Karnival Playing Cards Review

[sinjin7]

I received my brick of Karnival decks today in the mail, and decided to discuss my impressions of these cards. I won't post any pictures because Jamie already did in an earlier thread.

BOX: White box, black print, no color anywhere. The front design is the Ace of Spades under the arched Bicycle logo. The back design is identical to the back designs of the cards themselves. The box indicates there is an Air-Cushion Finish. While I appreciate the bar code reveal on the bottom flap, I feel its not as subtle as the E reveals. Karnival = 7E v3N oF sPaD3S versus Shadow Masters = 3 07 5P4D3S. When you look at the Karnival bar code, it just seems a bit obvious.

CARDS: There are 2 Jokers, a double backer (always handy) and the ad card. The face cards are the standard Bicycle font and design, with standard red pips as opposed to a darker security ink. The Joker does have a 3 of hearts reveal as well.

FINISH: I think the gold standard for comparison should be the Q1 Tally. I find that very few cards exceed this high standard. I was very impressed with the Karnival finish and found it almost comparable to the Q1 Tally. Smooth and consistant, the cards fan beautifully. Granted, most new cards fresh out of the box should fan well, but again, this is just a review of first impressions.

STOCK: Identical to standard Bikes, about one card thinner than a Tally when you stack the decks next to each other. Decent snap, but I wouldn't classify these cards as stiff cards. The edges were cut smooth.

GRAPHICS/DESIGN: I want to start by saying I'm not a fan of the gothic death and skulls theme on cards, but I know that's subjective and there are a lot of others who like that style, so I'll try to be objective. The printing is very high quality. As busy as the back design is, there is crisp detail. Some E decks have printing designs that look very pixillated, but the Karnival graphics are very sharp. The Karnival Ace of Spades is one of the most ornate and fancy AoS I've seen, perhaps even passing the Tally and Ghost AoS. As nice as the AoS is, I find the Jokers a bust. A kneeling skeleton with angelic wings may have presented an interseting contrast in themes, but the top hat the skeleton is wearing just makes the card look like a....joke (joke...joker, yeah, I know that's corny).

As a whole, I was pleasantly surprised by the Karnival deck. For some reason I didn't have high expectations, maybe b/c I've never heard of BigBlindMedia. But I ordered the brick on Wednesday and I got them today, so I am impressed with the quick shipping given that shipping was free. With a production run limited to just 5000 decks, the quality control was very high and the cards are definitely Q1 quality. The big negative is the price. Despite how nice the cards are, they are very expensive. Price is relative, though, and who knows, with just 5000 decks made, that would make these cards rare in the future and prices skyrocket, making these cards a bargain now. Probably not, but you never know. Bottom line is that these are high quality cards, a bit pricey, but if you like the design, then go for them. Hope this helps.

[JoeCarr]

nice review, bit pricey for me, maybe that will change eventually....


oh and if you wouldnt mind, i'd appreciate some photos of the cards in real life and not as just the design, you never know it may sway me, thanks,

Joe

[tomagucci]

i got these cards a few days ago and I absolutely love them, they feel teriffic, even better than the tallys in my opnion. love the design as well. picked up a few more after gettting 2

[hikeeba]

Got mine today and have to agree with everyone. Only got 6 (since their price on 12 is exactly twice their price on 6). Fan extremely well. Easy to backpalm. Definitely feel like high quality. Already used the one-way feature of the deck. So far, very positive - recommended!

[trashmanf]

interesting, I'll have to check them out, great review sinjin!

[Wreq]

I'll try getting a brick of those.

[Leiferoui]

Wow. I never even knew about these cards. I'm a sucker to cool looking designs, right now, I feel like I really want to get them, but I probably forget about them after tomorrow. I look forward to what other cool decks Big Blind cooks up, hopefully by that time my cardistry skills will be worthy enough to use them.

[phore]

Nice review, irep. Thanks.
Some pics would be nice.

[fullboatdealer]

The second edition just shipped today from USPC. I watched them load some up on the dock today.

Big Blind and Murphy's along with a few others will have them soon.

Their new deck in the works will have some color next.

/Jamie

[trashmanf]

Interesting, so have you handled these Jamie? I just cant decide whether or not to try them...

[fullboatdealer]

No, I have only seen the brown packing boxes. If I tried to open one, Dave or Ron (USPC's armed guards) would have put a 9mm through my hand!

[Wreq]

hahaha! I can't believe they have armed guards! LOL
that shows quality.

[pokerstud52]

I have the new Karnival decks in my store on eBay. I just picked them up today!
Only $14.95 for TWO decks. Just printed.

Singles will be sold for $7.79 each. Brick of 12 for $84.95.
Let me know by private message if you'd like to order some.

eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=300276606250

[Jenil]

Originally Posted by fullboatdealer

The second edition just shipped today from USPC. I watched them load some up on the dock today.

Big Blind and Murphy's along with a few others will have them soon.

Their new deck in the works will have some color next.

/Jamie

2nd edition? How do you that's a 2nd edition Jamie? Thanks.

[fullboatdealer]

The first edition sold out in about 3 - 4 weeks. Only 5,000 were printed. Bigblind did so well the first time with a "limited edition", they just now mass produced them. Looks like any body can get them now!