Cartamundi & USPCC
By Vanishing Inc. - Friday, June 14, 2019
Over the past few years, we have worked closely with Cartamundi. They launched their COPAG decks at The Session 2018 and printed both editions of the rare Session and Magifest decks. We love that they are pushing quality forward and that they're willing to experiment. In short: we're fans.
This week, Cartamundi announced that they are to acquire The United States Playing Card Company. In our minds, this is great news! Here's how we think this could change the industry:
Bicycle cards might be available more widely: Bicycle cards are USPCC's foremost brand, and Cartamundi have a much bigger global reach. Therefore, perhaps they'll widen the availability of the brand.
Less restrictions on gimmicks: USPCC have typically been very strict on the variance of their main back designs (Bicycle, Bee, and so on). As Cartamundi is a company who understands the significance of the magic market, it's possible that they might reduce the restrictions on those gimmicks.
More flexibility with box design and card variance: In the past, USPCC haven't allowed been able to change the tuck box design too much, and that's why we find a lot of deck manufacturers print their decks with other companies. Cartamundi have a much larger set of machinery and therefore, it's very likely we'll see improvements in the variety of tuck box offered by printers.
A more global deck market: It's crazy to think that most of the playing cards used in magic (and casinos) come from one little town. Cartamundi have manufacturing facilities are located in Japan, India, Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America, and Brazil. With the recent import tarrifs being put on playing cards, maybe we'll see a more global production?
Less restrictions on back design: USPCC are extremely strict on back design. We almost didn't get one of our decks printed because it contained a graphic from The Discoverie of Witchcraft that showed how fake be-headings work. We suspect Cartamundi might relax some of these restrictions.
A focus on cardistry: The CEO of Cartamundi has already said that he expects USPCC to focus on the growing cardistry market. This will certainly mean that they produce some of their own deck brands, and continue to experiment with different paper stock.
As you can probably tell, we're excited for the future of playing cards!
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