BaoBao Restaurant's Peach SOJU Playing Cards

BaoBao Restaurant has just added a new item to their playing cards menu, Soju, a drink famous in South Korea. Produced by Canadian magician Bao Hoang, BaoBao Restaurant continues cute thematic decks based on food and drinks!

The soju playing cards tuck box is designed to look like the body of the soju bottle, complete with drink labels. It has a green colored bottle with hints of purple for peach flavor. The tongue flap of the box has extra fold lines- if you extend it and fold it, you can turn the box into a mini-bottle!

The back design features two-way artwork of a peach soju bottle with pink splash graphics. The positioning of the semi-circle splashes on the corners creates a good appeal on card flourishes- as well as the tradition for a magician’s worker deck.

The main color for the cards is lime green with peach pink: black suits are green, while red suits are pink. They featured customized pips, with the Ace of Spades featuring an illustration of the soju bottle with the peach fruit.

The court cards are fully custom with the royals enjoying their soju drinks, either they enjoyed it or feeling sour or drunk. The Jokers feature a cute soju bottle and peach character. A completely cute theme overall.

Printed by TWPCC and pledge starts from $12 for a single deck of Peach Soju on Kickstarter.

On Kickstarter, Bao Buns Playing Cards by BaoBao Restaurant

People said that “food brings everyone together”, especially during the festive season. 😀 Canadian magician Bao Hoang expressed this phrase in form of playing cards. He established BaoBao Restaurant, a card brand that integrates food with playing cards.

The brand explores minimalistic designed cards fit for magic and cardistry with unique packaging on the boxes. He has successfully produced and fulfilled some decks within the brand, such as the Instant Noodles Playing Cards (Normal and Spicy) and Boba Playing Cards (Brown Sugar and Matcha). Now he released a cute deck- Bao Buns Playing Cards, a deck based on bao buns, steamed white dough with BBQ pork fillings.

The tuck box of the deck has two layers, together to create the impression of woven bamboo steam baskets. The outer layer is the steam basket cover, made with premium matte cardstock with golden brown colors and embossed patterns of woven bamboo.

The inner layer is the main box, featuring the inside of the basket filled with 6 cute bao buns and mirrors the back design of the cards. The deck is complete with a custom-numbered seal in the shape of a cute bao bun character.

The card back design is a minimalistic casino-style design of a small basket with a cute bao bun on both sides with a woven bamboo steamer basket pattern for the background.

The numbered cards featured slightly modified pips with custom pip arrangments. The red suits are changed into golden brown color to match its color scheme.

The court cards are customized with cute faces, with each of the royals interacting with the food associated with the deck. The Jokers featured mirrored illustrations of an opened steam basket with a cute bao bun inside, smiling and acting innocent. 

The cards will be produced by Taiwan Playing Cards using their Casino Quality Paper with Legendary Luxury Finish. Pledge starts at $13 for a single deck on Kickstarter.

Matcha Boba Playing Cards for Matcha Lovers, and Boba Addicts!

Check out the new offering on BaoBao Restaurant‘s menu, Matcha Boba Playing Cards. Produced by Magician Bao Hoang and Illustrated by Angga Tantama, Meko Deng, & Rich Li, the deck is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter.

The eye-pleasing deck sports a pairing of green and cream tones, perfectly capturing the velvety concoction that is matcha milk tea. A lot of thought has gone into the beautiful design and packaging of the bubble tea-inspired design.

The two-way back design captures the process of perfectly whisked matcha poured over your preferred milk base. The chewy boba is covered by a delicately sweetened milk base that’s finally topped off with velvety matcha in metallic light green ink.

The pips for each suit are custom carrying the matcha tea theme from the back design over to the pips. The traditionally red pips are transformed into matcha, and the traditionally black pips follow a dark green matcha-inspired theme. Each and every single pip has a wave-shaped layer of matcha milk tea to fully tie the theme together.

Instead of the traditional ace of spades, the Matcha Boba deck showcases an actual cup of matcha boba with splashes of matcha milk tea around the spade. You’ll never find another ace of spades that makes you crave boba as much as this one!

The courts have been customized and updated with custom-designed faces If you look closely, each and every court card has a different and unique face, while performing a different and unique action! 

The deck is packaged in a minimalist design tuck box resembling a cup of boba to actually look like: matcha with the tapioca (bubbles) at the bottom, and milk tea on top. This pairs perfectly with the transparent plastic casing to really give you the experience of holding a cup of boba! 

