Kickstarter: Back to the Asylum Playing Cards

It's been a long journey for Serbian artist Milan Colovic leading up to the launch of Back to the Asylum Playing Cards. The original Asylum Playing Cards by Altius Management were never delivered and Milan was never paid for his services. In what is the first consumer protection lawsuit involving crowdfunding, Washington State Attorney General filed a suit against Ed Nash of Altius Management. You can read more about this on Max Playing Card's comprehensive write-up on The Dark Side of Kickstarter.

Almost three years later, Milan has the opportunity to turn things around and make the Asylum deck a reality. He collaborated with Roman Kotiv of Noir Arts to bring Back to the Asylum Playing Cards onto Kickstarter. With less than four days remaining, the project is well above it's funding goal of $5k!

We asked Milan why he is still passionate about the Back to the Asylum deck,

It's hard to explain why I'm so passionate about Asylum. That's what Asylum is all about - passion. For me Asylum is not just deck of cards. Story about Asylum turned into a real saga. Into obsession with plot, twists, turnarounds - on cards and in real life, after all good and bad things Asylum came through. Asylum art screams: "Passion!", from every corner of every card. Playing cards are great medium to present the art to the world. But if you use it as a medium, you must use it wisely and treat it carefully, with full respect of traditionalism. 

As for the inspiration behind the designs. Milan continued,

I found a lot of inspiration for Asylum in some of the anthological movies and retro/cult cinematographic creations and characters, from golden era of horrors. In its way it is my tribute to the masters of the silver screen such as Vincent Price, Kathy Bates, Sir Anthony Hopkins, etc. Every character is hand drawn carefully and with care, through bunch of sketches until it wasn't embodied in all its glory.   

I spent so much time with characters of Asylum, that some of them almost become alive. They even "acting" differently in different editions of Asylum. If they were images on paper in first edition of Asylum, in second one (Back to the Asylum) they've got own life. We created a story. Movie plot, actually. Some of them arise against medical staff of Asylum, some developed different personality, we had to invite medical staff reinforcement for the second deck... It's a deck with a good reason for existence, and great firm story behind it.

Pledge starts from $11. Also, if you backed the original Asylum project, take advantage the exclusive Limited Insanity bundle. The Asylum Inmate deck produced for that tier will be strictly limited to the original backers.

CLEAR SKIES Resistance Playing Cards on Kickstarter

Following the success of Clear Skies Freedom and Unity decks last year, Roman Kotiv is back on Kickstarter with a new deck variant, Clear Skies Resistance Playing Cards.

This new edition is inspired by the Ukraine flag uniform patch soaked with blood – from its original color of yellow and blue turned into red and black. The artwork and design of the deck is similar to the previous editions but in black and red colorway.

The tuck box features metallic foiling and embossing. The front side features the symbol of Ukraine along with the deck title. The back side features a dove with a splitting flag, giving the impression of blood spilled in the resistance.

The back design of the cards features a two-way illustration of a blossoming tree with a portion of it burned. The red and black colors, give the horror vibes, showing how the people of Ukraine lived in fear. The faces: all the courts, Aces, and Number cards feature watercolor artwork done by the resident artist of Old Gravity, Ritu Bhattacharya.

The decks will be produced by NPCC in Ukraine. Design made in Ukraine, Decks produced in Ukraine, It is a deck made in Ukraine for Ukraine. Pledge starts at $25 for a single deck on Kickstarter with FREE shipping worldwide.

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Nicolai Aaroe of Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards

The creators of Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards, Misery Dev, just hit its funding goal of £6,500 on Kickstarter yesterday. Commemorating the population affected by the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards have 2 decks on offer in the Kickstarter campaign, the Premium and Limited Edition.

For the Premium Edition deck, the courts feature real life Zone photography that capture well known locations. The values and pips are fully custom and formed in a color combination often found on the original wall paintings of the Pripyat buildings. The back design is a tribute to the taming of the fire that lasted for days. "1986" go along the center of the design. The worn and weathered tuck features the iconic Pripyat ferris wheel, embossing and a radioactive warning on the tuck flap.

