*** THE HIDDEN KING PLAYING CARDS ***

Tuck boxes

The Hidden King Playing Cards are one of the recent deck releases by BOMBMAGIC. This publishing company is run by Hanson Bomb and has also produced creative designs like Casino Royale Playing Cards and Fujin & Raijin Playing Cards (both reviewed here), and more.

With their two Hidden King decks, one white and the other yellow, BOMBMAGIC has created a stylish low-cost deck (only $3) inspired by the Siberian Tiger.



The two tuck boxes both feature the same graphic design, with a mono-coloured brown/black drawing of a Siberian tiger on the white and yellow fronts.

Especially noteworthy is the artwork on the tiger's forehead, which has often been compared with the Chinese symbol for King (Wang), a clever connection with the deck's theme. The creator's intent is to reflect the fact that the person with the deck is the King of the cards.



Card backs

The thematic concept is emphasized by the design of the card backs, which are also featured on the back of the tuck box. An inverse S shaped design links two tiger heads together to create a mirrored two-way design with bold features not unlike traditional Bicycle rider-backs. A thick hand-drawn border evokes elegance and suggests something of the tiger's raw power.



I love the idea that as the Hidden King, you the player are the one who releases the tiger from captivity when taking the cards out of the box.



Card faces

The canvas of the playing cards themselves is a beautiful and clean white that immediately captures attention, and makes the pips and indices really pop. With this deck, BOMBMAGIC had the goal of creating a traditional casino-style deck but with a tiger motif on the card backs, and that's the reason that the card faces are mostly standard and instantly recognizable.

The pips are pleasantly oversized and somewhat inflated for a fresh look. The indices utilize a smaller font than usual, they are still clear and functional, and the smaller size makes them superb for fans.



Court cards

The standard look of the court cards has a stronger impact due to the vibrant white canvas and the finish used by the publisher.



Aces

Customization of the card faces is otherwise limited to the expected Ace of Spades, which includes mention of "Taiwan Playing Card Company".



Jokers

There are also two lovely custom Jokers, one which pictures an adult tiger, and the other which pictures two playful tiger cubs.



Handling

The finish and card stock is one of the stand-out highlights of this lovely deck. Besides the crisp white colour, they have a thinner than normal card stock that creates an immediately soft feel, and has an air-cushion style embossing pattern that handles smoothly and evenly. Extended use so far hasn't created any undesirable clumps, and they spread and fan nicely.



The soft and thin feel is very pleasant to use, although it does make it somewhat unsuited for certain card sleights, such as double lifts or colour changes that require aggressive handling of the cards, because with soft cards like these it can result in accidental folding. But the soft feel means the deck doesn't require any breaking in and handles superbly straight from the box.

Recommendation

For a mere $3 each, The Hidden King decks are outstanding value. They have a traditional casino look to ensure that they have lots of practical application, and yet enough customization to make them stand out as immediately stylish, and are accompanied with a production quality for pleasant and reliable handling. Very good value, and well done to BOMBMAGIC for creating The Hidden King!



Want to learn more? Visit BOMBMAGIC:
- Official website
- Facebook, Instagram

Direct links for where some the decks featured in this review can be purchased:
- Hidden King Playing Cards (cost: US$3 each)
- Cardistry Calligraphy Playing Cards (cost: US$10 each)