THE BEST Cards

Artist Peter Dahmen shows off a series of intricate paper-cut sculptures, greeting cards, and packaging designs that he’s created over the years. Some of them are one-off personal projects, while others are available as DIY tutorials on his website. Check out more of his sculptures here.

Toast your friends with spirited holiday cards featuring classic Campari cocktails. Love & Victory’s set of eight cards and envelopes with greetings on the front and a cocktail recipe – Boulevardier, Negroni, Negroni Sbagliato, or Americano – on the back. Just the thing to thank weary Santa and his drink-deserving, gift-giving ilk.

Brighten someone’s day with a personal note written on one of these official LEGO note cards from Chronicle Books. Each one features a cheerful, heartwarming, or hilarious scene played out by LEGO minifigs. The boxed set includes 20 cards and envelopes, including special-occasion cards for birthdays and holidays.

This laser-engraved stainless steel card is packed with reference information for scientists and engineers. Its front side has the periodic table of the elements, along with rulers and a protractor, while its back offers up quick access to important constants, formulae, and conversions. There’s also a version for chemistry.

Coolest Thing introduces us to Bryan Berg, a professional card stacker who holds several Guinness World Records for his gigantic houses of cards. Now, Berg attempts to build one of his paper skyscrapers with a twist – assembling it outdoors. Along the way, he explains a bit of his architectural technique.

Think you know all the good swear words? This deck of cards features 100 words to help you keep up with the locals around the globe. Each card includes the English pronunciation of a nasty word or phrase, its translation, and a rating indicating just how rude it is if you say it.

P.J. McQuade’s selection of V-Day cards continues to grow, with greetings from Jareth the Goblin King, Darth Vader, Ian Malcolm, Snape, Quint, The Hound, Yoda, Lando, True Romance, Khan, The Lord of Darkness, Gollum, Hodor, Brick Tamland, and George McFly.

We love the primitive pixel art on these playing cards, created in homage to 1980s video game systems and computers. The face cards are particularly awesome, but this is a case where even the numbered cards keep with the theme. Available in blue or red packs.

Illustrator Jacob Elijah of Puppy Grenade decided that typical holiday cards were just too boring, so he created his own line of dark and twisted cards that are sure to get attention when you mail them out to this Christmas. Also, you don’t talk about Reindeer Fight Club.

Pop Chart Lab came up with a more efficient alternative to the Every Occasion Card. Its Charted Greetings and Salutations has preambles on its y-axis and holidays and events on its x-axis, for a total of 276 possible greeting permutations.

A card game where you think of futuristic inventions. The cards contain contexts that narrow down the scope of your invention. It’s like coming up with a crowdfunding scam, except without the part where you steal people’s money.

A slick Irishman amuses pub patrons by performing his version of the sleight of hand trick that involves matching a funny story with the sequence of playing cards he pulls from a shuffled and cut deck.

Willie Nelson tells his sister and bandmate Bobbie a story about a poor but slick porter using a classic card trick. The Three of Spades was like, if you’ve got the money honey, I’ve got the time.

(NSFW: Language, SPOILERS) The Inn at the Crossroads made this free expansion for Cards Against Humanity. It’s filled with references to Game of Thrones, from Podrick’s unique skills to the origin of Littlefinger’s name.

A card-based party game that puts different twists on the name game. Each card has a noun along with its definition. Players take turns guessing each other’s card, but the rules for giving clues change each round.

Entertainer and professional cardist Javier Jarquin shows off his card throwing skills. Watch him pull off trick shots, insert a subway ticket from long-range and more. You can see more of his tricks on his YouTube channel.

Samuel Agboola may have figured out how to make you look forward to direct mail. His upcoming service Flag will let you print photos from an app absolutely free. In return, your photos or postcards will have ads on the back.

A card game for movie buffs. Players take turns connecting cards by associating actors, directors, genres and other movie terms with each other. In other words, the Kevin Bacon card is king. Skip to 1:50 in the video for a demo.

Conceptualized by then 16-year-old Harry Lee back in 2009, Sneaky Cards is a free casual card game that encourages players to interact with strangers in kind and positive ways. You can contribute ideas for cards on Reddit.

Quite possibly the world’s third most random game (next to Calvinball and Xíng háishì bùxíng of course). Asmadi Games’ We Didn’t Playtest This At All is a card game where the cards enforce absurd win conditions.

Cardist Eliot Slevin smoothly transitions from one card flourish to another, picking up the pace as he goes. The song is Chasing Greatness by Cas One. Don’t bother emulating Eliot; YouTuber tartman24 already did it for you.

Superfight! is a hero-making card game in the vein of Cards Against Humanity. Players form unique superheroes from a random pool of characters and traits. The latter may be kick-ass powers or pathetic weaknesses.

Who says Cribbage is meant for little old ladies sipping from tea cups on lace doilies? This update to the 17th Century game brings out the undead in place of the standard cribbage pins, and the face cards want to eat your brains.

Enough foofy party invitations with frilly script. These custom printed invitations from Jack Spade and Paperless Post are for guys who just want to get the point across. Our faves: The M90 camo invite and the plastic bag thank you card.

(NSFW: Language) Are you no longer disgusted by your Cards Against Humanity deck? Check out Crabs Adjust Humidity, an unofficial expansion of the world’s most offensive party game. It’s the Mega Bloks of card games.

The mythical Chinese and Hindu origin of the war between the Gods and the Asuras is beautifully portrayed in this 2500-deck limited edition design of Bicycle playing cards from Card Experiment. Uncut sheets here.