The eye-catching Limited Edition deck will feature a striking tuck utilizing a combination of copper pigmented pantones and metal copper foils to simulate rust and an iconic artwork. The tuck will be embossed. Fully custom, the back design is represented by the iconic Pripyat ferris wheel in a delicate line art. Special sections of the artwork have special ink with copper pigment. The values and pips are designed to look time worn and combines deep red, black and 'ukrainian' green colors. The courts are a haunting representation of a disaster that should never be forgotten.

We were able to catch-up with Nicolai Aaroe, creative director of Misery Dev for a quick chat about Misery Dev, designing the Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards and experience from previous Kickstarter projects

For those of us who don't know, tell us a little about yourself and Misery Dev? 
Misery Development Ltd. is a global team of individuals, all working on a free modification for a Ukrainian video game series called 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'

While primarily working on video game projects, rooted in themes of aftermath and post-apocalism, we do have sub-branches releasing smaller scale products, like soundtracks, and our deck projects here on Kickstarter. Our team of developers has grown rapidly over the years, and the company name was officially trademarked and registered in the UK as an independent developer in 2013.

Can you describe Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards and why you're passionate about it? 
Chernobyl (also referred to simply as The Zone) is the interest that brought us all together to begin with. We are passionate video game modders and have been releasing free instalments to the video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.' Call of Pripyat.

The game takes place in Chernobyl and Pripyat and we've have been expanding pretty much every aspect of what the original game offers. To date our mod, MISERY, has been downloaded more than 800.000 times and we have gained a very supportive community through this, that helps us shape the next release.

Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards are meant as commemorative boxes that serve for poker purposes but also as memorial artifacts and collectors items.

Walk us through the process you took to design this very unique deck. How did you come out with the idea and how did you get to this finished product? 
A Chernobyl themed deck was an obvious choice for us, as passionate urban explorers. Every abandoned location tells a story and carries a soul that draws us. Some locations are shrouded in mystery, while others have been abandoned due to disasters such as the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Our activities and projects serve to keep our minds fresh of the people affected by the tragedy.

With the Chernobyl playing cards it is our ambition to release a product that is a lot more than simply poker playing cards. We want to bring our audience on a visual journey through the Zone with the use of high quality photography that tells a story with every court card. Something that will leave a lasting impression and serve as commemorative reminders of the people affected and those who prevented a global scale disaster.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck? 
With the Limited Edition tuck case we wanted to pursue something that we've never seen before for any other deck. We wanted it to appear as something else than a simple paper product and stand out as a rusty metal box, resembling a time-worm artifact that match and represent conditions of Zone industry. We've have achieved this through an artwork formed of copper foils, embossing, weathered textures and simulations of rust.

You have successfully funded numerous Kickstarter campaigns. What are a few key elements and principles you incorporated into your project that you think future Kickstarter creators could benefit from knowing?
Set a few rules for yourself that will benefit you in the long run. You must earn the trust and loyalty of backers. My rules and priorities are the following:
#1 Deliver rewards that lives up to the pitched quality (or better)
#2 Deliver the reward on time
#3 Be transparent if anything changes

What's next? Can we expect to see more card designs in the future from Misery Dev?
Absolutely. At this point we have two other ideas that we are very excited about and can't wait to present to our audience. The next one will probably be revealed by the end of this year and we already sketching some truly interesting features for it.

Finally, what are your favourite playing cards?
Going beyond our own designs I was very impressed with Defunctorum by Roman Kotiv. Elegance and power merged with success - and the tucks really feel as great as they look. I wish more deck artists would use this tuck stock.

Thank you for your time and all the best Nicolai! At the time of writing, the project is already 108% funded with less than 8 days to go. If you want to support the Chernobyl Memorial Playing Cards, you can find it on Kickstarter here! 


Pledge starts from £11 (~USD$13) and the deck will be printed by the NPCC. Dealer chip, uncut sheets and poster prints are available as an add-on. There are also multiple rewards that are waiting to be unlocked once the project hits its stretch goals such as interior tuckbox printing.