The Parlour Royale Playing Cards on Kickstarter

The Parlour Royale Playing Cards mark a grand return to the origins of The Gentleman Wake’s first deck, reimagined by Stockholm17. Six years after the original release, this revival blends the elegance, and class that defined the series with new design elements.

The back design introduces a sophisticated hourglass silhouette framing the TGW spade monogram, a nod to the passage of time since the first edition. Ornate scrollwork and rhinoceros beetle motifs add layers of Victorian-inspired detail, while shimmering cold foil brings a luxurious sheen. 

Each edition: Ivory, Legacy, and the limited Prism offers its own distinct visual identity, from the warm, eggshell tones of Ivory to the rich gold gilding of Legacy and the mesmerizing prismatic holo-foil of Prism.

Every court card is fully custom yet instantly recognizable, adorned with subtle Victorian flourishes and accented in foil. The aces are illustrated with intricate backdrops, featuring characters like Rey Roy-Owl and the winged rhinoceros beetle, while the jokers continue the deck’s tradition of whimsical, anthropomorphic figures. 

The tuck cases are as elaborate as the cards themselves, with embossed foil printing, ornate typography, and die-cut windows that frame the owl-and-beetle Ace of Spades. The interior patterns and color choices, from vermillion in Ivory to metallic gold in Legacy and vivid purple in Prism elevate each edition into a work of art.

Printed by WJPC on 310gsm smooth-handling paper stock with a linen finish. Pledge starts at $17 on Kickstarter.

Now on Kickstarter! Beetle Backs Playing Cards

Now on Kickstarter, Beetle Backs Playing Cards are the latest deck produced by the Gentleman Wake in collaboration with Widakk Design. The Beetle Backs are designed as a luxurious deck of cards intended for game night, magicians, as well as card collectors. The theme explores the Kafkaesque tale of Theodore. G. Willford, an entomologist who is obsessed in his study of the rhinoceros beetle.

There are a total of 6 editions: 4 editions (Crimson Red – Cobalt Blue – Prestige Black – Dynastinae Green) are currently available, with the other 2 (Prism Purple and Legacy Gold) locked behind stretch goals. The tuck box for Crimson – Cobalt – Prestige – Legacy features a typographic work saying the title of the series, along with an intricate framework with TGW initials and the illustration of a rhinoceros beetle. As for the tuck box for Dynastinae – Prism, it features the portrait of the entomologist as an anthropomorphic beetle. Studio Pression in France will produce all tuck boxes.

There are two different designs for the backs of the Beetle Backs. For Crimson – Cobalt – Prestige – Legacy, the back design features a two-way illustration of the beetle entomologist sitting in his vintage study within the intricate border. For Dynastinae – Prism, the back design features a symmetrical mirrored illustration of the entomologist standing with a cane complete with the initials of TGW.

The artworks will be printed on ivory background: CMYK with Metallic Pantone inks for Crimson and Cobalt – beautiful gold cold foiling for Prestige, Legacy, and Dynastinae – divine holographic cold foil for Prism. The cards for Legacy, Dynastinae, and Prism will be gilded.

The faces of the cards are designed in a way that is suitable for gameplay and magic, yet luxurious with custom artworks. The pips are all standard, with a single pip on each Number Cards will have the TGW initials. The court cards feature Widakk’s iteration of the classic courts, with hidden details of rhinoceros beetle – a homage to Widakk’s “The Devils in the Details”.

All of the Aces feature customized enlarged pips – Ace of Spades features an elaborate artwork of a flying entomologist within the floral framework and a glimpse of his gentleman study; the other Aces depict the multiple stages of metamorphosis of Theodore G. Willford – from man to beetle. Both Jokers feature identical illustrations of the beetle riding a penny-farthing, a homage to the vintage Bicycle jokers. The extra cards feature the portrait of the entomologist and the TGW placard.

