# Card stock for making playing cards **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441 "2004-09-07T03:44:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/1 "2004-09-07T03:44:14Z")
I’m looking to invent a card game and print my own cards as a project with my boys. Last halloween, we made a board game that turned out pretty slick. But we made cards as part of it using thick matte photo paper. The printing turned out great, but the cards stuck together. Not stuck as in wet ink sticking, but rather sticking in that they don’t slide across each other very well. This was annoying for the board game, but will make using that paper for a card game pretty much impossible. I considered laminating them, but that doesn’t seem ideal. I’m convinced there must be some card stock I can use that will be good. Any ideas? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/2 "2004-09-07T04:11:08Z")
I wonder if maybe you could print your designs on something like Avery shipping labels (no. 5163, which are about the size of a standard playing card) and just stick them on the front of a deck of regular cards? ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/3 "2004-09-07T04:16:42Z")
I was in the paper business and there are so many different types of paper it is unbelievable. I think that **Jayjay** has an excellent idea. Once you develop the game and want to go into big time production then worry about where to get the right stock. 😉 [sup] **Good Luck** [/sup] ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/4 "2004-09-07T04:22:44Z")
☹ [sup]**Damn if a google didn’t make me out to be a [liar.]([http://www.miamiconservancy.org/Flood\_Protection\_&\_Water\_Management/](http://www.miamiconservancy.org/Flood_Protection_&_Water_Management/) Great\_Flood\_of\_1913/default.htm)**[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/5 "2004-09-07T04:38:37Z")
[Some GUIDELINES for PRODUCING SMALL EDITIONS of HAND-MADE PLAYING CARDS](http://www.wopc.co.uk/otc/production.html#Printing) > [@](#): > > QUALITY > Two essential elements that make a playing card a playing card are the paper and varnish. > > A. Paper is usually 2 or 3 ply playing card stock often called “black liner board”. Most stock is from mills in Germany and France. It is laminated with a black graphite glue which guarantees opacity. > > B. The “playing card varnish” is a custom formula; most major card makers have their own. The varnish helps determine the “slip” and feel of the cards, how they slide against each other, and protects the cards from grease and dirt. If you are making hand-made cards, you should give some consideration to finishing the cards and making them easy to handle. Card magician Kevin Gallagher says “To me, the design is secondary to how well they handle since they are going to get written on, torn up and generally abused anyway”. > > With hand-made cards, one can experiment finishing the cards by lightly polishing with wax, soap or fixative spray to make them slippery. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/6 "2004-09-07T04:42:44Z")
Follow **astro** ’s link, mine doesn’t work. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/7 "2004-09-07T06:02:26Z")
[plug for one of my favorite game companies] [Looney Labs](http://www.looneylabs.com) sells a deck called [Glotz](http://www.looneylabs.com/OurStores/product.html?ProductID=126&List=Full+Index): > [@](#): > > At Looney Labs, “Glotz” is the working title for any new game being invented. By definition, a game called Glotz is incomplete… it’s something new being tested which has yet to take on its final form - or its real name. These blank Glotz cards are perfect for anyone who designs card games. Just get out a permanent marker and turn these ready-to-customize playing cards into a snazzy, shuffleable prototype! Each packet contains 52 Glotz cards (which are totally blank on one side and have the Glotz logo on the back). How you use them is up to you. I don’t know if they would go through a printer. It probably depends on how much the printer bends the paper that goes through it. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/8 "2004-09-07T06:06:18Z")
Ohmygod, I was just about to post a very similar question. I’m designing a deck of playing cards for a client. I don’t have any playing cards at home. Anybody know the exact dimensions of a standard playing card? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/9 "2004-09-07T13:11:22Z")
Well, prior to the time plastic coating became the rage in the 1940’s or so, most playing cards were manufactured out of _two sheets_ of card stock. The sheets were pasted together with a sticky opaque black gook called, well, “gook.” (Cite: _Scarne on Gambling_; I’ve seen other cites as well.) I collect playing cards, and some years ago I bought a water-damaged pack from the turn of the century for a buck. One of the cards split right down the middle when I tried to separate it from the rest. It was obvious that the card was composed of two distinct sheets of stock, each printed on only one side. This style of manufacture makes sense for pre-plastic cards: they would have been easier to print, and less susceptible to water damage. (The chief problem with one-sheet card stock is that water damage would make them translucent. It looked like my deck, though, had been soaked in water for an extended time.) What does this mean for your card game? If you want to put a little more effort into it, I think it might be worth your while to look into making your cards from two sheets of a thinner, more flexible card stock, rather than looking for a thicker, opaque stock. The thicker stock would be tougher to print on and use. I would even assume that you could run the thinner card stock through your average laser printer, flatten them, and then “gook” them together. Have fun, **Bill** , and let us know how this turns out. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/10 "2004-09-07T13:33:58Z")
You may want to check out the [Board Game Designers Forum](http://www.bgdf.com). They have some useful tips in their Game Production forum. It’s a great resource that I check often (although not as often as here). For my first game, I took Avery labels and pasted them over regular playing cards. For my second game, I got Avery cards (I don’t remember the model number off hand, I’ll check when I get home) and placed them in deck protectors (the type that M:TG players use). I plan to use that same approach for the next two games I currently have in the works. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/card-stock-for-making-playing-cards/263441/11 "2004-09-07T23:35:57Z")
Thanks, All. **astro** , that is a very cool link, and will likely be my approach. Spraying the cards seems like the easiest and most effective way. **zev\_steinhardt** , thanks for the pointer to that BBS. I had no idea there was a whole community of board game makers out there. **Duke** , thanks for the suggestion. I may do this. But I suspect that gluing front and backs will be a bunch of effort, especially compared to spraying each one. **jayjay** , **kniz** , **TJdude825** , I appreciate the comments. Unfortunately, what I’m planning to build isn’t so much a prototype, as it is a one-time actual game that hopefully we’ll keep around for a while. So, I’d like it to look and feel as professional as possible.