UnitedCardists.com - The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.

Some of the Indian casinos have decks with custom courts decked out in Native American attire. Did these?

RSLancastr wrote:Some of the Indian casinos have decks with custom courts decked out in Native American attire. Did these?

That'd be rather cool but these have regular courts. The only customization is the back design with the addition of their logo.

It is rather cool to see the notes written on the back of the tuck and also under the flap with the date/time they were put into and taken out of play. These decks only lasted about 3hrs each. The other casino decks I have don't have those notes.

chach wrote:That'd be rather cool but these have regular courts. The only customization is the back design with the addition of their logo.

Pretty typical, sad to say.

The first time I went to Vegas after I started collecting, I had visions of the cool, custom decks I expected the various casinos to have:

The Excalibur would have courts depicting King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, and various Knights as the Jacks.

Treasure Island would have Pirate-themed courts,

and so on.

Imagine my disappointment as I dragged my wife from casino to casino up and down the strip, only to find that nearly all of the casinos used decks with standard courts, the only thing that differed between them was the backs!

I later learned that gamblers tend to be suspicious of decks which are non-standard in any way, and the casinos, knowing this, use only standard decks.

There are a few exceptions to this in Vegas:

Caesar's Palace had decks where the Kings are Caesar, the Queens are Cleopatra, and the Jacks a Roman Centurion.

The Flamingo had decks where the courts all had the faces of flamingos.

One Wild West-themed casino (I forget the name) had decks where the Kings were lawmen, the Queens were Saloon gals, and the Jacks were outlaws.

A small, off-the-strip casino with a Jungle theme had jungle animals on the courts and jokers.

And that was about it, IIRC. (although some sold a custom deck or two in their souvenir shops which were NOT "used in play" at the casino).

It is rather cool to see the notes written on the back of the tuck and also under the flap with the date/time they were put into and taken out of play. These decks only lasted about 3hrs each. The other casino decks I have don't have those notes.

I've seen that only a couple of times. It probably depends on the policy of the casino, and/or how strict a particular Pit Boss is at enforcing that policy.

I too was disappointed with Vegas casinos, especially seeing how cheap you can get the used decks. I decided to pass up on all of them!

SilvaAce wrote:I too was disappointed with Vegas casinos, especially seeing how cheap you can get the used decks. I decided to pass up on all of them!

Now you know: Next time, hit Caesar's and the Flamingo! (although they seem to only carry the above-mentioned decks now and then).

Caesar's also sold other merchandise (T-shirts, etcetera) with images from that custom-court deck.

Somewhere around here I have refrigerator magnets of them, as well as one from some other casino, with a cowboy King

I've shown this before, but while we're on the subject of casino decks:

(All text is from when I displayed these cards on my old playing-card-themed web site.)

==========[ Casino ]==========


==========[ The Cards on Display ]==========

Card collecting, like many collections, can start almost by accident. You keep a memento of a trip - perhaps a matchbook, post card, coin, stamp or seashell. Later, you find and pick up another such item. Then another, and another. At some point you look around, and you've started a collection! It's a safe bet that many a playing-card collection started this way with casino cards - decks sold at gambling casinos as souvenirs, usually after they have been used in play at the casino.

In most casinos, a deck of playing cards is only used for a limited number of hands, presumably to reduce the possibility of cards being marked (bent, nicked, etc.) by crooked players. The deck is taken out of play, and a "fresh" deck unsealed.

The decks are then normally sold in the casino's souvenir shop. But to prevent someone from, say, taking the aces out of such a souvenir pack and bringing them back into play at the tables, the decks are disfigured in some way, such as having a hole drilled through them.

Some collectors focus entirely on casino decks. For them, the older decks, especially from now-defunct casinos, are highly desirable. Here in the Gallery however, the casino cards illustrated are mostly those with unusual jacks, queens and kings.

==========[ heart ]==========

The Queen of Hearts - From a deck purchased at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas, sold in souvenir shops but not used in play, so no disfiguring was done to it. I understand that other Caesar's casinos do use decks with these court cards.

==========[ club ]==========

The Jack of Clubs - From the Wild Wild West Casino at Bally's Park Place. The court cards show sepia-toned photographs of cowboys, saloon gals and sherrifs. Note the hole drilled through the center.

==========[ diamond ]==========

The King of Diamonds - From a Mohegan Sun Casino deck. Many other native American casinos are using decks with these and other, similarly-styled courts. Again, a hole has been drilled.

