AD MAGIC CUSTOM PLAYING CARDS BLOG
In the past five years - due in part to technological improvements as well as the incredible popularity of Texas Holdem
Custom Playing Cards have also risen in popularity as terrific items to promote businesses and new product launches.
Although custom playing cards can be produced in many sizes and shapes, the two most popular are Poker Size and Bridge Size.
The only difference between the two is the size of the card decks themselves.
Poker decks measure 2.5 inches across by 3.5 inches high, while Bridge decks measure 2.25 inches across by 3.5 inches high.
The obvious advantage of printing on Poker size decks is that they have a larger imprint area.
The BACK of the playing cards is the side which is uniform. This side can be fully customized with a clients logo - design or custom photo.
The FACES of the playing cards is the side which contains the SUITS - hearts - diamonds - clubs and spades - which are known as the PIPS.
The Faces of the decks can be completely customized as well. Either the center of the card can be custom with standard pips on the edges
or the entire face of the card can be customized - even with CUSTOM PIPS. These pips can be anything - and do not necessarily even need to be
the standard hearts - diamonds - clubs and spades . Sometimes clients choose to make their own pips which correspond to their product line
of the theme of their custom game. Sometimes the faces are instructions - or photos - a deck can be up to 60 cards or as few cards as a client needs.
Even deck sizes are fully custom - 54 cards per deck is no longer a requirement.
When a client decides to create custom playing cards they are provided with a template for the FACE, BACK and if requested
A CUSTOM BOX template can also be provided. These templates allow clients who wish to design their own cards to place their art in a position where
it will not be inadvertently cut off during the manufacturing process. Standards for art are generally 300 dpi to size and the recommend formats are
photoshop, adobe illustrator or adobe in design. We can take any format and convert it to what we require if necessary.
There are several types of printing available - digital printing, offset printing and foil stamp imprinting.
Digital printing is excellent for short runs - as low as 1 deck - and for quick turnaround,
as digital decks can be printed in a matter of days - sometimes as few as 1 to 2 days for Rush orders.
Rush orders incur an additional fee but have saved many marketing managers from being empty handed at a trade show
when their companies have waited until the last minute to decide on a trade show give away.
Offset printing is a better choice when critical color is involved as the Pantone Matching System
for offfset inks is extremely accurate for matching client color choices. It is also the most cost effective
method for producing large quantities of custom playing cards as the cards are printed on large sheets which are
then cut into playing card size.
Hot Stamp printing is achieved by heating and stamping a foil onto the surface of a playing card
by hitting it with a die in the shape of the custom imprint. This produces a shiny imprint in the color of the foil.
Many foil colors are available to use on stock colored backgrounds. There are several different stock colors available in poker size
and even more stock card colors are available in bridge size. There are about 20 foil colors to choose from. This method is only good when the design
can first be created as black and white line art which is then molded into a die. 50 decks minimum are required for this method.
Generally the decks come in a window box - which shows the imprint through the window but custom boxes are also available and all sides
of the box can be customized with the client's imprint.
Custom shapes such as circles - houses - triangles - hexagons - Tarot Cards - ovals - capsule shaped and square shaped decks are also
available and can be custom made to the client's size specifications. Playing cards are no longer boring rectangles anymore - with new
technology and a little creative inspration - playing cards have become works of art.