Mail Day: CasinoSupply.com - Uncancelled Casino Decks

 A very dense box arrived for me yesterday containing the first purchase of playing cards I've made as an "official" collector of playing card decks.  As mentioned Wednesday, I ordered a 12-count blind grab of uncancelled casino decks.

Uncancelled or unretired decks are casino-branded decks that haven't been clipped or hole punched.  These are decks that the casino orders with the intent of using in their game pits.  When these decks either go unused or are retired, they are marked either by clipping a corner, or punching a hole through the center of the deck.  While it is a useful tool to prevent unscrupulous players from loading their hands, it makes owning the cards as a collector - for me at least - much less desirable.  

For me, the point of owning decks of cards is because I appreciate the art and design of the decks.  Clipped corners and holes tantamount to massive watermarks across the width of a piece of art.  While I appreciate the reasoning behind it, and even support it's purpose, it's actually it's effectiveness at it's task that takes away from the appreciation of the thing.  Clipped corners make the cards undesirable, not just to those who intend on cheating casinos, but to those of us who want to have those decks, for whatever legitimate reason. 

CasinoSupply.com, however, seems to have either a massive repository of "unretired" decks (decks that are out of casino circulation, but have not been clipped), or an incredible source.  So, I have a feeling that with this purchase, I will be going back to CasinoSupply.com in the future when I want to add to my casino deck collection.

Now, all that preamble out of the way, what did I get?

In the box were 12 unopened, untouched decks.  All 12 decks were produced by Gemaco, which is a subsidiary of Angel Playing Cards and based in Missouri.  There isn't much info out there that I can find on Gemaco, it has been a brand name that's passed hands a couple of times, and it doesn't seem to have it's own online presence.  

All 12 decks were cellowrapped, and are in tuckboxes with the familiar look of the Gemaco logo on one side with a cutout on the opposite to show the casino logo and a form for the casino to mark dates used as well as pit, table and comments.  Interested in what kind of comments have shown up on those tuckboxes...

You're probably still asking, "but what decks did you get?"

- Ohkay Casino & Resort "Native American No Peek" 1995

- Aladdin Casino Las Vegas "Sentinel Security Faces" 2002

- Casino Sault Ste. Marie "Jumbo Index Faces"

- Point Forward Charity Casino "Jumbo Index Faces"

- Chips Casino "No Peek Faces" (red)

- Chips Casino "No Peek Faces" (teal)

- Christo's Restaurant Casino "Jumbo Tech Art Faces"

- Hollywood Casino Shreveport, LA "Sentinel Security Faces"

- Elk Valley Casino Crescent City, CA "Tech Art II Faces" (red)

- Elk Valley Casino Crescent City, CA "Tech Art II Faces" (blue)

- Harrah's Vicksburg (purple)

- Gold Strike Casino Walla Walla, WA "Tech Art Faces"

The Ohkay Casino deck is interesting, it came with a copywrite card that included a little blurb about respecting the history of the indigenous tribes of the area, and the copywrite I believe actually belongs to the artist of the face & joker cards.  The Jokers are very cool kochina coyotes on a southwestern geometric pattern. The face cards on each suit represent a different nation in the casino's region.  

The Aladdin deck is also...interesting.  While it doesn't have the cultural context that the Ohkay deck does, it is also the only other deck that's customized in any meaningful way.  The other decks have the generic joker & face cards of that set (the No Peek Faces are all similar as are the Sentinal Security Faces and the Tech Art & Tech Art II faces).  While the face cards aren't that unique, the Jokers are...well...they make me uncomfortable.  They look like Sinbad in Aladdin.  Except he wasn't in Aladdin. And that's triggering to, well, everybody.  Much less disturbingly, this deck also comes with a 2002 pocket calendar card.  That used to be a thing, remember?  So many people thought that pocket calendars were a great marketing tool.  I'm not sure they ever were.  

But that's it.  That's the first purchase.  12 decks going up on the shelf.  

Casino Decks - 12 Random Decks from Casino Supply

 First time caller, long time listener.  Wait, no, that's not what this is.  Hi, I'm Paul and I'm an...wait, that's still wrong...

Okay, this is 52 Card Pickup, a blog about a guy that's not a playing card expert collecting playing cards.  I have collected cards in the past, other kinds of cards.  For many, many years, when I was a very small person that wasn't old enough to legally drive a car, I collected baseball cards.  Then for a short time in college, I collected credit cards.  That one didn't last too long, and turned out to be nowhere near as fun.  Then I was into Magic the Gathering cards.  But I am an absolutely terrible Magic the Gathering player.  So that wasn't nearly as fun as baseball cards, which has way fewer mono-blue players.  Now, as a person that's always enjoyed beautiful card design, and someone who's owned a few decks of cards in his day, I've decided to get serious about collecting decks of cards.  

From the tone of this post, obviously, I'm not taking it or myself seriously.  But I'm going to be a bit smarter and way more organized. It's a hobby and a collection, rather than just buying random decks.  To keep my collection organized, I needed a central place for all things playing cards.  A place to stay on top of places to buy decks, places that design & make decks, and a place to list all the decks I want and have.

So, here we are. 52 Card Pickup.  The world's worst card game. And the 2nd worst game overall, losing out only to Monopoly.  Fuck Monopoly.

Preamble and mission statement out of the way, and we're off.

While I do have a couple of decks hanging around, I'm considering this my first purchase as a deck collecting hobbyist.  It seems like a pretty good deal.  CasinoSupply.com has a bundle.  12 decks of unopened, uncancelled casino decks for $23.95 (plus shipping, which for me was about $13).  It's promoted as a 35% discount off their regular price.  And with shipping included, the price breaks down to about $3.10 per deck.  

The "uncancelled" part of this listing is what was interesting to me.  Again, I'm not an expert, and I collect for the fun of it.  So if you're looking at this as an investment, bro, don't.  But almost every other casino deck I've seen for sale are billed as "retired" or "cancelled".  Meaning the cards all either have a hole punched through the middle, or the corners are clipped.  These marks prevent the unscrupulous consumer from sliding a couple aces from their personal deck up a sleeve and slipping them into cash games.

I love casino card designs.  They might be my favorite "genre" of deck, so it's pretty cool to get some unaltered cards.

Check back in a couple of days to see what decks came in, and for a review.

Until then, if you want to get your own:
New Casino Playing Cards - 12 Pack Assorted $23.95