The 52+Jokers 2015 Club deck

[sms69x]

Designed by Paul Carpenter @Encarded.

The 52+Jokers 2015 Club deck. It was a pleasure to work on this one! Exclusive to club members right now, and available at Encarded.com in November!

[CostlyAxis]

I still can't really figure out the 52+J website, but I wonder what it meant by "exclusive to club members now" as I don't see it listed in the members section.

The deck definitely looks interesting though.

[vasta41]

Wow- I REALLY like this deck. Paul nails it again!

[Gu357]

The tuck-case has one of the best designs I have ever seen. It is a shame that it was not used on the card back

[ecNate]

Those attending the conference get early, then others. From Paul - It will be available to club members shortly and to the general public in roughly a month through encarded.com

[Cbkimble]

Lee Asher is working on the purchase link, for 52plusjoker members, today for the 2015 deck. Should be available later today.

[JazzVox]

Agreed - love the tuck... not so in love with the backs.
I wish when people show pics they would always include at least one court card.
indices are nice. Very mixed feelings about this deck.

[sinjin7]

As many have said, nice tuck but I don't really care for the back design, nor the color scheme of the back. The foil on the back of the cards are nice as well, but I find that the number one reason why court cards aren't shown in preview pics is because they're usually merely standard courts. This isn't a must-own deck for me (none of the 52+ decks are) so I'll have to rely on one of you to let me know if the courts are custom or just standard.

[runit]

As many have said, nice tuck but I don't really care for the back design, nor the color scheme of the back. The foil on the back of the cards are nice as well, but I find that the number one reason why court cards aren't shown in preview pics is because they're usually merely standard courts. This isn't a must-own deck for me (none of the 52+ decks are) so I'll have to rely on one of you to let me know if the courts are custom or just standard.

This is from the PCF:

[sprouts1115]

Not only is the "52" part of theme, but the trademark on the Jokers is the same. I like that, especially the crescent moon and all. Looks to be 2 black Jokers though. Well, that is another story. I hope Randy or Alex does the next one.

[JacksandJokers]

I'm not a 52+J member so hoping someone can tell me is it worth joining to get this deck?
What price are they selling it for & is there a limit to how many we can buy

[Bruno]

52 plus website/Encarded site both explain, its fairly painless .... for the price of buying two decks ?
You're in ....



Encarded site sold out, you'll have to jump through th'membership hoops, an' that's a different country fer me.

[th4mo]

I have a lot of respect for Paul. He has been around a (relatively) long time, and he is among the few true professionals in the custom playing card business who deliver every time. And he continues to try to push the boundaries.

However, it has been a long time since I've been wowed by any of his designs. He seems to put all his energy into the boxes, and very little into the card faces. Since I have no interest in 52+J, this is a really easy pass for me, especially with standard courts.

[52JokesandCounting]

I'm not a 52+J member so hoping someone can tell me is it worth joining to get this deck?
What price are they selling it for & is there a limit to how many we can buy

Well that depends on what your interested in.. Joining the 52 plus joker club has a few benefits, first you get access to Monthly Card Culture published online, then they also print Clear The Deck printed quarterly and sent to you (no extra charge).

These two articles covers both vintage and modern decks, recently they cover informations about playing cards straight from USPCC reps and Expert PCC Reps.

The club also organise yearly Silent Auctions, and this year 1 of the highlight was full set of Whispering imps which includes both PR. It was sold for merely $280.

As for the club deck (international buyers) it cost $36 for 1 deck
I can remember how much it cost for 2, 3, 4 and 5.. But I bought 6 deck for $123 (price included shipping)

Buying 6 decks, you will get half brick case with the EPCC logo on top. The box is different to their previous brick box.
You should get it when you can!!

[JacksandJokers]

Thanks for the info. Silent auctions sound interesting.

[52JokesandCounting]

I have a lot of respect for Paul. He has been around a (relatively) long time, and he is among the few true professionals in the custom playing card business who deliver every time. And he continues to try to push the boundaries.

However, it has been a long time since I've been wowed by any of his designs. He seems to put all his energy into the boxes, and very little into the card faces. Since I have no interest in 52+J, this is a really easy pass for me, especially with standard courts.

I agree with you about Paul being 1 of the few professionals.. But I think the faces of the cards had been left with slight modification on purpose. Similar to the 2014 club deck, even Jackson did a slight modification to the faces. I can only assume that the club intended the use standard faces to keep the originality of the playing cards and keeping it close to its history.

[Cbkimble]

The idea of the club decks are to merge old deck design with modern design so they will be attractive to both older and younger members.

[th4mo]

I have a lot of respect for Paul. He has been around a (relatively) long time, and he is among the few true professionals in the custom playing card business who deliver every time. And he continues to try to push the boundaries.

However, it has been a long time since I've been wowed by any of his designs. He seems to put all his energy into the boxes, and very little into the card faces. Since I have no interest in 52+J, this is a really easy pass for me, especially with standard courts.

I agree with you about Paul being 1 of the few professionals.. But I think the faces of the cards had been left with slight modification on purpose. Similar to the 2014 club deck, even Jackson did a slight modification to the faces. I can only assume that the club intended the use standard faces to keep the originality of the playing cards and keeping it close to its history.

That's a good point. Plus, i'm sure these were put together on a pretty tight timeline to get them printed in time for the conference. I wasn't impressed with Jackson's deck from last year either.

