Playing cards are an integral part of many beloved games and pastimes. Whether you’re an avid poker player, magician, cardist, or just enjoy a occasional game of Go Fish with your family, a deck of cards in your home is practically a necessity.
But have you ever wondered what that deck is actually made of? What kind of paper are modern playing cards printed on? As it turns out, it’s not as simple as running down to the nearest office supply store and feeding some printer paper into a printing press. Playing card paper needs to stand up to repeated use and abuse – it needs to be durable, consistent, and handle well during shuffling and manipulation.
In this complete guide, as a professional custom playing card printing manufacturer, we’ll take a close look at playing card paper and uncover exactly how your favorite decks of Bicycle, Bee, Tally-Ho, and other cards are made.
An Overview of Playing Card Paper
At a basic level, playing card paper is, well – paper. However, not all paper is created equal. The specific paper stock used in playing card production is thick, durable, and able to stand up to hundreds of shuffles, cuts, springs, aerials, and other maneuvers card handlers put it through. This type of paper is specifically engineered for this purpose through years of research and development from major playing card manufacturers like the United States Playing Card Company.
The thickness and texture of playing card paper makes a deck easier to handle and manipulate during performance or gameplay. Thinner, flimsier paper would be difficult to manage – ever tried to shuffle a ream of copier paper? The stiffness gives cards “spring” and “snap”, allowing cardists and magicians to perform eye-popping flourishes, fans, and other moves. For the average card player, it ensures a smooth, consistent feel during shuffling and better durability for cards that see near-constant use.
Modern playing cards are most commonly produced from specialized paper ranging between 10 to 14 points (0.010 to 0.014 inches) thick. In comparison, common print papers are around 4 to 8 points thick. This added thickness and density makes playing card paper more opaque, preventing light from passing through easily. Nothing ruins a magician’s trick faster than the audience catching a glimpse of indices through the back of the deck!
Playing Card Paper Weights and Finishes
If you explore custom playing cards from services like the United States Playing Card Company or Make Playing Cards, you’ll find several paper weights and finishes to choose from. Each has minor differences that may make them suitable for certain applications:
12PT Card Stock
The most widely used paper weight for playing cards is 12PT, equaling 0.012 inches or around 305 gsm (grams per square meter). This thickness offers good flexibility for handling and manipulation but is thick enough for opacity and durability as well. Many consumer decks and casino-grade cards opt for 12PT paper.
14PT Card Stock
Some more premium custom decks choose 14PT stock, which is 0.35mm or about 350 gsm thick. The added thickness makes cards feel more substantial in the hand while retaining good flexibility. 14PT playing cards stand up to heavy use extremely well.
10PT Card Stock
Less common, but still used occasionally is 10PT paper at around 0.010 inches or 250 gsm thick. The somewhat thinner stock has high flexibility suitable for advanced flourishing moves but may wear faster with heavy use. 10PT playing cards have increased transparency issues compared to thicker paper weights.
In addition to different paper weights, playing cards have several finish option:
Smooth Finish
The most common finish seen on bicycle cards and other consumer-grade decks. Smooth finish playing cards have a matte texture that’s easy to handle but may wear down with heavy use, developing a “powdery” feel over time.
Linen Finish
Used on many casino-grade cards and some premium custom decks. Linen finished playing cards have a lightly textured surface resembling linen fabric up close. The air pockets created by the texture help cards slide over each other easily during shuffling. Linen cards break in well but handle consistently over their lifetime.
Embossed Finish
A highly textured finish with deep pockets on the surface to trap and release air. Embossed playing cards spread and handle extremely smoothly straight out of the box. This finish is more commonly seen on high-end custom decks from boutique designers. The deep pockets wear down over time with heavy use.
Playing Card Paper Requirements
Engineering playing card paper that can withstand proper use while enabling ideal handling, shuffling, and manipulation is no simple task. To create a usable deck that consumers and casinos can rely on, paper must meet several specialized requirements:
Durability
A deck shuffled just a few times should not develop signs of wear. Properly engineered playing card paper can endure thousands of shuffles while retaining its finish, snap, and flexibility. Playing cards must stand up to simple mishandling like dropping small stacks on tables as well as skilled manipulation by advanced card handlers pressing the limits of what paper can withstand.
Flexibility
Playing cards may need to bend considerably during aerials, springs, fans, and other advanced moves. The paper stock must be flexible enough for significant bowing without taking a permanent set. It’s equally important that cards return to perfect flatness after manipulation to keep the deck usable.
