Card Question

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Card Question

Postby Guest » February 5th, 2002, 5:54 am

First let me say thanks to Richard Kaufman for his magical contribution to the art! I am new to the forum and I have a simple question that may be answered quickly by most of you and at the same time I shall reveal my ignorance. :confused:
In Mr. Kaufman's wonderful video - On The Pass, what brand of cards are being used and where can I get them? I apologize if this is already noted in the forum and I appreciate any help in this matter.

Darren Hopkins

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Matthew Field
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Re: Card Question

Postby Matthew Field » February 5th, 2002, 6:22 am

Hi, Darren, and welcome to the Genii Forum!

I was executive producer for the "On the Pass" video, and the cards used are Aarco Casino Clubs, unfortunately no longer available. Do a search for "Aarco" (the searth button is above, on the right) to see other discussions about these wonderful cards.

Matthew Field

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Re: Card Question

Postby Guest » February 6th, 2002, 5:29 pm

If you view the opening segment on the Classic Pass, Richard Kaufman displays the Ace of Spades which identifies the cards at Tahoe brand, manufactured by Arrco, which is now owned by U.S.Playing Card Co.

They are difficult to find, and are no longer in production.

Randy Campbell

[ February 06, 2002: Message edited by: Randy Campbell ]

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Re: Card Question

Postby Richard Kaufman » February 6th, 2002, 8:07 pm

The U.S. Playing Card company bought Arrco for the sole purpose of acquiring their custom-printed card division. They immediately retired most of the Arrco back designs, including Tahoes. You can still find a few of the designs, however they are made of crap pasteboard with a lousy finish. What made Tahoes special is that they were soft when worked in, yet had a great body, and they had great slip for 6 months with no fanning powder. Nothing like that is available now.
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Re: Card Question

Postby Guest » February 7th, 2002, 9:48 am

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
...What made Tahoes special is that they were soft when worked in, yet had a great body, and they had great slip for 6 months with no fanning powder. Nothing like that is available now.


Richard,
First, thanks for the response & info. Secondly, why do places like USPC Company retire these cards when there still remains a rather large group of individuals (i.e. ...magicians) that would buy them forever? Maybe I'm wrong but I would think that they could "make a mint" off of a series of "Magicians Choice" decks.

They are located about 6 miles from my house... I should drive over and give 'em a piece of my mind! :D

Darren

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Re: Card Question

Postby Matthew Field » February 7th, 2002, 10:05 am

Originally posted by Darren Hopkins:
there still remains a rather large group of individuals (i.e. ...magicians) that would buy them forever?


Answer -- it's a small group of individuals, especially when measured against the total of their customer base. That's why Arrco couldn't cut it themselves.

Matt Field

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Re: Card Question

Postby Cugel » February 7th, 2002, 1:08 pm

I worked a major casino industry trade show a few months back and spent some time chatting with the USPC rep (and scoring cartons of cards!!!). In any case, USPC have adopted a strategy of market dominance through visibility of a handful of brands. It makes sense to buy out all the little regional companies and put your product on every shelf. I think it's a shame because there are a bunch of back designs that I love, but it makes commercial sense to have name recognition with one or two products (Bikes in the home markets, Bees, Aristocrats and Stingers in the gaming market.

USPC used to make a huge variety of back designs, but that was back in the 30's and 40's when marketing strategies were a little less mercenary.

I believe USPC have also bought out Fournier (they're making USPC's plastic product now), though I'd be surprised if they changed the Fournier paper product drastically since it already has good market penetration in Europe.

Andrew


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