[Mike Ratledge]

Three for $60, pretty reasonable. I notice that the series expanded to 1000 this time. I guess 200 was just not practical for those hand made telescoping tucks.

[52JokesandCounting]

Three for $60, pretty reasonable. I notice that the series expanded to 1000 this time. I guess 200 was just not practical for those hand made telescoping tucks.

It was actually 500 for the telescoping tucks..

[rousselle]

Your mileage may vary. I liked the JR decks from last year, and I'm looking forward to PC's decks for this year, which I've already ordered.

Actually, given the trouble Volkswagen has been having lately, maybe I should avoid the "your mileage may vary" idiom....

[Encarded]

A few notes and fun facts about this deck:

- The faces are custom and a variant of the ones used on Zenith. I've never used bog-standad faces but I personally love the original styles and will always look back to them, because I think they have existed for so long for very good reason. I'm not into the "using characters from history" that many other designers can do far better than I can. For the club, they have many members that live and die by Bicycle courts, so it makes even more sense to combine the old with the new for this project.

- Given all the time in the world, I would of course have done some things differently, as with any project. Hindsight is always 20-20. However, since I had approximately one week (yes, you read that right) to put the entire thing together from scratch, I am quite pleased with the result.

- While I'm not at liberty to share specifics, you'd probably be surprised at what these decks cost to produce. Let's just say, not cheap...

- I got the decks delivered by air to me 1 day before I had to leave for the convention, so saying it was a tight timeframe is an understatement.

[sprouts1115]

I wasn't impressed with Jackson's deck from last year either.

I was very impressed with Jackson's deck I got 3. It was a 2 part tuck box. Who does that nowadays? I sold 2 of those decks to friends who were not members. I'm wondering who is going to make the next one. It seems to be an annual thing with the Joker being the "52Plus Crescent Joker".

[Fes]

I wasn't impressed with Jackson's deck from last year either.

I was very impressed with Jackson's deck I got 3. It was a 2 part tuck box. Who does that nowadays? I sold 2 of those decks to friends who were not members. I'm wondering who is going to make the next one. It seems to be an annual thing with the Joker being the "52Plus Crescent Joker".

I agree with you Sprouts, the slip case was an awesome thing. I like the 52 design on Jacksons deck as well though, picked up a brick of the golds and have been enjoying them. I felt it was done with class and the layout is interesting to the eye even though it was a departure from Jackson's usual style. Very cool stuff in my opinion.

From the photo's I've seen of this years deck, I think I'm going to really enjoy this one as well. Paul always does a great job and I have never been disappointed in any of his decks. The blending of old and new on the card back is a cool idea, I have to get them in my hands so I can give them a good solid going over. Pretty excited about this deck.

[CostlyAxis]

Just got my two decks in the mail today. The backs while simplistic have a nice sophisticated look to them. Some of the line work is a bit difficult to see at certain angles though. As many had already conjectured, the courts are fairly standard, but each suit is a different color. Cerulean for the spades, pink for diamonds, blue for the clubs, and orange for the hearts. The tuck feels very durable, and has metallic foil "52+"s throughout the interior.

Overall, it's a nice deck though it feels a bit faded.

[rousselle]

I likewise received my decks yesterday, and I like 'em a lot. I'm big into shiny, and the prismatic gold foil effect on the deck (as well as on the tuck case) is awesome sauce.

Regarding the colors of the suits: the indexes match the accent colors of the courts for the "red" suits (a rubine red for diamonds, warm red for hearts), while the index for spades looks black (and doesn't match the cyan-like accent on the courts) and clubs indexes look like a dark grey (and doesn't match the classic blue accent on the courts.) I can't tell if that grey-ish-ness an optical illusion created by the thin lines of the clubs pips, however.

So, yeah. Top notch. I like the design work and the execution. In many ways, both last year's and this year's decks feel like excellent reference decks for expertly designed, printed, and cut cards with all the bells and whistles. They don't blow me away the way Midnight Calaveras or Venexiana Dark do, but I don't think that's the point. These feel like (and to me, they are) the best that a standard deck can aspire to be.

Well done, Paul (and Bill). You -- and Jackson before you -- have set the bar very high.

[th4mo]

All good points!

I guess I fall into the category of wanting to cut back on deck purchases overall, and "standard" decks, even the "best" that they can be, and even with a cool box, just aren't sexy enough to rev me up anymore.

No disrespect intended to those who enjoy them, or to the designers who created these decks either. They clearly had to work within limitations.

btw, could someone please post images of the courts? Paul says they are not "bog-standard", but doesn't even bother to post them on his Encarded site. 7 shots of the box, but not one face card...
Not showing the courts to me always indicates they are standard or too close to standard to show off...

[CostlyAxis]

btw, could someone please post images of the courts? Paul says they are not "bog-standard", but doesn't even bother to post them on his Encarded site. 7 shots of the box, but not one face card...
Not showing the courts to me always indicates they are standard or too close to standard to show off...

Here is a scan of most of the courts:

[PrincessTrouble]

I can tell the difference between the heart and diamond pip colors. But with the spades and clubs, I really can't discern the difference in the shades of gray/black for the pips. That bugs me, but otherwise I'm pleased with the deck.

[Fes]

I can tell the difference between the heart and diamond pip colors. But with the spades and clubs, I really can't discern the difference in the shades of gray/black for the pips. That bugs me, but otherwise I'm pleased with the deck.

The difference is really slight. Try natural sunlight and you can see the colors a bit better between the Spade and the Club. I noticed this when I was playing solitaire with it outside this morning.