Why has faded spade always felt like a con? Maybe I just hate marketing. (1 Viewer)

[MeridianFC]

I'm just here for the rant and some good rant was to be had.

Shuffle Tech, seriously WTF? I should say I'm one of those that hate the self checkout lines in grocery stores.

 

[upNdown]

I'm just here for the rant and some good rant was to be had.

Shuffle Tech, seriously WTF? I should say I'm one of those that hate the self checkout lines in grocery stores.

Let’s gooooo!
I love the self checkouts. I get to bag my own shit, so I don’t have to worry about the bread getting crushed. And I don’t have to worry about getting some chatty cashier who wants to chat.
Shuffle Techs though? No thanks.
It’s funny, when I first got into this hobby, a decent automatic shuffler seemed like a grail. And I still have a hard time believing that I could own one for the price of a decent rack, but I don’t. Weird, right? But for a self dealt game they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Unless you have players who literally can’t shuffle.

 

[Highli99]

Let’s gooooo!
I love the self checkouts. I get to bag my own shit, so I don’t have to worry about the bread getting crushed. And I don’t have to worry about getting some chatty cashier who wants to chat.
Shuffle Techs though? No thanks.
It’s funny, when I first got into this hobby, a decent automatic shuffler seemed like a grail. And I still have a hard time believing that I could own one for the price of a decent rack, but I don’t. Weird, right? But for a self dealt game they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Unless you have players who literally can’t shuffle.

The only self checkout I’ll do is the one at Giant where you walk around with the scanner and put it right into the bag in the cart. That’s efficient. The others are outsourcing a problem to me.

 

[Lil Tuna]

Let’s gooooo!
I love the self checkouts. I get to bag my own shit, so I don’t have to worry about the bread getting crushed. And I don’t have to worry about getting some chatty cashier who wants to chat.
Shuffle Techs though? No thanks.
It’s funny, when I first got into this hobby, a decent automatic shuffler seemed like a grail. And I still have a hard time believing that I could own one for the price of a decent rack, but I don’t. Weird, right? But for a self dealt game they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Unless you have players who literally can’t shuffle.

I like the self check outs myself. It’s the idiots I’ve got to wait behind that can’t operate the damn things that I CAN’T STAND.
“How do I look up an onion?” “I can’t spell onion.”
Your card is declined, your other card is declined. I literally held up a $20 bill to someone once and said “this never gets declined.”

I can understand @MeridianFC s feelings after dealing with this nonsense.

Oh and auto shufflers suck!

 

[upNdown]

The others are outsourcing a problem to me.

Oh definitely. But honestly, if I’m a better cashier than whomever they have standing there, I’m cool with it.

 

[krafticus]

self checkouts are ok when you have a few items. When you do your weekly shopping in the evening (because that is the only free time you have), and you have a cart full of groceries and the full service lanes are closed, they suck ass.

 

[Lil Tuna]

Oh definitely. But honestly, if I’m a better cashier than whomever they have standing there, I’m cool with it.

I used to be a cashier when I was in high school. I knew then when a customers total came up to $16.32 and they handed me $21.32, they were just looking for a $5 bill in change.
Made my job easier and the customer happy. Wasn’t rocket science either.

Try that today. You’ll wait 10 minutes while some manager who also can’t add or subtract is tracked down to swipe a card on the scanner that doesn’t work either and you’ll still have to do the math for them just to get your change.

 

[Highli99]

I’m a big fan of the Wegmans pickup. You drive up, hit your app, pop the trunk, they load up, you go home. Don’t go in, and no instacart delivery strangers are alone unsupervised with your grapes doing who knows what with them.

 

[buffalojim]

I used to be a cashier when I was in high school. I knew then when a customers total came up to $16.32 and they handed me $21.32, they were just looking for a $5 bill in change.
Made my job easier and the customer happy. Wasn’t rocket science either.

Try that today. You’ll wait 10 minutes while some manager who also can’t add or subtract is tracked down to swipe a card on the scanner that doesn’t work either and you’ll still have to do the math for them just to get your change.

