Has anyone had custom plastic playing cards made? (3 Viewers)

[JMC9389]

So my next expenditure in my journey of chipping is likely going to be a custom CPC set. I'm going to make a custom inlay and have the help of a designer to create the inlay. In talking about the inlay design, the designer asked if I had planned on having any dealer buttons, cut cards, et al. made.

Which got me to thinking....if I'm going the custom route, I may as well go all out....right? Dealer buttons. Cut cards. Even custom decks.

I came across this website which appears to be the only site that would make a custom plastic playing card in a small quantity:

https://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-jumbo-index-plastic-cards.html

Has anyone ever used them before? What is the card stock like? Thick or flimsy? The base face design looks decent, but it looks like the front and back of each card can be customized. If I buy 12 decks, looks like it would cost about $19 per deck. I would really only consider this if the card stock is decent.

Does anyone else know of a place that custom plastic decks can be made?

 

[Chipandchair]

I believe @sheikh617 used this company for his Bean Town cards.

 

[RichMahogany]

The star chips buy used them for a small amount of decks

 

[hdgeno]

The star chips buy used them for a small amount of decks

This is correct I believe, and I did use one of my Star decks in a game some time ago. I'd have to go downstairs and get the deck on the table to get familiar again (can't right now as I'm taking care of the baby while the wife gets some much needed sleep).

If you go that route that would be awesome, nothing says custom better than having all the accessories custom as well.

 

[JMC9389]

The star chips buy used them for a small amount of decks

This is correct I believe, and I did use one of my Star decks in a game some time ago. I'd have to go downstairs and get the deck on the table to get familiar again (can't right now as I'm taking care of the baby while the wife gets some much needed sleep).

If you go that route that would be awesome, nothing says custom better than having all the accessories custom as well.

No rush, but I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the cards if anyone is able to find them and shuffle them a bit!

This project has a 2020 start date. I think David said that the next run of 44mm CPC chips isn't being made until the middle of next year. I have plenty of time to design some stuff and get it all ready to go!

 

[sheikh617]

I did have some made through them. The card stock isnt bad at all. It's a touch on the thicker side. My design issue was with doing full colored backgrounds. The grey and black solid background add a very small layer of thickness and make the top part of the card more "firm" which in turn makes the, harder to bridge/shuffle. The underside of the stock is great. The other issue with using a solid upper is that it's not very scratch resistant and the cards get marked so this design ended up being more for eye candy that practical use unfortunately. I have plans on having someone do a better design for me eventually.

 

[RichMahogany]

I can’t comment on them. The set up I owned and then sold was still sealed.

 

[cosmokramer]

I had three batches made by them so far („custom“ and „design“ jumbo index, with „beta“ finish), and actually can‘t complain.
For the design, 2 orders were exactly as shown on screen, with one order they slightly messed up the printed edges on 5 decks.
Quality seems good, at start they are very slippery (most of my players quite liked that), but get less after a few hours of play. Haven‘t played a deck longer than 7-8 hours. They didn‘t bend, kept form and there were no fading colours.

Thing I dislike most is the somewhat strange form of the clubs, easily mistaken for spades, but I would need to check what index that was/is, I suggest you keep a close eye when ordering.

Overall, I‘d prefer my stock mondianos, but having an individual design for somewhat small money, i find them quite nice.

Besides: we dealt our first royal with them the first night used

 

[JMC9389]

I did have some made through them. The card stock isnt bad at all. It's a touch on the thicker side. My design issue was with doing full colored backgrounds. The grey and black solid background add a very small layer of thickness and make the top part of the card more "firm" which in turn makes the, harder to bridge/shuffle. The underside of the stock is great. The other issue with using a solid upper is that it's not very scratch resistant and the cards get marked so this design ended up being more for eye candy that practical use unfortunately. I have plans on having someone do a better design for me eventually.

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I'm probably going to go with a casino style diamond design not unlike what @dennis63 did with his Key West cards to avoid marking. Diamond base design with a variation of my inlay design on each end of the back.

Are the backs of the cards smooth or have a more textured feel? It's not a deal breaker either way, but I absolutely love textured stocks that cards like NTP and desjgn's Grand Victorian. If the stocks are on the smoother side but are a bit thicker side, they'll probably feel more like Dal Negro's or ModiaNO's.

 

[markleteenie]

If I remember right, the card stock is a little bit thicker, more similar to Copags than Kems, but I only played with them once.

 

[Thomacetti]

 

[sheikh617]

Hmm, I'd have to pull the cards out when I go home but from last use I would say the tops feel slightly textured. MPC also offers differnet stocks so I would recommend reading the descriptions on each one. I think I went with the 100% plastic option.

 

[JMC9389]

Hmm, I'd have to pull the cards out when I go home but from last use I would say the tops feel slightly textured. MPC also offers differnet stocks so I would recommend reading the descriptions on each one. I think I went with the 100% plastic option.

I'm definitely going for the 100% plastic ones. I'm curious to see what you think of the finish. There's the MPC finish and the gloss finish. I would imagine that the slightly textured finish is the MPC finish.

 

[sheikh617]

Yeah i went with MPC finish as it was the default one. Overall I like the cards for games with regular shuffling. I primarily use a shuffletech and it has a hard time with MPC's cards because they are a hair thicker than average.

 

[xdan]

I have some MPC with custom artwork to replicate angel. Didn’t like the stock

 

[Poker Zombie]

I have a few decks of the Star Cruises decks (the ones @Thomacetti ) shows above.

One of my players thought they were paper. I honestly questioned if he was right. I have no reason to think that anyone that spent money on Boat chips would try to save a few dollars on custom decks. Either way I would rate them as the lowest of all my plastic decks, but above paper Bicycle cards.