Now onto the most unique feature of this deck: the cup! What do we mean by “cup”? The specially designed plastic casing that comes with each and every deck! This plastic box not only serves as a cup, it also doubles as a protective layer for the more delicate paper box.

The deck is printed by the United States Playing Card Company with Air-Cushion Finish on Bee Casino Grade Paper. Limited to 3500 decks. Pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

Instant Noodles Playing Cards: Spicy Edition on Kickstarter

Currently funding on Kickstarter, Instant Noodles Playing Cards: Spicy Edition is the follow-up to Bao Magic's Instant Noodle playing. According to creator Bao Hoang on Kickstarter,

When we say spicy instant noodles, we're sure that one of the things that come to your mind is most likely the spicy noodles challenge, or more formally known as the "fire noodle challenge." Whether it be a single pack of noodles, different versions of spicy noodles, or even a mukbang, it has for sure taken the internet by storm. Now we're taking on the challenge ourselves by bringing you our take on the iconic spicy noodles - playing cards edition!

Designed by Rich Li, the bold back design features an eye-catching pop of golden yellow from the chopsticks allows for an elegant contrast of color with the red fiery noodles, entangled in a way that appears random. The two-way back design now comes with borders! Perfect for magicians and themed-game nights.

The suit and number cards features a minimalist noodle pattern design. Also, The Aces are enlarged so that the details of each strand of noodle are visible, and recolored the Ace of Spades in a bold red color!

The court cards have been updated with new faces and actions! If you look closely enough, you'll be able to see who can handle the spice and who can't.

The iconic running ramen boy is back in this version, this time he's seen holding a fire extinguisher - probably to help you manage that heat you feel from just seeing the cards.

Also included in the deck is the secret formula spicy soup base and seasoning! These cards are a core feature of our spicy noodles experience, and we've included two stickers with each of the designs!

The spicy noodles are back in a resealable plastic bag! The packaging theme reflects the fiery noodles. The black background and the eye-catching red flames serve as ample warning to those who aren't prepared to experience the spiciness of the deck.

Printed by the United States Playing Cards Company with air cushion finish on crushed Bee Casino Grade Paper. Pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

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Check Out the Bubble Tea-Inspire Boba Playing Cards

BaoBao Restaurant has just expanded its menu with the release of Boba Playing Cards on Kickstarter. Illustrated by Angga Tantama and Meko Deng, a lot of thought has gone into the beautiful design and packaging of the bubble tea-inspired design. 

As it is a true staple in most Asian cultures, producer Bao Hoang has decided to create this deck as a way to celebrate a uniting aspect of Asian culture. The symmetrical back design showcase the popular boba milk tea. The color scheme and shape perfectly represent brown sugar bubble tea. Also, the white borders represent the “container” that holds the milk tea! 

The pips for each suit are custom carrying the milk tea theme from the back design over to the pips. The traditionally red pips now follow a light brown milk tea-inspired theme, and the traditionally black pips follow a dark brown tapioca-inspired theme. Each pip also features the same “wave” of milk tea on top. 

One of our favorite cards is the ace of spades. The cool artwork features an actual cup of boba that emerges from the spade with splashes of milk tea in the surrounding areas. Definitely a unique design that helps tie together the entire boba theme! 

The courts are pretty much standard but updated with the Boba theme. If you look closely, each and every court card has a different and unique face, while performing a different and unique action! 

The deck is packaged in a minimalist design tuck box resembling a cup of boba to actually look like: brown sugar with the tapioca (bubbles) at the bottom, and milk tea on top. This pairs perfectly with the transparent plastic casing to really give you the experience of holding a cup of boba! 

The deck is printed by the United States Playing Card Company with Air-Cushion Finish on Bee Casino Grade Paper. Limited to 3500 decks. Pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

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Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Bao Magic of Instant Noodles Playing Cards

Instant Noodles Playing Cards is a fun and classy take on the popular instant noodles conceptualized by Bao Magic (Instagram: @baomagic) as part of his BaoBao Restaurant series. Currently funding on Kickstarter, the deck features a unique packaging and sleek card design. Instant Noodles comes in a predominantly red, yellow, and black color palette Inspired by the traditional colors found in many Asian cultures.

