Playing Cards

Serial learner Mike Boyd received a challenge from trickster Chris Ramsay. It seems such a simple and non-essential move, but card springing, where you pop out playing cards from one hand to the other in a controlled spray, is actually a very difficult trick to pick up.

Art of Play’s limited edition deck features imagery by illustrator Jenny Gebhardt, who provided each of its 54 cards with a uniquely warped and twisted character or scene. Printed by the U.S. Playing Card Co.

SlyKly’s very special playing cards are made by cutting them one at a time from a sheet Kevlar – the same tough material used in bulletproof vests. While an individual card won’t stop a bullet, a stack of 10 or 12 of them can perform that feat without a problem.

(PG-13: language) After wowing us with some epic card cutting action, the Hydraulic Press Channel doubled down and doubled the number of cutting blades on its Guillotine 5,000,000 – so now the playing cards go flying in all directions.

Cardistry expert Noel Heath shows off his skills with some sick maneuvers using a sweet minimal deck from anyone. The way he deftly manipulates the cards, it’s as if he’s got fingertips which can spontaneously switch between sticky and smooth surfaces.

Dan & Dave’s nature inspired playing cards are adorned with a duo of noble bucks and woodsy flourishes on back, and their face cards are printed with warm sepiatone colors. Comes packed in a premium cardstock box with foil accents and embossing.

A stunning display of cardistry talent, brought to life by thevirts to show off their FW17 playing card deck. While it’s clear they used slow motion and time-bending techniques, no CGI or strings were used in the making of the clip.

Theory11 presents a unique deck of cards inspired by classic moments from Saturday Night Live. The deck features an art deco style closely associated with NBC’s Studio 8H and Rockefeller Center. We love that they included Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet.

Card Experiment teamed up with illustrator ToK to create a beautiful deck of playing cards inspired by traditional Japanese tattoo art. The precise and dramatic artwork incorporates stylistic elements of ukiyo-e, blending images of mythical creatures and nature.

Albino Dragon’s badass deck of cards features court cards with awesome illustrations of gorillas by artist David Edgerly. The decks were printed in limited quantities, but you can still snag one if you move fast.

A unique and puzzling desk sculpture you can build from a dozen pre-cut playing cards to form a 5.5″ tall starburst. Professor George W. Hart figured out the geometry to make it work. Learn more about his mathemagical card sculptures here.

Brain Vessel Cargo’s fantastically illustrated playing cards feature a series of intricate nautical images, including pirate ship captains, ships, and sea creatures. When placed side by side, the special set of four decks forms an epic battle scene at sea.

Card Experiment’s latest Bicycle deck features truly awesome fantasy illustrations based on a story about space exploration and our first contact with alien species. Be sure to grab both the Domination and Revelation variant decks.

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.

Joker and the Thief’s latest playing cards are inspired by the post-apocalyptic, fuel-obsessed future of Mad Max. Each face card and joker features intricate hand-illustrated designs, and the card backs portray a massive V8 engine as the false god of their dystopian universe.

Designer Kevin Finn’s equine playing cards feature abstract line-art images of horses, with jockeys as the jokers. The images shown here are just design prototypes. The finished cards will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company, with gold metallic details.

Bas John has been posting some nifty video loops of cardistry experts on his Instagram channel. He recently gathered them up into a single clip, packing a bunch of mesmerizing card manipulations into a 45-second video. The track is The Anthem by Onra.

Ever since the Hydraulic Press Channel broke big, people have been clamoring for a Slow-Mo Guys collab. While that has yet to happen, Gav and Dan headed to a machine shop with their high-speed camera and exploded a deck of playing cards at 28,500 fps.

Designer Olly Swinyard’s playing cards feature intricate line art drawings, which carry across not just on the face cards, but on each and every diamond, spade, club, and heart. Tiny details on the face cards reveal secrets of love and betrayal between the courts.

A very cool deck of heavy linen playing cards which feature black faces with thick, raised UV ink to give each card dimension and texture. Also available in “phantom” white on white.

Playing Cards for developers and other computer geeks. Each of code:deck’s cards offers up a snippet of application code in one of a number of different programming languages, from PHP and C++ to Assembly and even BASH.

Designer Jared Hansen’s elegant playing cards are styled after architectural blueprints, with finely detailed lines, and packaged in a matte blue box with silver foil details. Available first to members of the Penguin Magic Card Club – as part of their July 2016 deck pack.

Illustrator Wylie Beckert’s new deck of cards features fantastic imagery of a dark fantasy world, in which each face card character has real personality and a backstory to go with. Wylie shares a bit of her creative and technical process here.

Cardistry masters Huron Low, Kevin Ho, and Daren Yeow demonstrate just why their group goes by the moniker “Virtuoso,” weaving their magical and mindbending playing card moves. Get the same awesome yellow, black, and grey deck for yourself from TheVirts.

This nifty notebook from Suck UK doubles as a custom deck of playing cards. Each edge-bound sheet is made from real playing card stock, and offers a blank writing surface on front for your doodles or your own bespoke deck design.

Cardistry master Noel Larsen-Heath shows off some of his impressive card handling skills, from spinning cards on his fingertips to floating them in mid-air. The last time we saw someone bend playing cards like he does, the guy next to us at the blackjack table got shown the door.

Theory11’s elegant U.S. made playing cards feature intricately detailed line art and are packed in a glorious gold and bronze foil hot-stamped box that’s alone worth the price of admission. Splurge for the handcrafted African hardwood box set for a truly special gift.

These unique playing cards feature wonderful illustrations by designer Brendan Hong. Each image is a reflection of Hong’s own Chinese heritage, and the theme carries across the entire court of face cards, on the card backs, the box and its seal.

Vsauce talks about how cardists use patterns and probabilities to create long-winded tricks that seem to ensure a random outcome, even though what they’ve really done is the opposite. And then your eyes will glaze over as he explains that 52! is a large number.

The Type Deck replaces the typical fronts of playing cards with text descriptions of their values, each represented in beautiful, flowing typography. We love the Joker that includes all 26 letters of the English alphabet.