With Faded Spade being discussed again, I figure that now is as good a time as any to share my observations about Faded Spade 3.0. When I first learned of Faded Spade upon my return to PCF last year, I thought it was great that there was another player in the playing card business. The buzz on PCF seemed to indicate that Faded Spade may be manufacturing their own cards and were making changes each generation to improve their product. I don’t have any insights about their version 1.0 and 2.0 products, but I assess with a high degree of confidence that Faded Spade 3.0 cards are made by Kuo Kau Paper Products.
Kuo Kau is perhaps best known here for their Royal line of cards, which are a rather unimpressive line on 0.27mm glossy stock. Those who are a bit more familiar with them may also know them as the manufacturer of the Marion Pro line of cards, which is on their nicer 0.31mm matte finish stock. I received my first Marion Pro setup shortly after my first time handling Faded Spade 3.0 cards, and it was immediately obvious that the cards are the same texture. Can you see any difference in the texture of the face side of the two cards below?
Here’s a similar shot of the card backs, showing Marion Pro on the left and Faded Spade 3.0 on the right.
You can also see in the pic below that they both use the same bright white material for their cards. The card on the bottom is a Fournier 2826 for comparison. I don’t think I have any decks that use as bright of a white as Kuo Kao does.
If you’ve handled both Marion Pro and Faded Spade decks, you may have noticed that the Faded Spades are stiffer. If you stack them side by side, you can also see that they’re thicker. One of Kuo Kau’s other stock offerings is 0.34mm thick with a matte finish, which matches the thickness of Faded Spade 3.0 exactly. I would wager that the new Midnight edition will be on Kuo Kau’s 0.31mm thick black matte finish stock.
There’s one more reasonably compelling piece of evidence, and that’s the Faded Spade Old School line. I don’t own any of these cards, and I can’t find some of the pictures that Faded Spade used to have on their website, but luckily for us @JoeBGo posted this pic of a couple of the face cards:
Although Faded Spade clearly provided their own artwork for the ace of spades, jokers, and the card back, the other cards seem to use a version of the stock Kuo Kau artwork with the Kuo Kau logo removed and sometimes other minor touch-ups or differences in the rendering of the artwork. Playing card designs have a long history of being copied and most derive from a common heritage which results in many similarities, but these are so similar that it seems likely that they used the same artwork as a base.
I’m not aware of Kuo Kau offering a RFID option, so it’s possible that those are custom for Faded Spade. It’s also possible that they use a different manufacturer for the RFID decks. It’s even possible that they don’t use Kuo Kau at all, but I think the evidence is overwhelming.
I think it’s great that there’s another choice in the playing card world. If you like the design of Faded Spade, they’re obviously the only option. If you like the feel of Faded Spade 3.0 but wish it was a little more flexible, a little cheaper, or a little more traditional in appearance, you may want to consider a stock Kuo Kau offering on their 0.31mm matte finish like the Marion Pro line. If you hate Faded Spade, you can use this to support your argument that they’re just a marketing company with some artwork. Since they’re the only product I’m aware of using the 0.34mm thick Kuo Kau stock, I personally appreciate that there’s another card material and design on the market, even if it’s not the right option for me.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Kuo Kau is perhaps best known here for their Royal line of cards, which are a rather unimpressive line on 0.27mm glossy stock. Those who are a bit more familiar with them may also know them as the manufacturer of the Marion Pro line of cards, which is on their nicer 0.31mm matte finish stock. I received my first Marion Pro setup shortly after my first time handling Faded Spade 3.0 cards, and it was immediately obvious that the cards are the same texture. Can you see any difference in the texture of the face side of the two cards below?
Here’s a similar shot of the card backs, showing Marion Pro on the left and Faded Spade 3.0 on the right.
You can also see in the pic below that they both use the same bright white material for their cards. The card on the bottom is a Fournier 2826 for comparison. I don’t think I have any decks that use as bright of a white as Kuo Kao does.
If you’ve handled both Marion Pro and Faded Spade decks, you may have noticed that the Faded Spades are stiffer. If you stack them side by side, you can also see that they’re thicker. One of Kuo Kau’s other stock offerings is 0.34mm thick with a matte finish, which matches the thickness of Faded Spade 3.0 exactly. I would wager that the new Midnight edition will be on Kuo Kau’s 0.31mm thick black matte finish stock.
There’s one more reasonably compelling piece of evidence, and that’s the Faded Spade Old School line. I don’t own any of these cards, and I can’t find some of the pictures that Faded Spade used to have on their website, but luckily for us @JoeBGo posted this pic of a couple of the face cards:
Although Faded Spade clearly provided their own artwork for the ace of spades, jokers, and the card back, the other cards seem to use a version of the stock Kuo Kau artwork with the Kuo Kau logo removed and sometimes other minor touch-ups or differences in the rendering of the artwork. Playing card designs have a long history of being copied and most derive from a common heritage which results in many similarities, but these are so similar that it seems likely that they used the same artwork as a base.
I’m not aware of Kuo Kau offering a RFID option, so it’s possible that those are custom for Faded Spade. It’s also possible that they use a different manufacturer for the RFID decks. It’s even possible that they don’t use Kuo Kau at all, but I think the evidence is overwhelming.
I think it’s great that there’s another choice in the playing card world. If you like the design of Faded Spade, they’re obviously the only option. If you like the feel of Faded Spade 3.0 but wish it was a little more flexible, a little cheaper, or a little more traditional in appearance, you may want to consider a stock Kuo Kau offering on their 0.31mm matte finish like the Marion Pro line. If you hate Faded Spade, you can use this to support your argument that they’re just a marketing company with some artwork. Since they’re the only product I’m aware of using the 0.34mm thick Kuo Kau stock, I personally appreciate that there’s another card material and design on the market, even if it’s not the right option for me.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
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