All of the cards will be printed with Cartamundi on B9 Slimline stock with Linen Finish. Pledge starts at $20 for either Crimson or Cobalt Edition OR $26 for the Prestige Edition on Kickstarter.

NOW on Kickstarter, The Groundskeeper Playing Cards

Wyrmwood Gaming is an established brand from Boston, Massachusetts providing high-quality crafted items for luxury furniture and accessories for tabletop gaming since 2012. They have produced many beautiful products, from modular gaming tables to dice rolling towers and game pieces storage boxes.

Wyrmwood team then stumbled upon The Gentleman Wake, who had reviewed a few of their products. When they learned that TGW produced decks of playing cards, they have an idea to create Wyrmwood’s first official deck of playing cards- The Groundskeeper Playing Cards.

The Groundskeeper Playing Cards is designed by Dan Gretta, who also designed the gaming accessories for the decks, such as the poker chips and dealer coins.

The deck comes in three editions – the standard decks of Crimson and Cobalt and the limited edition luxury deck of Clover. Crimson and Cobalt standard editions are in Red and Blue respectively, while the Luxury Clover limited edition is in Green with metallic gold foil with gold gilding. The decks with be printed by Cartamundi – the standard editions are also available in a set of PVC cards.

The back design features a classical filigree design composed within the ancient architecture of the columns and niches. In the centre, there are the intertwining hands that represent Wyrmwood’s hardworking hands.

The top and bottom of the artwork feature two maidens reaching onto an amphora planted with a beautiful plant. The standard editions feature single color between red or blue. The limited edition feature green with gold foiling on the borders and some of the details.

The Ace of Spades features an illustration of a leprechaun’s head on the enlarged pip. The pips are modified slightly, with half of the pips featuring gold wood grain patterns.

The courts are custom illustrated yet they stay true to the classic rendition of the standard courts. It is a design made for card games. The beautiful artwork of the decks made them fit for collection as well.

The tuck box is a two-stage structure: a main box that contains the cards covered with the sleeve. The sleeve features beautiful architectural artwork adorned with gold foiling details. There is a die-cut window to peek into the main box.

Pushing away the sleeve, the main box welcomes you with a very beautiful, jaw-dropping illustration of a mystical garden. This garden tells a fantasy story of Wyrmwood’s connection with the natural material – in line with the wood craftsmanship of their products. There are a lot of details that can be found within the illustration, and the longer you see it, you can feel you are brought inside the painting. The main box features an interior pattern. These boxes are produced by Studio Pression in France.

These decks are specially designed for poker sets, so with that in mind, the decks come with custom-designed poker chips. Wyrmwood Gaming will be producing the exclusive wood boxes, cabinets and gaming tables for the project. The three decks may come with a wooden box. The most exclusive set for the project is the luxuriously crafted cabinet: which includes 6 decks, 3 dealer coins (dealer with small blind – big blind), and 6 drawers full of poker chips. 

The decks are printed with true linen finish, on slimline paper stock by Cartamundi. Pledge starts from $20 for the standard edition deck on Kickstarter!

Pre-Order The Goldsmith Playing Cards by Kevin Cantrell X TGW NOW!

The Gentleman Wake‘s (TGW) previous crowd-funded project, The Successor Playing Cards, received positive feedback from the playing card community. The brilliance of Kevin Cantrell’s work never ceased to impress.

After the success with the third series in TGW’s lineup, Kevin invited TGW to establish his own luxury playing cards series – called “Cantrell A Priori” (shortened as CAP). It will be a four-deck series line-up, with each coming with a thematic theme and two different color variants. Kevin will design these decks, while TGW will produce them. To start the CAP series, here is the first one- to pay homage to the father of modern printing, Johannes Gutenberg. Introducing The Goldsmith Playing Cards.

The Goldsmith Playing Cards come in two main colors: black and white. The tuck box features premium matte stock with fully detailed artwork done in metallic foiling and embossing. The front side of the box features an illustration of Gutenberg with his assistant using the printing press at nighttime complete with a beautiful intricate border and a scroll presenting the title of the deck. The left side of the box is made to look like a book’s leather-bound cover. The back side of the box mirrors the card back design.

