Stranger & Stranger
There is something oddly unsettling (but also very cool) about a deck of cards in which not a single card shares any design patterns… Look at the photo to the left. All of those cards are spades and all of them belong to the same deck.
And the latter you can only tell because the backs are the same. As weird as this feels, it’s exactly what design firm Stranger & Stranger did when they did a colab with Art of Play. When you take these out of the box, you aren’t just grabbing a pack of cards. You are opening a case with 54 artworks. You pay a hefty price for the privilege (at least you do here in Australia) but look at them, why wouldn’t you?
Ultimate Deck
This breaks all the rules! There is a pantomime, and a tree, and is that an acupuncture chart? It’s a bold move… Playability is out the door! But then, you wouldn’t take this to your bridge club. God forbid uncle Bob would spill his Tanqueray and OJ on these. This deck of cards is a convo starter, nobody in their right mind would actually use these, right? You look at these cards. And then you smack anyone that tries to touch them without gloves on.
Technicalities…
The Ultimate Deck was designed by Stranger & Stranger for Art of Play and printed by USPCC. It’s available from the Art of Play site (link above) for $25 US. International shipping starts at $11.75 US. That makes the total in Outback dollars $55.60 against the current (at the time of writing) exchange rate. If you’d rather shop locally, and you should support local business, I can suggest Shuffler, Piper Magic or The Maker – Hobart, which happens to be a sustainable clothing store that also happens to sell playing cards. Because, why not?
If you are not in Australia, sorry but you are on you are on your own.
You know you want it!
In normal reviews you would now be told what you already know, that the card stock is excellent, that it feels fantastic in your hands… For magicians, that these are traditionally cut so they faro like crazy. But you aren’t ever going to use these! Just buy them! It’s like a coffee table book for card nerds…
THE END.