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Here's a short write up I put together about this project, along with some pictures of the standard deck.

Atlantis Playing Cards by ARK Playing Cards (Kickstarter)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/el ... rds-by-ark

Current funding level: already funded
Kickstarter ends: Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Creator ARK Playing Cards continues to produce quality custom playing cards with lavish tuck boxes that are works of art in themselves. Their latest project is Atlantis Playing Cards, and depicts the dreamlike palaces from the ancient city of Atlantis, the legendary city that sank beneath the ocean.

The tuck box of an ARK deck is always a stunning feature, and this one is no exception. The front of the deck represents the door of Poseidon's palace. When the cover is removed, the tuck case unfolds accordion style with eight cardboard units into the Atrium Courtyard, which has a dome-shaped structure.



The beauty doesn't stop there, because the cards use what ARK describes as a "Wave HOLO" process, which relies on holographic technology to give the card faces a shimmering effect that brings to mind rippling water. The artwork of the card backs is filled with ancient symbols and patterns.

The faces of the court cards feature underwater characters from a range of classes. But there's an extra special touch, because the court cards of each suit can be assembled together to produce a small picture, and all 12 can be placed together like a continuous scroll. Even the number cards are works of art that bring to mind the decor and luxury of a palace.



The Atlantis project is available with different levels and styles of luxury packaging:
● Standard Deck (limited edition of 3333): single deck, including the creative pop-out plus tuck case (US$30)
● Artist Boxset (limited edition of 999): holographic foil deck & monochromatic deck, in a gift box with a book (US$75)
● Walnut Boxset (limited edition of 333): holographic foil deck with gilded edges, plus a collectible coin, in a walnut gift box (US$185)
● Luxury Black (limited edition of 99): black-edged deck, plus an embossed metal plate (US$150, only available as part of the "All-In" reward)



For more information on this project, and more pictures of the tuck boxes and cards, as well as details about the different options and decks, head to the Kickstarter page.

Kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/el ... rds-by-ark

Luckily they are not a deck for playing with, as they would give one eye strain. My collection is not for playing with but strangely I want my decks to be playable

It’s an artwork deck - they don’t care if the deck is playable or not, they only care if it’s beautiful and not ugly XD

I thought I made it clear that I realize that laito but indicated that personally I still prefer the artwork to enable ease of play. Otherwise - why not go all the way and do away with all the indices and courts and just sell picture cards

laitostarr777 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 5:22 am It’s an artwork deck - they don’t care if the deck is playable or not, they only care if it’s beautiful and not ugly XD

I can't tell if it's beautiful or ugly, because I cannot really see any of the detail. They don't seem to care about that either.

Strag wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 8:36 am

laitostarr777 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 5:22 am It’s an artwork deck - they don’t care if the deck is playable or not, they only care if it’s beautiful and not ugly XD

I can't tell if it's beautiful or ugly, because I cannot really see any of the detail. They don't seem to care about that either.

Well, that's what happened if they really create heavy detailed artworks, and their only canvas is a stack of small pasteboards XD
They missed the opportunitties again and again to have larger art prints of their works... but oh well, I guess fancy gift box and transformative tuck box and textured foil and/or gilded decks will always be their confort zone, I guess.

laitostarr777 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 9:38 amThey missed the opportunitties again and again to have larger art prints of their works.

This is an excellent point. It would seem to make a lot of sense for them to produce larger art prints of their cards, and I'm sure there would be some real interest in this from backers. There are many other creators who do this, and ARK's playing cards would be well-suited to this.

As for the creative tuck boxes, I'm sure if these were produced by Alex Chin, we'd all be raving about the ingenuity and creativity, because it's the kind of original thinking he would come up with. He seems to have vanished from the playing card scene in the last couple of years, so maybe he's secretly working for ARK! (just kidding)

Well, today we were charged for Atlantis after a successful Kickstarter. But should we worry that there will be a delay getting these into the US warehouses from Asia, considering the news today?

What news? I'm not on this one but I'm on another project shipping US to Asia

Disenchanted_11 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 5:23 am What news? I'm not on this one but I'm on another project shipping US to Asia

I saw the news briefly about this, saying that anything coming from China and HongKong through postal service are denied.

Briefly read the news, maybe it’s because the current president of USA is raising the import tax to ridiculous rates.

Perhaps it’s just a temporary thing, just hopeful that by the time ARK finished making this project, the postal prohibition lifted .