Inside, the back design features a sleek noodle pattern with a pair of red chopsticks. The borderless design mimics the look of a dry bloc of noodles and allows for great looking spread and fans. Each suit features a noodle pattern with a non-traditional placement of the pips on the number cards. The enlarged Aces highlight the details of each suit. The traditional courts have been updated with the Royals now interacting with elements related to instant noodles, giving the deck both an amusing and cohesive appearance.

Two extra cards are included in the deck featuring a soup base and a dry vegetable packet. A set of seasoning packets stickers will also be included with each pack of Instant Noodles Playing Cards. The deck is packaged in a typical-looking instant noodles-inspired tuck. The tuck is added into a resealable plastic bag to make the unboxing experience resemble as close to a pack of instant noodles as possible.

We had a quick chat with Bao last week about the design, inspiration, and design process behind Instant Noodles Playing Cards.

For those of us who don’t know, can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
I’m a magician and cardist from Montreal, Canada. My strong interest in card magic eventually led me to start practicing cardistry after watching the Virts’ “Reintroduction” video back in 2007. These two passions naturally led me to get into collecting playing cards.

My creative background came from 5 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. As a creative director for a digital marketing agency, ad campaigns, photography, videography, and graphic design are a part of my day-to-day. I had the opportunity to work with Meko Deng and Angga Tantama who helped me with the illustration of the Instant Noodles playing cards.

Can you describe Instant Noodles Playing Cards and why you’re passionate about it?
Everything about the Instant Noodles Playing Cards has been designed to resemble closely to a pack of instant noodles as possible while preserving key aesthetics that magicians and card collectors would still appreciate such as the court cards, the suits, and the pips placement.

Instant noodles have been a long staple for many people and myself. With this deck's nostalgic design, it's sure to remind you of the delicious simplicity of instant noodles. This project was my way of incorporating a piece of Asian culture by combining my love for instant noodles, and playing cards.

Walk us through the process you took to design the deck. How did you come out with the idea and how did you get to this finished product?
The whole idea of this deck initially started as a joke. A friend eventually convinced me that it was actually a good idea to pursue. Coming back from Cardistry-Con in 2019, the whole experience motivated me to start working on my concept. I then reached out to my friend Meko who illustrated the court cards, jokers, and I had the help of Angga who illustrated my concept for the back of the cards and the box.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
The back of the card was the most challenging element to design. Several drafts have been made along the way and after vectorizing one of the suggested drafts, we had to scrap the design because it felt too messy (imagine the squiggly pattern of a dry bloc of instant noodles). We finally chose to go with a better and sleeker pattern which is what you now see on the box and on the back of the cards.

While I love designs with borders, we felt that it made more sense to opt for a borderless design since it emphasizes the experience of unwrapping a pack of instant noodles. They also look great in fans and spread! We can also agree that the Instant Noodles stand out due to its unique packaging. While I wanted to use the same bag as a regular pack of instant noodles, I concluded that using a snug fitting resealable plastic bag (which is also recyclable!) was the best reusable option.



We first noticed Instant Noodle Playing Cards on Instagram. What do you think of the community in terms of support that you’ve been getting and the feedback about the deck being similar to Noodlers Playing Cards funded a few months earlier?
I am so grateful for the amazing community of magicians, cardists, and card collectors who helped spread the word on social media. The community’s incredible support helped me reach my funding goal in under 6 hours, which is something I couldn’t have imagined for my first Kickstarter campaign.

As for this deck’s similarities to the Noodlers Playing Cards, Deryn had addressed this on an Instagram story and a post. As soon as I found out that Deryn was also working on a deck with the same concept, I reached out to him immediately and shared the progress of my almost complete design. We both agreed that while our ideas were similar, the designs were completely different. Since our initial interaction, we’ve both been very supportive of each other.

What’s next? Can we expect more addition to the BaoBao Restaurant?
Yes, this is only the beginning! The next project will be a surprise.

Finally, what are your favorite playing cards? 
My all-time favorite deck has always been the Monarchs by Theory11. As a magician, it is the deck that I regularly use when I’m performing. Everything about the design from the back design to the foiled box is so elegant. If there is a deck that can become as iconic and timeless as the Bicycle Rider Backs, I believe that the next modern classic would have to be the Monarchs.



Thank you for your time Bao and congratulations on hitting the funding goal quickly on Kickstarter. 

Instant Noodle Playing Cards will be printed by the USPCC with Air-Cushion Finish. Pledge starts at $12 for a single deck on Kickstarter. Don't miss out!

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