I too had a design for a custom set of cards, but terminated the project based on the quality of the cards.

 

[DuffCal]

I was looking to have some custom plastic decks of cards made and was looking for suggestions on where to have this done. I would really like to get very high-quality cards made, similar to KEM if possible. Thanks in advance for any guidance with this!

 

[Poker Zombie]

I was looking to have some custom plastic decks of cards made and was looking for suggestions on where to have this done. I would really like to get very high-quality cards made, similar to KEM if possible. Thanks in advance for any guidance with this!

Are you looking at doing about 1000 decks?

 

[DuffCal]

Are you looking at doing about 1000 decks?

No, that will be a little much for me. Is that the MOQ for hi-quality KEM style plastic cards?

Thanks,

Duffy

 

[JMC9389]

For what it's worth, I had two plastic card set ups with a custom back done by makeplayingcards and I don't really like them. Both the back and face of the card are too slippery. They pitch well and snap back into shape well, though.

 

[markleteenie]

For what it's worth, I had two plastic card set ups with a custom back done by makeplayingcards and I don't really like them. Both the back and face of the card are too slippery. They pitch well and snap back into shape well, though.

I played with a MPC setup 2 years ago, so it was a while ago.

I remember thinking the stock felt a bit thick. Definitely felt slippery. Is that other people's assessment?

 

[JMC9389]

I played with a MPC setup 2 years ago, so it was a while ago.

I remember thinking the stock felt a bit thick. Definitely felt slippery. Is that other people's assessment?

The stock is a bit on the thicker side, yes. Not Faded Spade thick mind you, but definitely as thick as some of the Dal Negro set ups I have.

However, I believe that the thick stock saves the cards from being an unusable slippery, floppy mess.

 

[Poker Zombie]

No, that will be a little much for me. Is that the MOQ for hi-quality KEM style plastic cards?

Thanks,

Duffy

I haven't dealt with KEM, but research has shown that to get true high-quality plastic cards, you have to deal with the manufacturer. DesJgn has made some great cards using Modiano and ________ (I forget the other one at this time). Modiano screwed him though, with unevenly colored backs so I wouldn't use them.

Either way MOQ's were huge.

Others have used MakePlayingCards.com, but I would not call them high quality. As far as I know, they are the only custom card maker for the masses with low to no minimums.

 

[DuffCal]

I haven't dealt with KEM, but research has shown that to get true high-quality plastic cards, you have to deal with the manufacturer. DesJgn has made some great cards using Modiano and ________ (I forget the other one at this time). Modiano screwed him though, with unevenly colored backs so I wouldn't use them.

Either way MOQ's were huge.

Others have used MakePlayingCards.com, but I would not call them high quality. As far as I know, they are the only custom card maker for the masses with low to no minimums.

Thanks for all the info. I will continue to do some research online as well.

 

[JMC9389]

Though I am not necessarily a fan of the pip and face designs, I liked the quality of the cards from Sunfly that I got from Tony. I'll write up a review later on, but I liked how they shuffled and they weren't quite thick and had a nice flex to them, not unlike the Modianos.

Sunfly just became a vendor here, they may be an option for a semi custom or custom design.

 

[Billy2702]

I have been on a bit of a mission to get some custom cards myself recently. Chinese suppliers are really only interested in minimums of 1000 decks and even then the per deck cost is relatively high. If you can buy 5k+ decks its way more reasonable.

 

[wendell]

I had three batches made by them so far („custom“ and „design“ jumbo index, with „beta“ finish), and actually can‘t complain.
For the design, 2 orders were exactly as shown on screen, with one order they slightly messed up the printed edges on 5 decks.
Quality seems good, at start they are very slippery (most of my players quite liked that), but get less after a few hours of play. Haven‘t played a deck longer than 7-8 hours. They didn‘t bend, kept form and there were no fading colours.

Thing I dislike most is the somewhat strange form of the clubs, easily mistaken for spades, but I would need to check what index that was/is, I suggest you keep a close eye when ordering.

Overall, I‘d prefer my stock mondianos, but having an individual design for somewhat small money, i find them quite nice.

Besides: we dealt our first royal with them the first night used
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Sorry to necro this thread a bit, but can I ask cosmokramer where you got those card face designs from? I have a few custom decks from MPC and enjoyed them enough, they're not perfect but I don't think I've found them to be as annoying as I think others have who've tried them. The stock face designs though have always tilted me - I know you mentioned you didn't like the design of the clubs but I think that'd still be far better than the stock MPC design.

EDIT: Just realised those are the Modiano faces you posted, sorry. Don't worry. (if anyone else has custom MPC faces though please let me know!)

(obligatory pic attached)

 

[cosmokramer]

Sorry to necro this thread a bit, but can I ask cosmokramer where you got those card face designs from? I have a few custom decks from MPC and enjoyed them enough, they're not perfect but I don't think I've found them to be as annoying as I think others have who've tried them. The stock face designs though have always tilted me - I know you mentioned you didn't like the design of the clubs but I think that'd still be far better than the stock MPC design.

EDIT: Just realised those are the Modiano faces you posted, sorry. Don't worry. (if anyone else has custom MPC faces though please let me know!)

(obligatory pic attached)

Actually I went with the stock MPC faces, which I mentioned i don‘t like too much.

And as an overall updated opinion on MPC: I had another rather large batch made to match a new chip set, and honestly wasnt satisfied at all. The print from the backs faded very fast, it was noticeable after 2-3 hours of play and got worse fast. And they feel too thick for my preferences as well.