Many of us are looking forward to spending time with friends and family in the coming winter, and with it comes a new kind of recreational potential: playing cards. Handout

If there is an inanimate object that best defines the past two years, it is a puzzle. On the one hand, the pandemic has brought unprecedented chaos, just like what happened when you dumped hundreds of puzzles for the first time. Then, it takes endless time, especially those spent alone. For many people, completing various puzzles is enough, whether it is minimalism or aesthetic eclecticism.

Now, many of us are looking forward to spending time with friends and family in the coming winter, and with it comes a new kind of pastime potential: playing cards. I'm not talking about your classic bike decks-although they are indeed nostalgic and retain the feel of classic graphic design. There are many new card decks on the market-from luxury fashion brand Tony products to card-focused brand Theory 11 with pop culture-themed ticket prices-designed to delight serious players and those whose free time is passing away. .

Art of Play is a company founded in California by Dan and Dave Buck. The twin brothers are touted as the pioneers of card art, an art that creates a variety of peculiar actions and card forms, and the company has a compelling selection that includes designs by artists such as Philadelphia's Armando Veve. Danbak said that his cabinets took about two years to complete, and each card had "an imaginative curiosity with a unique illustration (from Veve)."

Noting that Art of Play’s customers include serious gamers, magicians, and collectors, Buck said that the brand’s San Diego store allows curious cards to enter and see which of the many decks arouses their visual preference. "It's really funny that people come in and just stare at our huge walls," Buck said. "Find what suits them, their home decoration, their style. With all these options, we try to prepare a deck for everyone." For those who have accumulated a reserve of card decks, Art of Play also sells a gorgeous A DIY drawer worthy of display that can hold up to nine packs.

As part of Art of Play’s efforts to bring a creative twist to your next leisure time, the brand recently partnered with Toronto-based design studio Humble Raja to develop a new deck called Forbidden Forest. These designs represent the fantasy shapes of characters in South Asian mythology, and it is the second deck of cards created by Humble Raja.

The first is the King of India, who explored the famous royal family members of India's Maurya, Gupta, Chora, and Mughal dynasties. The founders of the studio, Reena and Bhavesh Mistry, who grew up in Toronto, have South Asian ancestry. But as Reena admitted, they lacked knowledge of the history of the area.

"Our parents have incorporated a lot of South Asian culture into our lives, but many of them are family traditions," she said. "We don't know much about more practical things like Indian history. [Creating] The Ace of India is a way of self-learning, letting us understand some of the education we think the West lacks."

In this way, Humble Raja's deck of cards symbolizes re-establishing contact with the region's rich past. "This is a very good medium for categorizing information," Reena said. "And [because] tells a visual story in a way that is not necessarily a serious book, [but] not as loose as a series of illustrations."

This fall, the Forbidden Forest card deck was launched as a Kickstarter event, and the product will soon appear in Humble Raja's online store. The project raised more than $50,000 in a month-proving the appeal of purposeful games. Having said that, Reena offers these two beloved suggestions for your next party: Choka (a trick game) and Golf (the eight-card version is a family favorite).

Facts have proved that Kickstarter is fertile ground for the creativity of card manufacturers. Cartesian Cards of product designer Rob Hallifax just completed a campaign for his novel One Deck Game Cards-a game that can be used for exciting chess, backgammon, domino and other games. The success of its campaign — more than $125,000 in funding at the time of writing — may not have surprised Halifax, because his previous first deck design campaign easily eclipsed the goal.

Perhaps this is because Halifax launched his card brand in 2020 after leaving a day-to-day job in the tech world, satisfying the ambition of doing his own thing and the motivation of personal passion for cards, let alone solving The behavior and interest caused by the new quarantine are, for example, like making a cocktail at home.

One Deck game cards also meet our ever-changing needs, from expanding the types of activities we can do with whom we can do with them to easily pack them for travel. But for the most part, this and other unique decks achieve the most important face-to-face unity we've been aspiring for for months.

"This is in sharp contrast to the digital realm, playing [games] on mobile phones and computers," Halifax said of the fun of sitting around a table with playing cards in his hand. "It's great to bring analog products into the physical world that can bring people together."

Whether you want to give gifts to gamers in your life, or want to encourage some visually enhanced social activities, or just seek to spend a high-quality lonely time, consider one of these dynamic decks.

This retro-toned set includes a case made of Demetra, an animal-free material made mainly of plant ingredients, which is truly unique. Geometric G playing card suit, Gucci 385 dollars.

This set showcases the outstanding craftsmanship of women in the black community of Gee's Bend, Alabama, double the fun of your game with two decks of cards. Gee's Bend solitaire quilt, Winnipeg Art Museum sells for $24.95.

Through the custom design of art director and graphic designer Niels van Gijn, each card reveals the classic wine recipe and glassware recommendations. Cocktail card, buy a pair of 13.50 GBP (22.95 USD) through cartesiancards.com.

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