==========[ spade ]==========

The Jack of Spades - From (could you guess?) the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas. Note the two clipped corners.

==========[ joker ]==========

The Joker - From The Reserve Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The casino has an African wildlife theme, reflected in this deck's courts, which depict lions, giraffes and zebras in royal garb, this hyena joker and a second, baboon joker. One corner is clipped.

==========[ back ]==========

The Card back - From the New York, New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. This criss-cross pattern is on the back of many casino decks. Note that the back design is double-ended (cards look the same rightside up or upside down), preventing certain cheating methods. If anyone ever asks you to join a poker game using a deck with a single-ended back, politely decline!

Mods: Sorry for the double (triple?) post. I waited almost 24 hours since the previous one, with nobody else posting, so thought I would go ahead. Here goes:

My two Plumas arrived from bmpokerworld, so I put them with my other two Plumas from Walmart (because I like the way the box back and front look next to each other:

==========[ PlumaQuartet ]==========

Recently added these babies to my collection =D, quite disappointed that the Black Polaris decks didnt come with cello, the boxes are pretty smashed from the shipping.

Thanks for sharing that, Volant!

I had not seen the Polaris deck before, and am intrigued by the courts!

RSLancastr wrote:Thanks for sharing that, Volant!

I had not seen the Polaris deck before, and am intrigued by the courts!

Hey Rob the two cards (wooden and signed) show how the court cards look like. I can take a pic of all the courts and aces if you would like =)

RSLancastr wrote:Thanks for sharing that, Volant!

I had not seen the Polaris deck before, and am intrigued by the courts!

Hey Rob the two cards (wooden and signed) show how the court cards look like. I can take a pic of all the courts and aces if you would like =)

volantangel wrote:

RSLancastr wrote:Thanks for sharing that, Volant!

I had not seen the Polaris deck before, and am intrigued by the courts!

Hey Rob the two cards (wooden and signed) show how the court cards look like. I can take a pic of all the courts and aces if you would like =)

Yes, it was those two which you already posted which intrigued me!

And thanks, but no need to take more pics - the one you already posted sold me on the deck, and I purchased three (Solar, Lunar and a third I can't recall) on eBay, which are in the mail to me already!

Today's new acquisition...

Two grids of the Red Oblivion deck.

First, with the cards I always use for a Bike deck grid:

==========[ Bicycle_Oblivion_Red ]==========


Then, using the "special" Nine of Diamonds:

==========[ Bicycle_Oblivion_Red9 ]==========


I am expecting a White Oblivion to arrive any day now.

We can color the blank diamond in the middle red so it'll be nine.

...and some magic shops sell those loose pips you can stick on cards to change a deuce to a trey, etc...

Something about the red Oblivian joker really appeals to me.

Just added to my collection mere hours ago: A vintage Honeywell double deck set of binary cards - a computer theme. The values of the cards are shown in Octal notation with aces being 1 and J/Q/K being 11/12/13. I think Octal notation may be as quaint and old fashioned as the punch cards that were still in use when these cards were made.
The animals on the backs of the cards are sculptures made by artist Jack Rindner, using computer parts, and were widely used in Honeywell advertising.
The faces have that weird nu-vue cold green/blue tint instead of white faces. I think Brown and Bigelow came up with nu-vue in 1960 as being easier on the eyes. Don't know the exact date of these cards so if anyone here does I would appreciate the info.

Also found this nice looking drawer cabinet a few days ago. Each drawer holds a brick of decks if they are on edge and 16 decks if they are stacked flat. Don't know what it might have originally been made for.

Dazz, those Honeywell cards are extremely interesting. Very nice find.

dazzleguts wrote:I think Octal notation may be as quaint and old fashioned as the punch cards that were still in use when these cards were made.

True, but the cards are using binary notation, not octal.

Octal would use digits from 0 to 7 inclusive. So a 7 would be "7" (0x8 + 7x1) the eight would be "10" (1x8 + 0x1), the nine would be "11", and so on up to the King which would be "15" (1x8 + 5x1 = 13)

/computer geek

Thanks Wally! I was amazed to find them right here in town.

Posting on ebay nearly drove me around the bend ,and I haven't been on the computer to just cruise in a while. I'll try and stop in on the last post soon - keep you guys in line.

Casual Pixels wrote:

dazzleguts wrote:I think Octal notation may be as quaint and old fashioned as the punch cards that were still in use when these cards were made.

True, but the cards are using binary notation, not octal.