Omg this happened to me this morning when I was buying two donuts and bagel. Total was $5.95, so I gave her $11, a $10 and a $1. I could tell she started to panic and looked totally perplexed like I asked her to explain how gravity works. Then she told me it was only $5.95 and tried to give me a $1 back. I had to explain it all to her

The donuts were killer.

 

[sheikh617]

Oh hell yes. Now I can rant about multiples things without feeling guilty for derailing.
I’ve played two games with a shuffle tech in the past couple of months.
Those things work great.
Those things are loud as hell.
I don’t believe they save any time vs a two deck, shuffle ahead or behind plan, in a self dealt game.

If you have players who really can’t shuffle, or if you have a dedicated dealer, sure, definitely go for it.
If you just love gadgets (and I do) go for it if you want, but just realize that you’re probably not saving time, and oh yeah, that thing is loud!

I would have to disagree with the time saving portion. Sure maybe in the example of your game you have a bunch of savvy players who shuffle well and fast and don't let alcohol slow them down..... But in the vast majority of games where people are drinking and having a good time the cards sometimes take a backseat to table shenanigans and the deck(s) falls behind pace. Shufflers tend to solve that issue without question. I do wish the machine was less loud. I could build into into an insulated drink cart/cabinet which would help but I'm lazy lol

 

[Lil Tuna]

I’m a big fan of the Wegmans pickup. You drive up, hit your app, pop the trunk, they load up, you go home. Don’t go in, and no instacart delivery strangers are alone unsupervised with your grapes doing who knows what with them.

Wegmans was a great place to shop. Definitely one of the things I miss from back east.

 

[upNdown]

I used to be a cashier when I was in high school. I knew then when a customers total came up to $16.32 and they handed me $21.32, they were just looking for a $5 bill in change.
Made my job easier and the customer happy. Wasn’t rocket science either.

Try that today. You’ll wait 10 minutes while some manager who also can’t add or subtract is tracked down to swipe a card on the scanner that doesn’t work either and you’ll still have to do the math for them just to get your change.

Yup, I had that happen to me recently too.
And I was a cashier too. And when the register said the change was 33 cents, my mind would just read that as 1 quarter, 1 nickel, 3 pennies. It just became automatic like that - they'd literally have their change in 3 seconds. Kids these days often don't even seem to know how to count change at all. Like, at all!

 

[upNdown]

I would have to disagree with the time saving portion. Sure maybe in the example of your game you have a bunch of savvy players who shuffle well and fast and don't let alcohol slow them down..... But in the vast majority of games where people are drinking and having a good time the cards sometimes take a backseat to table shenanigans and the deck(s) falls behind pace. Shufflers tend to solve that issue without question. I do wish the machine was less loud. I could build into into an insulated drink cart/cabinet which would help but I'm lazy lol

That's a fair point - I suppose it depends on where you're starting from. We've developed a pretty good pace at my game, using two decks and shuffling behind. The new deck is almost always ready and waiting when the hand is over. An auto shuffler couldn't speed that up.
But yeah, if you have a game where people aren't into that process, then I suppose a shuffler could speed things up.
And I'm not complaining. I recently played both your game where we passed the deal with a shuffle tech and @Roslindale game where we had a dedicated dealer with a shuffletech and both games went smoothly, no complaints. So whatever works is good. I'm just honestly surprised that I ended up preferring no shuffler, because I do like gadgets.

 

[Lil Tuna]

Yup, I had that happen to me recently too.
And I was a cashier too. And when the register said the change was 33 cents, my mind would just read that as 1 quarter, 1 nickel, 3 pennies. It just became automatic like that - they'd literally have their change in 3 seconds. Kids these days often don't even seem to know how to count change at all. Like, at all!

I think many of them are still trying to figure out if they’re supposed to stand up or squat to pee? A decision I’ve only had to make depending on how hungover I am the next morning.

 

[QuadNines]

Recently (Friday) in our monthly tournament, I got into it with the (drunk) a-hole to my immediate left - ON THE FIRST HAND. I'm the button, and he's hammered drunk. Supposed to be shuffling deck #2. Known loudmouth. Known mis-dealer. Known to never know its on him. Known to never know the action ahead of him. If there had been a shuffletech within reach I would have caved his head in with it. Best use of an auto shuffler I would have ever seen / expect to ever see.

Beyond that, we use Copags in that league, and Kem's in our weekly cash games. No complaints so far. No reason to try FadedSpades.

Oh - and in case you were wondering, drunk a-hole is not invited to the weekly cash games.

 

[Schmendr1ck]

I can't read this thread anymore without hearing Paul Lynde in my head.

 

[upNdown]

I’m an idiot. I got to play with faded spade cards tonight. They’re great.

 

[buffalojim]

I’m an idiot. I got to play with faded spade cards tonight. They’re great.

The End

 

[slisk250]

Not interested in the cards, really not interested in a card shuffler. My kid works at the local King Soopers, completely disinterested in self check out debate….I just send Jimmy a text.

Why would I want to f@ck up a Chanman/J5 piece of art?

 

[davislane]

I’m an idiot. I got to play with faded spade cards tonight. They’re great.

@Madmizike brought a poker size setup to the game tonight, so I figured I’d report while they’re fresh in my brain.
These are great cards. Stiffer than I like for sure, but it’s not like they’re unmanageable, you just notice that they’re stiff. One guy liked them a lot. Nobody else seemed to care much, so that’s a good thing, honestly - no news is good news.
I didn’t think to examine them closely to see the texture difference on the two sides. All I can say is I liked the textured feel of the cards. And they pitched like a dream. They shuffled nicely whether I did a poker dealer shuffle or that big overhand bridge shuffle that’s fun to do - neither way felt slippery. I think they’d probably get an 8 out of ten in the not slippery scale. And I never saw a hint of top card float.
I think they looks fine. Maybe great?
The index is probably just right. I’m spoiled by jumbos so I guess I’d rather they be a touch bigger, but they were fine. I think the only negative I could come up with is that sometimes it took an extra glance to discern clubs from spades, in light that’s probably a bit low. But my eyes are almost 50.
Bottom line, these are great cards. I’ll keep them on my radar.

 

[moose]

Brand new deck Faded Spade 2.0 fivish hands in. Card literally split in two. WTF?

 

[DMack]

Brand new deck Faded Spade 2.0 finish hands in. Card literally split in two. WTF?

View attachment 1049238View attachment 1049239

Yep, definitely a problem. I had the same thing happen to me, and I believe others have had the same problem as well.

I contacted FS about my card splitting, and they mailed me a replacement card for it.

 

[RocAFella1]

That’s interesting a two piece card stock it seems.

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

Amazing. This is like the 3rd time I've heard of this. Crazy. All my Faded Spades have had zero issues. (knock on wood) Almost all machine shuffled so maybe that helps? Or possibly it's the California weather that never gets to those crazy White North temperatures? The lamest part of @DMack's story is they only sent him a replacement card instead of a deck. My guess is that card is from the same sheet as the rest of the deck so they will all probably fail at some point...

 

[Silver_Fiend]

As much as I would love an auto shuffler, they seem like far too much trouble. Ive never sat at a casino table that didnt have repeated jambs and problems with their professional grade shufflers. I cant imagine how much they would likely jamb in a home version

 

[doublebooyah85]

As much as I would love an auto shuffler, they seem like far too much trouble. Ive never sat at a casino table that didnt have repeated jambs and problems with their professional grade shufflers. I cant imagine how much they would likely jamb in a home version

My home version Jams 1x every 2 hours at most. And it’s a quick fix. Not to derail this thread but I tell everyone it’s a game changer.

 

[CraigT78]

I want to see more complaining about self checkouts and you old bastards who still pay with cash these days, lol of course teens can't make change, they have zero use for cash.

 

[Silver_Fiend]

I want to see more complaining about self checkouts and you old bastards who still pay with cash these days, lol of course teens can't make change, they have zero use for cash.

I'm still waiting for the walmart self-checker employee Christmas party, along with my 1099 for working there.

 

[bergs]

I want to see more complaining about self checkouts and you old bastards who still pay with cash these days, lol of course teens can't make change, they have zero use for cash.

87 minus 29? Who am I, Enrico Fucking Fermi?

 

[cellist56]

I have used the Fades spade RFID cards and they are the worst. It’s like shuffling 52 cut cards.