In recent years - due mostly to technological improvements and in some measure to the recent worldwide popularity of Texas Holdem Poker, Custom Playing Cards have risen tremendously in popularity as promotional products to promote corporations, museums, sports teams, institutions, presidential candidates, sports figures, schools, games, eduational techniques, destinations, hotels, islands, state programs, weddings, engagements, bar mitzvahs, birthdays, non profit organizations, fund raisers, universities and new product launches.
Custom playing cards can now be produced in many custom sizes and shapes, but the two most popular are still Poker Size playing cards and Bridge Size playing cards. The only difference between the two is the width of the card decks themselves.Poker decks measure 2.5 inches across by 3.5 inches high and Bridge decks measure 2.25 inches across by 3.5 inches high.
There is an advantage to printing your image on Poker size decks sicne have a larger imprint area and show the images a little larger because of that. To clarify the sides of the playing cards - the BACK of the playing cards is the side which is customarily uniform in appearance to allow game play without the abiliaty to tell one card from the other. The back side can be fully customized with full color logo- design or even a custom photograph . In many cases - like in flash cards - the backs are sometimes different from one another - but then this is not a standard playing card deck. To clarify the other side - it is known as the FACE of the playing cards.The FACE of the playing cards is the side which customarily contains the four normal playing card SUITS - hearts - diamonds - clubs and spades. These suit images are known as the PIPS of the playing cards. As with the BACKS of the playing cards, the FACESs of the playing card decks can be completely customized with your own images, logos or photos as well. You can customize just the center of the card and leave the standard pips on the edges
or you can customized tnhe entire face of each of the 54 playing cards! Each one of the individual FACES can be customized - even with CUSTOM PIPS that you create. These pips can be any image you choose - and they do not necessarily even have to be the standard hearts - diamonds - clubs and spades . Sometimes clients choose to make their own pips which correspond to their product lineor to the theme of their custom game or their custom promotion or a technique they are promoting through the card decks. Sometimes the faces are instructions - or photos and each custom playing card deck can include up to 60 cards. Custom Playing Cards decks can also include less cards per deck - or as few cards per deck as a client may need in order to promote their project or event.
ALl custom playing card deck sizes are fully custom - 54 cards per deck is no longer a mandatory requirement. AS far as art requirement go - as soon as an Ad Magic client decides to create custom playing cards they are provided with a template which explains to them how to set up the FACES, BACKS and if needed A CUSTOM BOX template can also be provided to you. These easy to follow templates allow clients who wish to design their own custom playinf cards from scratch to place their art correctly into a position whereit will not be inadvertently cut off during the critical manufacturing process. Ad Magic standards for art are generally 300 dpi to size and our recommend formats are photoshop, adobe illustrator or adobe in design. That having been said - we can still take any format you come up with and convert it to a format we require for the final layouts if necessary. To educate you al ittle in the printing process we would like to explain that there are several types of printing options available to you. These include digital printing, offset printing and foil stamp imprinting.
Digital printing is excellent for short runs - which can often be as low as 1 deck. Digital printing is perfect for rush orders and for quick turnaround in general. We can match pantone colors with digital and it has been a valued printing method to thousands of our clients as the playing card stick is the same quality - same coating and same black core stock as the other methods. Once in a while there are designs that would work better with another method and we carefully review your art to help you to determine which printing method is the best one for you to use. Keep in minf that digital decks can be printed in a matter of days - sometimes as few as 1 to 2 days for Rush orders and they are available in both poker - bridge and custom shaped sizes. Custom shaped sizes require a custom die and would take longer to manufacture. Also - in most cases rush orders can often incur an additional fee - but rest assured that rush orders have saved many marketing managers from being empty handed at trade shows or meetings when their companies - as is the habit in the corporate world - have waited until the absolute last minute to decide on a trade show give away or a meeting hand out.

Another method we use is Offset printing. For some artwork this is a better choice, especially when critical color is involved as the Pantone Matching System
for offfset inks is extremely accurate for matching your client color choices. It is also one of the most cost effectivemethods for producing larger runs of custom playing cards as the cards are printed on much larger sheets which are then coated and then cut into playing card size.
Hot Stamp printing is a unqiue method of imprinting which is achieved by heating and stamping a foil onto the surface of a playing card. The finished and cut card is hit hard with a die which hits the heated foil and makes a heat transfer appear in the shape of the custom imprint. This produces a shiny imprint in the color of the foil directly onto the playing card surface and produces an elegant result. There are a number of beautiful foil colors available to use on stock colored playing card backgrounds. There are several different stock colors available in poker size and even more stock card colors are available in bridge size. There are about 20 foil colors to choose from. This method is only good when the design
can first be created as black and white line art which is then molded into a die. 50 decks minimum are required for this method.

On runs of 500 decks or more - another option is availble to you. The color of the card backs may be altered from the standard colors or full color cards may be decorated with a foil stamp.
Generally the decks come in a white window tuck box - which shows the imprint through the window but custom non window tuch boxes are also available where all of the sides of the box can be fully custom printed with the client's artwork. Custom shaped playing cards such as circles - houses - triangles - hexagons - Tarot Cards - ovals - capsule shaped and square shaped decks are also available and can be custom made to a client's size specifications or a provided die line. Custom Playing Cards need not be boring rectangles anymore - with the advent of our new technology and a little creative inspration - playing cards have truly become modern day works of art.

Our custom playing cards factories manufacture custom playing cards and use either black carbon based stock which is then plastic coated during the manufacturing process for customized bicycle playing cards quality - or 100 percent plastic PVC stock for KEM card quality. We can custom print playing cards in both Poker and Bridge sizes. Custom boxes are available in many sizes and materials - we can provide you with plastic playing card boxes, wooden playing card boxes and custom cardbord playing card boxes. Your custom playing cards generally come in a which window tuck box with a clear window which shows off the imprint on your custom cards - and this is available at no extra charge. The cards inside this box are shrink wrapped to make a professional presentation.

Custom playing cards are so easy to order and easy for us to personalize. Simply email us or call us toll free at 888-423-6244 or after hours at 973 713 5155 and we will create an online digital proof for you instantly (or as soon as we get back to a machine) and email it back to you right away for your consideration and your approval. Then we will write you an order- send you payment information to fill out and immediately your art will be submitted to production for custom playing cards printing. Depending on the time frame of your order we will recommend the options for shipping that are available to you. Ad Magic loves to deal directly with our customers - the public. Ad Magic is a custom playing cards company with nearly 20 years of experience in custom imprinted playing cards and other custom imprinted products. We have thousands of references and many thousands of happy clients. References are provided upon request.