Carbon Fiber Playing Cards

[sprouts1115]

I think what Mike is trying to say if the person is invited and the Kickstarter has already started that is ok. He or she can just respond to the link provided usually by badpete69. But if some Yahoo just drops by and Spams the thread that he or she made and never adds any content to any other thread that is not ok. 52Kards is like that. They have the same rules, but they don't try to seek out creators like we do.

Edited by Admin

[Brillig]

Looks like they are starting at 100 dollars. What do you guys think?

I think that since the minimum pledge for International is two decks (WHAT??!?!), I'm over and out.

It's unlikely that I'd be able to rationalize one deck, but forcing me to spring for two is a complete non-starter.

It looks like the one-deck pledge is shippable internationally now. Although obviously this is subject to more tweaking.

[alric]

$100.00 for one deck?!? Shit, if I knew it was going to be that expensive, I wouldn't have bothered posting about this deck in the first place. I get its an expensive material, but that price point sounds too high for what will basically be a novelty deck. I have the same concerns that others have - will be paint/printing stay on the carbon fiber? How will the edges hold up? The last thing I need is to have my hands shredded up handling these cards.

[slykly1]

Hi, I am the deck creator.

I am here to answer questions you may have.

Most of the info can be found on the project page which will be updated daily till I launch on Thursday - Friday.

The main concern I see is the price point of $100 for 1 deck. I am aware that it is a big leap from most decks that offer $10-$12 per deck. But the base material cost alone is around $75-$90(54 CF cards) depending on finish and any accent threads added to the carbon fiber. Then you add the printing costs, 60+ silk screens, plastic cases, metal cases, shipping, and misc fees along the way. Now I could scale the price up by 100%-200% like most retail products but that would put the cost into $200-$300 per deck. That price would instantly kill the project before it began so I settled for a price range of $100-$150. If you want to research Carbon Fiber Business cards you can see that even in large quantities the price can be anywhere from $3-$10 per card!

So fire away with your questions if you fail to find the answer on the project page or if you feel like I may have overlooked something.

Thanks for the invite to this forum. I will try my hardest to not come off as a one time visitor trying to sell my product.

[BiggerDee]

Thanks for popping in! I appreciate the info!

The Dale Mathis deck has a $480 add-on embellishment for the deck, in addition to the base price so put into perspective, $100 isn't bad at all. CF products are very labor intensive and while $100 isn't cheap for a deck, it is a good value, considering the material involved. I don't consider it a novelty as much as I do a pure luxury. I have several watches with CF faces. Is that necessary, of course not, it's a watch face, but it sure as heck looks really, really good! It's all a matter of personal taste, budget, and perceived value in a buyer's eyes. Price out CF sheets, just the raw material itself, and you'll see that the developer is right on with the pricing. It's a very fair price.

A Lamborghini and a Pinto will both get you from point A to point B, but the same factors above apply to who has which. Personal taste. I certainly think that the cards are a good value, not to mention beautiful, and I'm fortunate enough to be financially able to buy a deck if I wanted to, but that doesn't mean that I'm rich or throw money at everything that I see. Just the opposite. That said, I'm still weighing whether or not that I would get enough use out of them to justify the purchase to myself. I'm not trying to impress anyone else with my cards, but I have to impress myself, and I'm far more difficult to impress.

[Casual Pixels]

So fire away with your questions if you fail to find the answer on the project page or if you feel like I may have overlooked something.

Great to have you here!

One concern is the durability of the printing process and the potential for the ink to come off. What kind of researching / testing have you done or do you know of about whether or not the paint is likely to become scratched over time?

[sprouts1115]

slykly1 - Welcome aboard. First off grow some thick skin these people don't hold back punches. Usually we get people here when a Kickstarter has already started and it's a short leaning curve for them. Rarely do we get someone who has a Kickstarter preview. I wish this would be the norm. The only thing I see besides what I posted on your preview is you need better videos. Check out: http://www.unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Just make sure they are under 3 mins. You have something really different. It could go 1 way or another. Does it cost more for the Blue and Red fiber? I notice your using that as a stretch goal.

[sqratch]

It may be a good Idea to offer single cards as well. That way the people that cant afford a full deck can have at least their favorite court card made of carbon fiber. That may boost the sales for you.. Just a thought.

[MagikFingerz]

It may be a good Idea to offer single cards as well. That way the people that cant afford a full deck can have at least their favorite court card made of carbon fiber. That may boost the sales for you.. Just a thought.

I support this idea. Assuming the production process allows printing single cards of backers' choice, of course. Maybe even a pledge level for your favorite poker hand, i.e. 5 cards.

[montecarlojoe]

It may be a good Idea to offer single cards as well. That way the people that cant afford a full deck can have at least their favorite court card made of carbon fiber. That may boost the sales for you.. Just a thought.

I support this idea. Assuming the production process allows printing single cards of backers' choice, of course. Maybe even a pledge level for your favorite poker hand, i.e. 5 cards.

I imagine the simplest way to do this is just to split decks rather than print one offs; buy a suit, four of a kind , royal flushes, aces and eights etc

[DukeBoy]

It may be a good Idea to offer single cards as well. That way the people that cant afford a full deck can have at least their favorite court card made of carbon fiber. That may boost the sales for you.. Just a thought.

I support this idea. Assuming the production process allows printing single cards of backers' choice, of course. Maybe even a pledge level for your favorite poker hand, i.e. 5 cards.

I like all of this

[slykly1]

So fire away with your questions if you fail to find the answer on the project page or if you feel like I may have overlooked something.

Great to have you here!

One concern is the durability of the printing process and the potential for the ink to come off. What kind of researching / testing have you done or do you know of about whether or not the paint is likely to become scratched over time?

I have tested the durability of the silk screened images on the cards and here is what I have found. All finishes (matte, gloss) will not simply rub off when rubbing cards against each other.

I then went to a scratch test by using a Quarter to try and scratch the silk screened images. I couldn't get the ink to scratch at all on the the Matte finished cards. I think this was due to the fact that the silk screen really sinks into the slightly rough/porous finish of the matte cards. The cards with the red or blue accent thread have a gloss type finish and I could get some scratches but I had to really dig in with the quarter to make it happen. The plain gloss cards was slightly easier to scratch but I still had to try hard to make it happen. This is probably because the silk screening does not sink into the gloss finish but is painted on top of it so you can actually feel it a little as you run your fingers over it.

So unless you are deliberately trying to scratch the inks off the images should last a very long time.

[charlie81dbz]

I like the suggestions for single cards or sets of cards. Personally, I can't justify spending $100 on a single deck (and I believe that's a fair price based on what I've seen carbon fiber products go for) but having a few cards would definitely be something I could go for. Not sure how easy it would be to manage if people wanted to select any card they like vs just offering a certain card or set this way though.

Also waiting to see Sly's answer regarding the print durability questions. It doesn't seem like the print would hold up for nearly as long as the cards themselves, short of having them laser engraved or something similar (if that's even possible).

charlie

[slykly1]

It may be a good Idea to offer single cards as well. That way the people that cant afford a full deck can have at least their favorite court card made of carbon fiber. That may boost the sales for you.. Just a thought.

I support this idea. Assuming the production process allows printing single cards of backers' choice, of course. Maybe even a pledge level for your favorite poker hand, i.e. 5 cards.

I had a similar thought to offer 4-5 cards in order to offer a very low backer level.

I think offering a "Royal Flush" or "Court Cards" backer level with A-10 or A-J in the suit of your choice.

Since these cards are not printed in large sheets and then cut out it is possible to offer these levels.
These cards are cut out one at a time and then silk screened so I could just order extra court cards in the various ordered suits and throw them in a regular envelope for shipping.

[slykly1]

How will the edges hold up? The last thing I need is to have my hands shredded up handling these cards.

The edges of the plain black carbon decks are very smooth and uniform. Similar to waterproof plastic decks.

The stretch goal decks that have a red and blue accent threads are a little bit rougher on their edges since the threads can be felt on the edges of the cut cards. I have been playing around with this deck for a couple of weeks now and I have yet to get any kind of slivers or scrapes from handling these cards.

[sqratch]

I may buy one if these. At least the royal flush tier.

[slykly1]

Set to Launch Today! Hopefully around noon MST

[Brillig]

It's Aliiiiive!

[badpete69]

[badpete69]

Brillig I guess it's you and me backing right now unless you are not one of the two hehe

[Brillig]

Brillig I guess it's you and me backing right now unless you are not one of the two hehe

I guess we were #1 and 2.

[sqratch]

Brillig I guess it's you and me backing right now unless you are not one of the two hehe

Did you guys go for the full deck?

[badpete69]

yep with metal case for me I think Brillig took the plastic case

[samwisethegray]

Went for the Royal Flush option, it will be awesome to at least some carbon fiber cards

[Brillig]

yep with metal case for me I think Brillig took the plastic case

Yep, just the plastic case for me.

[badpete69]

44 full decks sold already. Impressive

[Mike Ratledge]

I'm in at the "Early Bird" with metal case.

[Aussie888]

Man these are beautiful playing cards. If only I could justify spending $150->$200 by the time shipping is added on

[vmagic]

I went for the metal case too. I figured if i'm spending $100 on a cool deck of cards, why have them in a plastic case, the metal case doesn't cost all that much and looks better.

[Eoghann]

Have to admit I envy the backers. As interesting as I find the deck, I just can't bring myself to pledge that much for a single deck. The price is perfectly justifiable, but it's too much for me. Best of luck with the project!