[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]About this project
Introduction
Impressions Playing Cards are designed by MakePlayingCards.com (MPC®), a professional custom playing cards printing and manufacturing company. With the success on our first campaign of our first ever branded playing cards earlier on the year, we are now introducing a whole new concept to a deck of playing cards which you can touch, feel and admire as well as play.
In addition to the traits of a traditional deck of cards, Impressions playing cards gives you the added sense of touch on the artwork, brought to you using the latest in printing and secondary process technology which we have recently invested heavily in. We are using premium quality 310gsm German casino grade card stock with a black core centre layer.
Creating Impressions playing cards was by no means straight forward as the whole normal printing and production process of a traditional deck of cards had to be altered. Adding the special raised embossed gloss effect to the cards essentially increased the height of the deck so the cutting process had to be reconfigured. Also, the fact that we have applied this special layer on the surface top of each card meant that the finishing had to be completely changed so as to not lose the shine effect but keeping them true to their original purpose which is the playability aspect. We have had countless trials using different methods, materials and finishing which alone have lasted 3 months. We are now extremely happy to say that we have got it right.
The 3 decks (now 4 decks – 29 Sept.)
There are 2 main decks in this Kickstarter project. These are the Impressions Stealth Edition and the original Impressions deck. We also have an enlarge court cards special deck called the Impressions Court Edition.On 29th September, we released a new white deck called the Phantom Edition. This is the 4th deck to join the Impressions by MPC range.
And the all new Phantom Ed. deck
Technology
Aside from our in-house traditional offset printers, latest large-scale digital industrial printers, this year we at QP have also invested significantly on state of the art secondary process machines, one of which we are using on our Impressions playing cards. This new digital technology is able to apply embossed UV to images with pinpoint accuracy. Some of you may say this is traditional spot UV but they are distinctively different. First of all, no expensive setup is required i.e. there is no MOQ. Second of all, spot UV is almost flat whereas this is able to achieve up to 250 microns (braille effect) in polymer height which is 100 times higher than selective varnish. It can be looked as a mix between enhanced UV and digitized embossing. We can apply different densities ranging from 1-100% through the same pass which normal spot UV cannot achieve. In terms of the glossiness, it achieves 99GU which is the highest gloss possible for printed material. What does this mean? Well, it means that your selected areas of colors will stand out even more through this raised gloss effect and what’s more, you can experience the touching of it. The results are astounding which you can see in the photos here.
We have applied this glossy raised effect onto the cards here in this project as well as onto the tuck boxes. What’s more, we have found a way to make the cards playable even after apply this secondary process which is a major breakthrough.
Design
We took the traditional design for playing cards which is in the public domain, redrew the card faces completely making the design unique to the MPC brand. For the back, we also come up with a symmetrical design using a tree as the focal point since playing cards are essentially paper which originates from trees, hence the inspiration for the design.
As mentioned above, there are 3 decks in this project. The original Impressions deck is the main deck with the glossy embossed effect applied to it. The Stealth Edition is a really special design using the color black and virko to create the stand out design. The Court Edition enlarges the artwork on the court cards which aside from the unique design, players can properly experience the look and the touch and feel of the polymer applied to the card faces. We love all three decks as these should be the first on the market using this kind of new technology.
LIMITED EDITION – TUCK BOXES & SEAL
The tuck boxes for this Kickstarter project is unique and limited to our Kickstarter backers in this project only. How? Well, we have especially printed “Kickstarter Edition” on the top flap of the boxes as shown below. We have applied varying levels of virko densities to different areas of the box. Basically the more polymer we apply to a specific area, the more raised and glossier it becomes. On top of this, if we reach funding of more than $10k, we will be adding our special gold foil seals to the boxes as an added mark of authenticity of a limited edition deck. These KS edition boxes will never be produced and released again so once they’re gone, they’re gone.
How do they handle? Can they bend?
Some people are curious as to how these cards handle and whether they can bend. Using my limited handling skills, I created 2 videos for you to analyze and to help answer your many questions. Enjoy!
STRETCH GOALS
$10,000: If we reach this funding goal, we will upgrade our tuck box seals to digital gold stamped foil. Beautiful!
Unveiling the Phantom Ed. deck
We have also added the all new Phantom Ed. deck which we released on the 20th day of our project. It’s available as a add-on for $13.
The 1st ever MPC chips give away to pledges of $35+
With the addition of another newly sought digital UV printing machine, we created the first ever MPC chips which we are going to give away in this project. As we have limited stock availability and to control the costs, if your total pledge amount including your add-ons is over $35 at the end of the project, we will include one of these MPC chips into your package as shown below. Very attractive!
GIFT FOR ALL BACKERS
As a special thank you to all our backers for backing us on this project, we will hopefully be able to include a gift for everyone. The gift will depend on the funding that we achieve here though and may come in the form of an item or a coupon.
ABOUT US
We are MakePlayingCards.com, a professional custom playing cards printing service, owned and run by QP Group, a major high street board games printing and production company since 1982. We released our popular online playing cards making site in 2012 and since then, it has grown massively in demand through rigorous improvements to the user’s online experience to sourcing the best playing card stock materials, card finishing, printing technology and our services. This was only made possible by our years of experience in games development, constant collaboration with our end consumers, operating with an open mind to change and a real desire to become one of the best. Our casino quality cards are comparable with the best in the industry in terms of print, production and handling.
Risks and challenges
Since we are producing these decks of cards in-house, the only risks and challenges that we may encounter on the way are system breakdowns which we are still able to control albeit some time delay. Other risks out of our control include natural disasters and postal service strikes which shouldn’t happen, hopefully. We foresee that this project will go smoothly and we promise to make sure that we get all cards to our backers in the time frame specified. We have learnt so much from our 1st project which will make this one go even smoother.
[/vc_column_text][vc_accordion][vc_accordion_tab title=”How do I add an add-on item to my pledge?”][vc_column_text]Add the relevant amount for the add-on item on top of your pledge and message me with the details and I’ll keep a record of it. At the end of the project, I will send out a survey which you can confirm what you have pledge for too.[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][vc_accordion_tab title=”Do you have uncut sheets?”][vc_column_text]Yes, they’re available as an add-on and usually they sell like hot cakes especially with this design where there’s glossy effects on them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][vc_accordion_tab title=”How can you offer free worldwide delivery?”][vc_column_text]How do we do it? So many people are wondering. Well, we have been in the printing industry for over 30 years and our customers come from all over the world. During this time, we’ve built a logistics network that reduces our costs and ships quickly to our end customers. So wherever you are, we’ll reach you no problem.[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][vc_accordion_tab title=” Can I use this technology for my cards too? “][vc_column_text]Yes, definitely. There is no MOQ required for you to use this technology which we will release on our site at https://www.makeplayingcards.com real soon. In the meantime, contact us for more details and we can get you started.[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][/vc_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row]
