - they were made for a casino in far east Asia that was operated by someone on the US government's "Black List" and can no longer do business with the United States, including buying these cards!

These Bee casino cards are not only beautiful, but also have normal faces and indices. They are perfect for the aspiring cardsharp or gambling enthusiast.

Get them in red or blue! Solid color bricks only.

Only $19 per brick!
Available now through May 7th, 11:59PM ET.

[redux]

I might be late to the party, but anyone noticed the UV markings on these?

[GandalfPC]

Pretty odd - wonder if that was just a one off or short run issue…

[shermjack]

Looks like a blurred version of their logo, so I would think it was done on purpose as a safety measure

[GandalfPC]

Good eye

[redux]

Yes, it's the logo. It is a bit blurred in reality and on top of that my photo was really bad.. I recently learned about UV security markings on casino decks and went through all mine. These were the only ones that had any.

[Eric Lee]

SoCal: Bee Lotus Casino Playing Cards, Blue $2.00

Only 3 left at that price.

[Eric Lee]

For those curious about the story behind the Lotus Casino, turns out it's actually true and not marketing hype. I was wondering why the flower didn't look like a lotus. Now I know.

So if you got the deck, you've now got an interesting story to tell when playing with these cards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeWGBr7kkFg&t=1s

[Honeybee]

Thanks Eric - a disturbing story

[A. Haines]

As horrific as the subject matter is, that was without a doubt one of the more intriguing playing card backstories. Bravo to the YouTuber for a solid breakdown