The top side of the box features a small shelf filled with books and an open book. The flap features an icon of the printing press, the machine which Gutenberg invented that revolutionized the world of printing. The box will have an interior pattern made of gold foil. The tuck box is printed with Studio Pression

The card back design features a two-way illustration of a side profile of Gutenberg embedded into the beautiful luxurious border filled with leaves and flowers. There is a ribbon banner with Latin text. The background color is based on the respective edition: black/white.

All of the Aces have fully illustrated power pip, all are made in reference to the life achievement of Gutenberg. The number cards feature customized pips based on the illustrations of the Aces complete with small symbols on the small spaces between the arrangement of the pips. The court cards are illustrated as two-way figures in illustrious clothes in the style of the era.

The Jokers feature two illustrations of a scene painting with a small bookshelf: one features the Pilgrim’s Mirror, and the other features the Black Plague. All of the painstaking details of the card artwork will have gold cold foil – to create the luxurious aspects of the decks. To add more, the cards will be gilded with gold foil. 

The decks will come inside a custom-made deck case made with walnut wood. It has an acrylic cover to keep the decks closed in it, complete with neodymium magnets to keep it tight. The case is complete with a custom-made coin, which it is slotted on the centre of the cover. The coin for the series features the same look as the card back design artwork – it will be made with 24k Gold. This display format will be applied for the next three deck series in CAP.

The cards will be printed with Cartamundi. The set is priced at $100 – there are only 1000 sets made, with each person having a limit to get 3 sets. The Pre-Order is live on TGW’s site NOW!

The Successor Playing Cards Smashes its Kickstarter Funding Goal in 5 Minutes

We’ve seen no shortage of Kickstarter success stories over the past weeks, but it’s always amazing to hear about playing cards that are somehow able to meet their funding goals in short periods of time, and the Successor playing cards by The Gentleman Wake (TGW) is no exception.

The Kickstarter project went live yesterday, and within just five minutes, it met its funding goal of $99,750. Not only that, but it also completely smashed that goal and is sitting at $243,000+ worth of pledges at the time of writing.

Designed in collaboration with Kevin Cantrell, The Successor Playing Cards evokes art from the 15th-century cathedrals, canvases, and manuscripts. All of the aspects from the pips to the courts are customized, featuring artworks that combine ancient historical illustration with the classical design of a deck of playing cards.

All of the Aces featured massive pips with ornate designs. The numbered cards featured pips with golden details within, arranged with smaller icons in-between spaces. The court cards are illustrated close to the classical courts yet based on historical references to the medieval times.

Both Jokers featured well-done illustrations of historical figures in a royal kingdom: The Annoiter, the priest who will coronate the royal, and the Anointed, the royal who will be crowned on the throne. The series tells a story of a tale of trials and betrayal of royal succession.

There are a total of 6 editions in the series: 2 standard editions and 4 exclusive limited editions. There are two different card back designs within the series: one featured an hourglass on the center (the first four editions), while the other featured an ambigram of “Successor” on the center (the last two editions). The center element is surrounded by an intricate framework decorated with royal crowns, filigrees, and most importantly, TGW’s mascot the rhinoceros beetle.

The standard editions are “Regal Red” and “Royal Blue”, featuring red and blue main colors with Pantone metallic ink on the details. The first two exclusive editions are “Imperial Black” and “White Monarch”, featuring black and white main color with gold cold foiling on the details – the cards for “White Monarch” will be gilded with gold foil.

The last two exclusive editions are “Dynastinae Rex” and “Dynastinae Prism”, featuring green and purple main colors with gold and holographic cold foiling on the details respectively – the cards for “Rex” will be gilded with gold foil, while cards for “Prism” will be gilded with holographic foil. The cards will be produced by Cartamundi on B9 Slimline stock with a linen finish.

