Analytics: Kickstarter April 2014

With the increased interest in crowd-funded playing card projects particularly on Kickstarter, we are publishing a monthly tracking report as part of our popular Analytics series. The goal is to give an analytical insight into the month-on-month performance of projects and how these numbers are tracking cumulatively year-to-date.

The number of funded projects in April remained stable at 25% as playing card backers remained caution ahead of a few high profile non-Kickstarter launches: the Hive deck, Kings Wild Tally-Ho, LUXX, and Whispering Imps v2. Having said that, the year-to-date (YTD) numbers continue to surpass 2013 numbers. The chart below describes how 2014 is tracking against the numbers from 2013 as benchmark.

Playing Card Projects 

The number of unsuccessful projects fell to 13% in April. This is offset by the percentage increase of cancelled projects, 21% (up 10% from last month). This increase is partly due to the launch of several playing cards with copyrighted materials, which was subsequently cancelled.

Here is what the month looked like in numbers:

Majority of the projects launched in April were launched mid to end of the month.

Here's a look at how projects performed over the month. The % of successful projects this month remained similar to that of last month.

Funding

A total of $791k was raised by all projects in April, relatively on par with last month.

With no surprise, Kings Wild's The Independence ($117k) was the most funded this month.

Here is a look at the top 5 most funded playing cards:

The top 5 successful playing cards projects for the month contributed 53% to the overall funding of successful projects!

The average YTD funding goal of successful project is $14.1k. We maintained that the average funding goal stabilize around the $15k mark.

Backers 

Approximately 19.7k backers were recorded across all projects in April. The average pledge per backer decreased to $44 this month.

The following is a month-on-month comparison for 2014 with the 2013 curve used as benchmark.

Top 5 funded Projects by backer numbers below:

Launched Projects 

Here are the top 10 most funded projects launched in April:

The Atelier is the surprise winner this month with it's minimalist deck. Historically, minimalist deck never seem to do well on Kickstarter.  The project had a good start on day 1, but the project took off on day 5 when major news networks made the connection between the creator and his former employer, Apple.

Kardify's very own Aquila Playing Cards ($23k) had a good start and was funded in just over 7 days and are now pushing for the stretch goals. Thank you for all your support!

As expected, the momentum have stabilize this month and we expect the numbers to be remain constant next month before things pick up during summer.


Data provider:

Deck View: Bicycle White Ghost Playing Cards

Classic. Eerie. White.

Designed by Ellusionist, the Bicycle Ghost Deck has a thick high grade stock, a smooth finish and an amazing design. With five solid months of design work, this unique deck of cards emanates beauty and energy.

Available at JP Playing Cards. Use the code KARDIFY10 during check-out to get 10% off for orders over £50.

Review: Empire Playing Cards

A big milestone in my career was the day I stepped from out of the shadows of my boss and did it myself… It was a complete cock-up.

Then there are guys like Lee McKenzie. Lee, once an artist for that company that gets way more hate than it deserves for regurgitating decks in different colours that we still buy because we secretly like them and want them for our ever expanding collection. Lee has recently left that company to build his own; Kings and Crooks.

The first deck for Lee on his own turf was Empire. Blisteringly successful, his project shone with the force of a thousand suns to burn a hole in enough pockets to make Brad tremble a little. It was this deck that saw Lee with Success on Kickstarter and release a deck for magicians and collectors now hard to get your hands on.

Why is Empire so hard to get a hold of these days? Those that had them for sale have sold them, those that bought them have kept them, and I dropped a deck in to the pool, so there’s one less deck to be had.

Empire will likely remain the most sought after Kickstarter deck for us. Even though we can no longer get them, I am constantly bombarded with requests to restock them, however Empire was a limited release and there is just no more to be had. We live in hope for an unlimited release in the future.

Does it work? 

I was, as my wife put it “Embarrassing yourself again Joseph” by practicing in public with this deck, a complete stranger walks up to me and says “that’s a fine deck of cards you have there” and then just walked away, I didn’t even get a chance to tell him where to buy it from. Sure I was taken aback, but I think it is a testament as to how well the deck works.

This deck has a bag of tricks too, the six of heats reveal and the subtle one way feature. Empire is functional and collectable.

The art

Lee McKenzie… ‘Nuff said.

What I don’t like

That I don’t have anymore.

What I do like

What I like is this deck is completely customised, and completely functional. Unlike other highly popular, fully customised decks, this one serves its owner well in the usability category. I also like that they handle just as good as about every other high quality deck ever printed by the USPCC.

Empire! Uhh, what is it good for? Absolutely anything

Want to play poker? Go ahead. Are you a magician? A deck doesn’t come any better. Need a bookmark? Lee has you covered with a box full of them that will make your fellow book club members jealous. Good for XCM and flourishing and also highly collectable, this deck gets my highest rating ever… three thumbs up.


This review is written by Joey Heininger for kardify. No part of this review can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Joey's Australian based online playing card store at theFlush.com.au Use discount code KARDIFY to save 10% for orders above $50.

News: Bicycle Monster Montage Playing Cards Remastered

Bicycle Monster Montage Playing Cards debuted on Kickstarter in February 2014 but the project was taken down before it could reach funding. Over the past couple of months, the project was completely overhauled and given a brand new look and feel. Carlos Bercini reworked the entire color palette and new rewards have been added. The project originally launched with a poster and t-shirt add-on but with this upcoming launch, dice and a coin have been added as previous backers requested.

The project will launch at 12pm Est on Saturday May 10.

Here is a look at the new colors and rewards: