Blackout Kingdom decks - Ks now live

[Mike Ratledge]

Another UC exclusive: the first look at GW's next project of two decks: "Blackout Kingdom"

Eddie sent me an early preview of his next (3rd) Kickstarter project, but I don't have an exact time for them to launch just yet. I'm thinking he is still a couple of weeks away from launch, but of course I could be wrong. In any case, as always he's soliciting comments from the UC community so let's help him out as much as we can.

As you should know by now, both Eddie and his artists have always been very receptive to our comments here, and as with the Occults decks they are running on their KS campaign right now they are very open to our suggestions to refine the decks for sale. I don't have anything more right now, just the single preview rendering, so take a look and tell him what you think. I don't believe that these are Jonnypowpow this time, it appears to me to be a different artist/designer. The message did not include any other details, so anything more I say is simply speculation. I'm certain that he and/or his people will be here soon to fill us in on more details!

Just judging from the single pix that I received from him late this evening after close of business, this will be a dual deck series, with one silvery looking back and tuck that is in the standard format and Bicycle branded, and a second deck that has a gold-tone back and tuck that is in the horizontal "side tuck" format without branding - both with custom seals that I assume are part of the package from the start. Again, just an assumption from the picture, but he's showing the 12 court cards, and it appears that we will have metallic inks on both decks along with (and this is just my perspective) foiling on the tucks of both editions as well. Maybe just metallic inks, but the glossy rendering at least to me makes it appear that the tucks are both foiled.

I'm just guessing, but if they "follow suit" with the last campaign the non-branded deck will be the Limited Edition version. I do not have anything else, no pricing, etc.

[Godzillian]

Very cool. I like the custom courts with the slightly morbid design (whited eyes). The back is nice, but it doesn't quite make me say "Yes yes yes". I think the "gold"/yellow on the Unbranded back needs to stand out more, particularly the diamond. Right now, the branded back stands out like neon because of the white lines against black bg, which is great.

[wahl0108]

Lack of pupils is cool, back is one-way. Not sure how I feel about the eyes in the corners and I'd like to see more reds in the courts.

[Mike Ratledge]

Lack of pupils is cool, back is one-way. Not sure how I feel about the eyes in the corners and I'd like to see more reds in the courts.

Sharp eyes, I was going to say "2-way courts", but I hadn't looked them over enough to be certain. To be honest I think it is an oversight, but I could be wrong. Eddie and the crew are painfully aware about how we feel with respect to "1-way court cards", so I'm going to hazard a guess and say it wasn't intended to be that way. In any case, you can be certain that they will be here and are watching, so whether or not it was I'm sure that it will be 2-way before they are published.

Like I said, they listen - which is a good thing for us and them, too. Of course, if everybody listened to our collective intelligence and observations there would be a lot less failed projects; we have proved that time and time again - and I'm sure will continue to do so. Obviously he was ready to let me show a little taste of these decks off, but not quite ready to jump in here and shag down the flies, but once he is finished with the Occults campaign I feel sure that he will be here and also listening. There's obviously a reason he sent that pix to me first, which is because he knows that when we see it we will point out all of the obvious flaws and also comment on things that can be improved.

[Cbkimble]

My first impression was "holy crap". Not sure why but this deck just freaks me out. The lack of pupils and the eyes on the tucks. I like the artwork, the courts looks pretty good, but I cant see adding this to my collection.

[rousselle]

They have their father's eyes.

I think the one-way back is intentional, and the fact that the mark is in the center makes it not entirely off-putting, imho, ymmv, etc., etc.

But the eyes. Hmmm. Not sure about those. And yet... I think that's kinda part of the point of the deck.

The eyes are the only thing that stop me from being an early champion of this one.

Notice that the Hal icon looks kinda like an eye... WITH A PUPIL, FERCRYINOUTLOUD!

[montecarlojoe]

There are some nice elements to this, but nothing outstanding that makes me want to pay attention, and the theme is really unclear to me...

[Gamblers Warehouse]

Hey Guys,

As Mike briefed that this would be our third project and we are still not done to launch it. There is always room for improvement and that is why we have always appreciated the valuable feedbacks.
Regarding the 1 way backs it is unintentional & the error will be corrected.

Regards
Eddie

[Gamblers Warehouse]

Here is the revision for both the backs.

[Mike Ratledge]

Hey Guys,

As Mike briefed that this would be our third project and we are still not done to launch it. There is always room for improvement and that is why we have always appreciated the valuable feedbacks.
Regarding the 1 way backs it is unintentional & the error will be corrected.

Regards
Eddie


Here is the revision for both decks:

Ah, exactly as I suspected. Thanks, Eddie. You know how things are when you're dealing with speculation. OK, any 1-way elements were definitely unintentional as I noted in the OP, as was the fact that the "eye" in the center of the backs made it 1-way as well. We're dealing with a preview of a preview, folks. Let's make constructive criticisms instead of dealing with nit-picking. I have to agree that I don't really see a cohesive theme yet, but - we're only looking at a very narrow subset of the whole picture. No cards other than the courts, and none of the jokers, Aces, etc. We're still pretty much looking at about 25% of the total artwork for now.

I'm certain that Eddie will show us more as things move along! As I noted in the OP, it's just a taste of what is coming, and we saw it here first.

[Godzillian]

I have to agree that I don't really see a cohesive theme yet, but - we're only looking at a very narrow subset of the whole picture.

Actually, Mike brings up a good point. What exactly is the theme here? Blindness? The inability to see? Sudden head trauma, causing you to black out? If we know the theme, we can make better suggestions.

[Bikefanatic]

Having white eyeballs is cool and eerie. There's been courts with no mouths (Babel) or faces (Bicycle Clot). I like the black and gold backs but not the sideway looking tuck.

[Alyooola]

Hello all!

I just want to chime in and give you a bit of the back story on the concept behind the Blackout Kingdom. The designer that we are working with is from another nation outside of the US and does not speak English very well. I am working on translating the story behind his design to the best of my ability so that everyone can hopefully understand it. Please bear with me!

Here is the gist of it:

"In the heyday of kings, a mysterious force swept over all of the kingdoms possessing the rich, powerful and wealthy causing a “blackout” (turning them all blind). Forcing the kings to rule their kingdoms blindly.

The poor however were not affected by this mysterious force. The wealthy and powerful had no choice but to become united with the poor against this force to save their kingdom.

Some people believe that the mysterious force was the eyes of the Demon but others believe that it was the eyes of the Gods."

I hope this gives you all a better understanding of the designer's concept. We will definitely keep you all updated as this deck progresses. As always, we appreciate your feedback!

[sinjin7]

I think decks with straight-forward, intuitive, and cohesive themes are better received than themes that aren't readily apparent and require such a long back story to explain it. Unless this mythology of the blindness uniting the classes is so universally famous and well-known (which it is not, at least not in America) or is explicitly stated somewhere in the deck/tuck box, no one will really make that connection and will continue to be confused about what exactly is the theme or concept.

Haviing said that, a great design can overcome many things.

[supcomtabz]

Very pretty. A bit freaky.

I'm not sure they're for me, but I like the solid design work.

[vjose32]

Would be nice if they fulfilled their other 2 or 3 decks first!

[MagikFingerz]

Would be nice if they fulfilled their other 2 or 3 decks first!

I'm pretty sure Gambler's Warehouse has enough resources to be able to fulfill projects without much trouble.

[Mike Ratledge]

Would be nice if they fulfilled their other 2 or 3 decks first!

I understand that with the small groups and single person companies, Victor, but GW is a major conglomerate with millions of dollars in sales across all of their divisions and a history of solid performance in the playing card industry - for many years. Think about CollectiblePlayingCards or Elite or similar groups, they run campaign after campaign with no break between them and have three or four decks "in the pipeline" at a time. They always deliver (just like GW does). I understand that the name has changes and the group itself moved from the fulfillment / warehouse for Gamblers' General Store in Las Vegas to a separate group here several months ago, but it's still the same people and the same corporate overstructure.

[Gamblers Warehouse]

@vjose32: We know we have 3 projects to fulfill but if it was on our part we would have done within a week or so. We ship around 500 packages a day so fulfillment is not an issue for us.
Dragon Backs Yellow & Green plus Legacy decks are being printed right now. Tucks were printed last week. So you all (US Customers) who have ordered these decks will have them in hand by end of June.
Regarding Double Black its in the pre press queue. There was an error which on one of the numbered cards which we have sorted out and are waiting to hear back from Ashley.
Occults all files are complete & sent to USPCC. We are an honorable company & have been in business for a long time now.

@ Mike: We owned the Gamblers General Store and then started selling online as well a few years back. There were some management issues due to which fulfillment from Las Vegas had too many problems so we moved fulfillment to Texas. Sales of store were not significant enough so we sold the store to a book club guy & retained the online business. We do have a retail store in Dallas where we do our fulfillment from as well.

[sprouts1115]

Gamblers Warehouse - If you going to kill the suit badge , you need to make the indexes a bit bigger. You have to think if your playing Texas Hold'em you have to know what the card is at a distance. Right now it's hard to distinguish the card. You have enough room to do it. You have a large grey border separating your index to your courts. I'm surprised MagikFingerz didn't bitch about you large borders...

[rousselle]

Another, slightly less freaky way to indicate that the courts have gone blind is to show them with their eyes closed, rather than with their eyes all freakified.

Just a thought.

[SBurk49]

Another, slightly less freaky way to indicate that the courts have gone blind is to show them with their eyes closed, rather than with their eyes all freakified.

Just a thought.

But I liked the freakifiededness.....

[Gamblers Warehouse]

Blackout Kingdom Limited Edition Coming in July...

[Gamblers Warehouse]

Bicycle Blackout Kingdom Silver Edition

[CBJ]

Live

[AceOfHearts]

I would like to request a pic with good resolution on number cards - all of them. At least if i dont have them, to enjoy them on screen it will be good for all. We glimpsed a little on one pic and it looks good but (i) need more;
I noticed some projects (most elite's) does not show in details number/courts cards - i dunno why;
u can see all the cards only on uncut sheet with low res , but here they are missing (the number cards) .
i not feel good about the eyes and the back design (too simple?), but i like a lot the front of the cards .
Also some project i remember had a level , say 1$ for a single card (free int shipping?)... i think it will be cool.

[Cbkimble]

I still can't get passed the eyes. I'm not trying for this one.

[rjtomlinson1977]

The Blackout Kingdom had a major boost over the last 24 hours. Between Midnight and 6am last night they had no more than 10 backers pledge over $1,500 and tonight between Midnight and 6am they had 5 backers pledge over $3,000. Pretty nice jump in the last day. I wish I could be so lucky! Maybe they'll share some of those big backers with me.

[volantangel]

What a sudden boost ! Care to share the secret ?? Not saying theres anything suspicious going on btw =)

[Gamblers Warehouse]

We have alot of international resellers who buy in bulk so nothing suspicious.