With Halloween just a few days away, we’ve compiled the best playing cards for All Hallows’ Eve just for you. Behold! The Kardify Top 12: Halloween 2015 Edition, with enough ghosts, pirates, killer jokers, villians and skulls to keep your spine tingling through the night.
Difficulty scale from easy (1) to difficult (5). If you have one that we haven’t discovered. Do feel free to share.
12. Sleepy Hollow
Over a year in the making, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow Playing Cards were conceived by playing card designer Derek McKee and masterfully illustrated in France by J.C. Desevre. This incredibly intricate and detailed deck of playing cards depicts artwork and characters from the popular Sleepy Hollow legend including Ichabod Crane & the Headless Horseman.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $10
11. The Evil Deck
Captivated by villains and his love for drawing creatures, Giovanni Meroni decided to embark on a playing card project to create a fun, colorful and dynamic theme for a deck. After illustrating all 54 creatures by hand, the Evil deck is born. The deck features fully custom face cards, embossed tuck coated with UV supergloss, interior printed and neatly packaged with a custom seal. Definitely a fun deck for All Hallows’ Eve.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $14.95
10. October Second Edition
Fulton’s October Playing Cards is a frightfully fun and whimsically deck featuring the illustrated artwork of Steven Noble. Packaged inside the box you will find one tricked out deck of playing cards. Everything from the back design, ace of spades, jokers, and court cards were customized. The deck features a superior dark-charcoal and black box, while also incorporating an asymmetric design that proudly features the back illustration of the cards within.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $10
9. Revelation
Revelation is an extraordinary deck of playing cards inspired by medieval cathedrals and their gothic style. This meticulously hand-illustrated deck features gothic details, symbolic carvings and stained glass ornamentations from the stunning Nidaros cathedral in Norway. Fully custom, the Revelation tuck box, jokers, Ace of Spades and the eye-catching backs features artwork inspired by the beautiful stained glass of the cathedral while the illustrated skeleton courts pays homage to the silent skeletons of Norwegian royalty still resting in Nidaros’ catacombs. A strangely beautiful, simple and visually stunning theme.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $10
8. Requiem
Requiem Playing Cards is a stunning deck masterfully crafted by Lorenzo Gaggiotti of Stockholm17. This unique deck is 100% custom and features darkness & pain as a theme. The illustrations for the Courts, Jokers and Aces are very dark. The suits are made out of broken Hearts, Clubs with thorns, cracked Diamonds and dry leaves as Spades. Pips are unique and the gold metallic ink on this blood red deck gives it a touch of elegance.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $20
7. Neverland
Here’s a delightful deck! Designed by Nat Iwata, Neverland is a beautifully illustrated deck of playing cards based on J. M. Barrie’s timeless classic Peter and Wendy. The deck is Bicycle branded and features fully custom courts, aces, pips jokers and rich full card backs.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $10
6. Steampunk Bandits
From the guys at Gambler’s Warehouse, Steampunk Bandits is a beautiful designed deck based on contemporary artists’ depictions of the bandits themselves, oft portrayed as skeletons. Not just for fans of Steampunk, this exquisite deck features unique art for all four suits of court cards, incredible colours and beautifully embossed tuck.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $15
5. Venexiana Dark
Dark Venexiana Playing Cards is the follow-up to the original Venexiana deck. Designed by Lotrek of Half Moon Playing Cards, the story continues the journey to the dark heart of 18th century Venice. Venexiana Dark features a series of obscure and marginal characters who complete the picture of this haunting city from thieves, assassins, prostitutes to wicked noblemen and masters of deception.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $15
4. No. 17 (Bicycle Branded) Playing Card
No.17 is a stylish deck of playing cards designed by Lorenzo Gaggiotti. This will be his second deck on our Halloween list. There is no specific theme in this deck, it´s quite eclectic. The deck is 100% custom and features a Bicycle branded tuck with subtle embossing, the now familiar Jester on the front and a stunning back that carries a beautiful line work!
Difficulty: 1
Price: $20
3. Midnight Calaveras
Designed by Chris Ovdiyenko of Dead On Paper, the Midnight Calaveras playing cards are inspired by and pays homage to Jose Posada, a famous Mexican printmaker who worked at the time of the Mexican Revolution. All artwork is hand drawn and features metallic printing on the cards, foils and embossing on the tuck.
Difficulty: 1
Price: $16
2. Dia de los Muertos
Dia de Los Muertos Playing Cards is a Bicycle-branded deck inspired by the art and traditions of the Day of the Dead; it honors both death and the cycle of life. Created by the team at Edgy Brothers, this beautifully illustrated deck pays homage to the spiritual and cultural event: full of color, detail and character.
Difficulty: 2
Price: $28
1. Joker and the Thief Playing Cards
A truly impressive deck! The design invites attention while striking a balance between style and functionality. The back design is not only intricately beautiful but aesthetically and sentimentally appealing. The themes and connotation from back design continue throughout, you may even start to see a story forming as you look through them!
Difficulty: 1
Price: $15
The selection expressed in this top12 are solely those of the author. Images for Sleepy Hollow from whisperingimps.com, October Second Edition from dananddave.com, Steampunk Bandits from gamblerswarehouse.com, Midnight Calaveras from deadonpaper.com, Revelation, No17 and Joker & the Thief by Anthony Ingrassia. Evil deck, Requiem, Venexiana Dark and Dia de los Muertos by Ivan Choe.