Octal would use digits from 0 to 7 inclusive. So a 7 would be "7" (0x8 + 7x1) the eight would be "10" (1x8 + 0x1), the nine would be "11", and so on up to the King which would be "15" (1x8 + 5x1 = 13)

/computer geek

Thanks. I had that on someone else's say so - a little before my time.

dazzleguts wrote:Something about the red Oblivian joker really appeals to me.

I like that joker, but it does not "go with" the court cards (with their blank gray faces) very well.

Just added to my collection mere hours ago: A vintage Honeywell double deck set of binary cards - a computer theme. The values of the cards are shown in Octal notation with aces being 1 and J/Q/K being 11/12/13. I think Octal notation may be as quaint and old fashioned as the punch cards that were still in use when these cards were made.

Honeywell3.jpg

I've got one of those somewhere! (Computer-related decks are a small sub-collection within my collection). I would not have recognized them were it not for the tiger sculpture on the back of one of them.

The animals on the backs of the cards are sculptures made by artist Jack Rindner, using computer parts, and were widely used in Honeywell advertising.

Honeywell backs.jpg

The faces have that weird nu-vue cold green/blue tint instead of white faces. I think Brown and Bigelow came up with nu-vue in 1960 as being easier on the eyes. Don't know the exact date of these cards so if anyone here does I would appreciate the info.

Honeywell spades.jpg

All of my reference materials are packed away in boxes, so I'm afraid I won't be able to help you with dating the decks, sorry!

Got my Royal Optik decks in today, don't think I need to post a pic since most everyone here has a few already, but damn they're beautiful cards. I wasn't expecting the air-cushion finish on the tuck cases, very nice touch.

chach wrote:Got my Royal Optik decks in today, don't think I need to post a pic since most everyone here has a few already, but damn they're beautiful cards. I wasn't expecting the air-cushion finish on the tuck cases, very nice touch.

Absolutely love these cards!!!! They are works of art but still very functional.

Did you pick up both colors? If yes, are the seals the same on both decks? I was under the impression that the seal on the red deck would be slightly different. Not a huge deal but I'm just curious.

the assman wrote:

chach wrote:Got my Royal Optik decks in today, don't think I need to post a pic since most everyone here has a few already, but damn they're beautiful cards. I wasn't expecting the air-cushion finish on the tuck cases, very nice touch.

Absolutely love these cards!!!! They are works of art but still very functional.

Did you pick up both colors? If yes, are the seals the same on both decks? I was under the impression that the seal on the red deck would be slightly different. Not a huge deal but I'm just curious.

Yes, both seals are the same (Red background with Black details - a triple border, with "RO" at the top and a lion rampant below)

Casual Pixels wrote:

the assman wrote:

chach wrote:Got my Royal Optik decks in today, don't think I need to post a pic since most everyone here has a few already, but damn they're beautiful cards. I wasn't expecting the air-cushion finish on the tuck cases, very nice touch.

Absolutely love these cards!!!! They are works of art but still very functional.

Did you pick up both colors? If yes, are the seals the same on both decks? I was under the impression that the seal on the red deck would be slightly different. Not a huge deal but I'm just curious.

Yes, both seals are the same (Red background with Black details - a triple border, with "RO" at the top and a lion rampant below)

Are you sure? As in the KS page they mentioned that the seals would be diferent!!

sms69x wrote: Are you sure? As in the KS page they mentioned that the seals would be diferent!!

I can confirm that the seals are the same.

http://imgur.com/Q71EI2k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

john wrote:

sms69x wrote: Are you sure? As in the KS page they mentioned that the seals would be diferent!!

I can confirm that the seals are the same.

http://imgur.com/Q71EI2k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you!

Yep, the seals are definitely the same on both. And the red tuck ended up a lot darker than the sample pics sms69x posted. Incredibly nice IMO, I do love this deck. Wish I had picked up more of them, but I'll settle for my 2 blacks & 1 red.

chach wrote:Wish I had picked up more of them, but I'll settle for my 2 blacks & 1 red.

Exact same sentiments. Got 2 blacks and 1 red and wish I had picked up more.

From what I have seen, the courts in this deck are gorgeous, and I want it as much as the Spice Girls want a Zigazig Ah.

RSLancastr wrote:From what I have seen, the courts in this deck are gorgeous, and I want it as much as the Spice Girls want a Zigazig Ah.

I'm not a Spice Girls fan, but I did grow up during the 90's and I know a good reference when I see one. Nice one, Bob