The tuck box for the decks in the series is heavily customized with intricate artworks with many levels of finishes. They are done with premium quality matte stock with 5 layers of metallic foiling complete with 3D strategic embossing. The tuck box for “Rex” featured gold and black holographic foiling while the tuck box for “Prism” featured purple and holographic foiling. For both “White Monarch” and “Dynastinae Prism”, the tuck box has a sleeve made of matte stock with a zinc-alloy metal cast sculpture attached to it – gold sculpture for “White Monarch” and silver sculpture for “Dynastinae Prism”. All of the tuck boxes are done by Studio Pression from France.

To sum up the collection, the series is completed with a custom-made storage box to contain all of the available editions. This box is made of piano-black lacquered wood with laser-etched gold foil inlays along with a gold-plated zinc-alloy metallic sculpture lid. The box is fashioned to look like the king’s royal sarcophagus.

Pledge starts from $19 for a single deck of standard edition to up to $400 to get a complete set on Kickstarter. Funding ends on June 24, 2022.

The Successor Playing Cards Launches TODAY!

TODAY IS THE DAY! After two long years, The Gentleman Wake will finally launch The Successor playing cards. The decks are designed by Kevin Cantrell Studio evoking art from 15th-century cathedrals, canvases, and manuscripts! The Successor depicts the trials and triumphs of a line of royal succession. 

Printed by Cartamundi with exquisite handling and linen finish, adorned with Pantone inks and, cold foil. The decks are packaged within premium tuck boxes emblazoned with as many as five foil layers, with sculptural embossing and, in some instances, beautifully ornate metal sculptures affixed to outer tuck box sleeves.

The deck will launch today (24th May) on Kickstarter 12pm Eastern. 

The Gentleman Wake's Tale of The Tempest Hits 500% Funding!

Wow! The Gentleman Wake's Tale of The Tempest was funded in under 4 minutes and it is currently 535% funded with 20 days to go on Kickstarter. The campaign has just unlocked the fourth variant, the Treasured Edition (pictured above) featuring gold gilded edges and luminous gold cold foil on the card backs.

The fully custom deck is expertly designed by Lotrek, evoking classic style and utility designed for players, collectors, card enthusiasts, and magicians.

The Tale of the Tempest Playing Cards immortalizes the legend of magician and illusionist The Great Wylenti and his ill-begotten quest to uncover mysteries worthy of his name, the torrential tempest that befell his expedition and his relentless journey to be reunited with the beautiful Lady Eliza. 

The courts of the deck are based on 19th-century courts feature beautiful royals that are classically inspired and artfully refined. They are easily recognizable and perfect for game nights. The card back showcase waves of intricate filigree and Victorian-inspired design along with the elegant TGW monogram. 

Three decks are currently on offer during the campaign- Dusk, Ocean, and the Midnight Editions (unlocked stretched goal). Each edition comes with a different tuck box:

+ Dusk: eggplant paper stock, copper metallic foil, purple metallic foil, embossing.
+ Ocean: navy blue paper stock, blue metallic foil, gold metallic foil, embossing.
+ Midnight: black paper stock, gun metal foil, gold metallic foil, embossing, numbered seal.

+ Treasured: premium metallic gold cardstock, two-tone gold foil, embossing, numbered seal. Within the tuck is a magnificent gold gilded deck of cards featuring stunning metallic gold ink on a field of gold cold foil inset within an eggshell poker border. 

All 4 will have inner graphics in gold foil! Stunning! The Tale of the Tempest Playing Cards Dusk, Ocean and Treasured Editions will be printed by Cartamundi on their Slimline paper stock using their proprietary B9 true linen finish. Meanwhile, the Midnight Edition will be printed by Lotrek's Oath Playing Cards.

Pledge starts at $16 for a single deck and there are multiple stretched goals waiting to be unlocked on Kickstarter!

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