Consistency
With consumer grade playing cards, every single deck out of a 12 pack case should handle and shuffle identically. There can be no variance between different boxes—or the components of a magic trick may not line up correctly if cards behave differently. Even small paper texture or thickness inconsistencies are unacceptable.
Opacity
As mentioned previously, playing card paper must completely block light transmission to keep card faces, indices, markings, and other elements invisible through the card backs or borders.
“Snap”
This playing card handling characteristic refers to the briskness that groups of cards return to alignment after bending. Good snap ensures cards shuffle cleanly, dribble smoothly during cuts and strips, and springs aerially from cardists’ hands. The density and finish of playing card paper creates snap.
Air Cushion Finish
Many cards feature specialty finishes with trapped air pockets that enable effortless spreading, washing, and cascading cards smoothly off each other. The air cushion finish minimizes friction for slippery yet easily controllable card handling.
While seemingly simple on the surface, engineering playing card paper that meets these stringent requirements is an immense balancing act. Factors like sheet formation process, printing method, coating formula balancing stiffness and pliability, and more require extensive R&D to perfect. That’s why trusted brands invest heavily in product testing and improvement before their decks go to market.
How Modern Playing Cards Are Produced
Let’s briefly walk through the production process behind your favorite decks of playing cards:
Paper Manufacturing
Playing card paper begins its life as pulp slurry—primarily wood fibers and cotton linters blended with minute amounts of specialty additives. The pulp travels through a paper machine in a slow, arduous journey across wire meshes and heated rollers that remove water, bond fibers, and form the flexible yet dimensionally stable web. Precisely crafted cylinders texture the paper surface, imparting the characteristic linen patterns. Additional roller coatings enhance smoothness on premium stocks. Imperfect paper rejected at this early stage never makes its way to the print floor.
Sheeting
Jumbo parent rolls of playing card paper head from the paper machine to specialty sheeting equipment such as the high-speed BW Bielomatik cutter. Circular shear blades slice the giant rolls into standard playing card sheet sizes with extreme precision. Individual sheets may be J-500 (50 rows of 10 cards) or triple-wide sheets holding 30 rows of 10 cards each.
Printing
Playing card graphics come to life on multi-color offset printing presses specifically tuned for the unique demands of specialty paper stocks. Because custom decks may feature intricate back designs, multiple colors, and custom card faces, setup is far more complex than a typical print job. The printing process lays down many passes to populate 54-card poker decks with unique cards. USPCC’s custom presses print 9,000 sheets per hour.
Coating
To protect sensitive card graphics and create smooth, low-friction surfaces ideal for fanning, washing, and performing cardistry, playing card sheets run through an offline coater after initial printing. Inline coating on printing presses has difficulty achieving consistency on lightweight stocks. The aqueous coating bonds physically and chemically with paper fibers, resulting in a durable yet flexible gloss or matte surface safe for human contact once dried.
Quality Inspection
Stringent quality control checks safeguard consistency between myriad printed sheets. Automated cameras perform much of the inspection work, scrutinizing color accuracy, image consistency, and coatings for the slightest imperfections. Skilled press operators also hand-check random samplings of each print run, examining cards for flaws human vision is uniquely suited to catch. Out-of-spec sheets are always discarded; quality comes first, even at the cost of efficiency.
Die Cutting
The final transformation from printed and coated sheets to punching out stacks of pristine playing cards falls onto advanced die cutting equipment. Programmed steel rule dies mounted on heavy stripping boards shear printed sheets down to playing card dimensions with extreme accuracy. Dies last for over half a million strikes if cared for properly. An extremely sharp hollow grind edge slices cardstock effortlessly while preventing fraying common with other cutting methods.
Additional Finishing
Some specialty playing cards undergo additional finishing and packaging processes that complete a deck, like hot foil stamping or applying gilded edges. Decks receive a final hand inspection after die cutting/finishing to catch any flaws before heading off for packaging.
This summarized view of playing card manufacturing reveals why card quality has an enormous number of inputs. From pulp preparation to final packaging, remarkable precision engineering goes into creating the affordable, consistent, high-performance playing cards we enjoy today.
Wrap Up
We’ve covered a ton of ground explori the deceptively complex world of playing card paper. From paper weights and textures enabling ideal handling to the engineering prowess required for mass manufacturing, it’s easy to overlook the tremendous innovation that goes into every casually shuffled deck. I hope you’ve come away with a new appreciation for the humble playing card!
The next time you crack open a fresh deck to deal a round of poker or perform an effortless spring flourish, take a moment to admire the carefully developed playing card paper making the experience possible. Who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to design a deck of your own someday!