Cards by Crowdfund
By Alex J. Coyne © 2017 Great Bridge Links
Crowdfunding is a great way to secure funding for a new product or idea when it’s still in its concept phases. Thanks to this, many card game creators have finally been given the chance to showcase their card games to the world – and, sometimes, put them into mainstream production as a result.
Here’s a look at some card games that have been crowdfunded: The best, the worst and the still-in-progress. Let us know if you’ve spotted any other cool games that should be on this list.
Arcana Playing Cards
Arcana playing cards were created by Chris Ovdiyenko and deadonpaper, taking his inspiration from the art created for the Rider-Waite tarot and bringing this to your standard deck of playing cards. From the kickstarter description, “Arcana isn’t meant to be a full tarot deck.” Instead, it’s meant to be used as a deck for playing card games like poker, blackjack – or bridge. At the time of writing, $190, 592 of its $45, 000 goal had been reached.
Ragnarok Playing Cards
Ragnarok playing cards were designed in Denmark and relies heavily on the Norse mythology of Ragnarok – or the mythological end of the world when the world tree Yggdrassil falls. Court cards feature Viking deities and creatures like Thor, and the decks are silver/copper foiled – and embossed. The fund reached DKK 629, 351, just under $100, 000 – blowing its goal right of the water – with an estimated delivery time of mid-next year.
3D Mechanized Game Cards
This incredible deck was first brought to the world through a 2013 crowdfund on Kickstarter by Dale Mathis. This is like…the battle chess of cards. We’re going to go right ahead and tell readers to go look at the crowdfund’s link for an in-depth description of just how these cards work (and what cool accessories come with them). There are gears, magnets and lights involved – this is definitely not your average deck! If you’ve already spotted this one, version 2 is on the way (also through Kickstarter) and promises to be even cooler.
Mystery Science Theatre 3000
Who can still remember Mystery Science Theatre 3000? If you’re a die-hard fan – or know someone who is – this would make a perfect accompanying gift to the MST 3000 box set! This deck apparently contains several card sets – these are called “invention exchange”, “experiment cards”, “DVD mini poster cards”, “riff-it retro cards” and lastly what they called “3D anaglyph cards”, which are best viewed with the pair of 3D glasses that comes with your order of MST 3000 the card game. According to the Kickstarter page, its creators will also throw in limited edition cards – in each box, at random – for those who buy. If you want some classic trading card nostalgia, this one makes for a perfect buy.