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"Cartamundi has completed the acquisition of The United States Playing Card Company (USPC) on December 31, 2019. The combination of Cartamundi and USPC brings together unrivaled playing card expertise and brands to provide a broader range of products to the growing global playing card community."

https://www.kardify.com/2020/01/cartamu ... f.html?m=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So it begins... was about to post it as well. An interesting future awaits.

Yea, I had always wished - in my heart of hearts - that USPC would really bring KEM back and do something with it. Now Cartamundi owns KEM and is a direct competitor against their Copag brand. Not happy about that.

As I posted on Reddit, here is the playing-card scene with Cartamundi now. They print A LOT of board/card games (including the sole printer of Magic the Gathering), but as for playing cards...

Cartamundi manufacturing facilities:
Canvey Island (UK)
Altenburg (Germany)
Saint-Max (France)
Krakow (Poland)
Waterford (Ireland)
Mumbai (India)
Soka-city (Japan)
East Longmeadow (Massachusetts USA)
Dallas (Texas USA)
Erlanger (Kentucky USA) (from USPC)
Alava (Spain) (from USPC)

Cartamundi owns:
ACE
Altenburger Spielkarten
Royal Flush
Grimaud Playing Cards
Joker Playing Cards
Ducale
Eagle
Copag
Aristocrat (from USPC)
Aviator (from USPC)
Bee (from USPC)
Bicycle (from USPC)
Congress (from USPC)
Fournier (from USPC)
Hoyle (from USPC)
KEM (from USPC)
Maverick (from USPC)
Streamline (from USPC)
Tally-Ho (from USPC)

I am optimistic about the acquisition. It puts USPCC under ownership of a company whose whole business is around card printing and game production. I really believe we will get the best of both worlds with the purchase. I can't see how USPCC would be shunted to the side and ignored, or treated as just a widget producer of one among many. Instead, I feel this was another strategic purchase by a company focused on making great playing cards. It is hard for me to see this being bad for card collectors unless they just decide that specialty card production is unprofitable and wasteful of resources. I mean just throw a "Last of the Jedi" at the whole card collector base. I mean, it is possible, but really bad for business. I mean, if anything, they ought to really try to cater to their card collecting fans to improve the overall image of playing cards. That only helps them in the long run.

My bigger concern is as we move more and more into the world of digital, will physical things like playing cards and board games stay relevant? I hope so, but that is more of a concern to me in the long term than the industry consolidation.

Yes, that was another concern of mine - the custom card printing for other artists/companies. USPC, while they printed a lot of well-known brands, also printed a lot of decks for other artists as well as other companies. I just hope that whatever process USPC used to allow this to occur continues to thrive under Cartamundi. I don't see why they wouldn't - it must be profitable otherwise USPC would not be doing it, but you never know when an acquisition occurs.

kem-collector wrote:As I posted on Reddit, here is the playing-card scene with Cartamundi now. They print A LOT of board/card games (including the sole printer of Magic the Gathering), but as for playing cards...

Cartamundi manufacturing facilities:
Canvey Island (UK)
Altenburg (Germany)
Saint-Max (France)
Krakow (Poland)
Waterford (Ireland)
Mumbai (India)
Soka-city (Japan)
East Longmeadow (Massachusetts USA)
Dallas (Texas USA)
Erlanger (Kentucky USA) (from USPC)
Alava (Spain) (from USPC)

Don't forget Thurnout in Belgium. It's where they produce their custom playing cards and the Copag310 and NEO line.

I do a lot of company research in my job so I took a quick look at this. You know USPCC only has 320 employees?

Well, another source reports this as 750 employees