The Magic Cafe Forums - Review: National Park Playing Cards

NATIONAL PARK PLAYING CARDS

The story behind National Park Playing Cards is one worth sharing. This deck was actually designed by Micah Hoang, at the age of 15!

Think about that for a moment. What were you doing at age 15? Playing hockey on the street perhaps? Riding your bike? Playing computer games? But how about designing a deck of custom cards that would go on to sell over 10,000 copies. That's what Micah Hoang did. And it all started in 2018 when he was just 15.

Here's how Micah introduces himself over on his Etsy shop:

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Hi! I'm Micah, graphic designer, nature lover, high schooler, and the founder of National Park Playing Cards. I created the deck as a passion project, which later transformed itself into a full-scale business after amassing over $6000 on Kickstarter

Micah's Etsy page also goes on to describes the story of his National Park deck:

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It all started in late 2018, when Micah, a 15 year old graphic designer from Los Gatos, California decided to design a deck of playing cards, each with a different US National Park. What started out as an idea became a reality through his Kickstarter page, where he almost tripled his initial funding goal of $2500.

In 2021, more than 10,000 decks have been sold in retail stores nationwide, including Canyonlands, Arches, and Zion National Park visitor centers.

Besides managing his playing card business, Micah enjoys trail running, mountain biking, hiking, and exploring National Parks.

His father Lan Hoang managed the Kickstarter for him back in 2018. But even so, I'd say that's a pretty impressive result for a 15 year old! The fact that he's sold over 10,000 decks since then is quite remarkable. The deck I own has the date of 2022 on the tuck box, so it's obviously been reprinted at least once, to keep up with the demand.

Here's how the ad copy explains the concept of the deck:

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Whatever your card game of choice, let it become a way to take you on a spectacular cross-country road trip through 52 unique National Parks. Each card in this beautifully designed, casino-quality deck features a different National Park through illustrations that capture the beauty of each park with a modern look and feel. Designed in California.

Now let's show how the deck looks, starting with the tuck box, and then moving on to the cards themselves:

On his website, Micah tells the story about the creation of the deck in more detail, and also explains the significance of different aspects of the deck:

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An Idea:

It was early January when the idea first came to light. I wanted to work on a big personal project to start the year of 2018. Something that would take the entire year to complete.

Something that I’ve seen a lot of designers take on is the task of designing a deck of playing cards. This looked to me like a wonderful idea. Not only would it strengthen my design skills, but it’ll teach me other skills like how to manufacture, sell, and market a product. Not only did I want to design a custom card back; I wanted to design a custom case and card faces for every card.

Somehow, the idea of creating a US National Park themed playing card deck arose. There just so happened to be about 55 registered National Parks in the US, and getting the official gift shops to sell them would be a good long term goal.

The Process:

I went straight to work. Designing each card face to feature a different National Park, I got about 3 completed every week. Along the way, I discovered my own unique style. Using minimal linework to depict memorable scenes from each park, the cards give off both a vintage and modern vibe at the same time.

The face cards (king, queen, jack, ace) have filled in circles with negative space lines to distinguish them from the other cards. The jokers depict Native American animals, also illustrated in the same minimal lifework style.

Each suit represents a different region in the United States. Diamonds represent parks in the Southwest, Spades represent the parks in the Northwest, Clubs represented the East, and Hearts, the South.

Additionally, the card values are sorted by park popularity, with ace featuring the most visited parks, and 2 featuring the least visited parks.

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With all the design elements ready, including the foil tuckbox, card faces, and card backs, I put the project up on Kickstarter, where I almost tripled my funding goal of $2500. You can check it out here.

Within months, my first batch of playing cards were sold out.

Retail & E-Commerce:

My main strategy was to target small boutique stores as well as official National Park gift shops to resell my decks. This deck would be best appreciated as a collector’s item, or as a souvenir from a US National Park.

National Park Playing Cards are now available at locations including REDEMPTION CA, Los Gatos; STRIPE Men, Santa Cruz; Canyonlands National Park, UT; and Hömage, Pasadena.

They are now also available on Etsy, UncommonGoods, and on my Shopify store. I utilize both Facebook and Instagram marketing and promotion to gain sales and it’s been a huge success so far.

The National Park decks were printed by WJPC, which is a Chinese playing card manufacturer that has also been used successfully by creators like Stockholm17 and Elephant Playing Cards, who have stated that they tend to be faster and cheaper, and more reliable than other alternatives.

This particular deck uses WJPC's 310gsm German stock, which has the advantage of durability. I personally prefer using WJPC's 300gsm German stock, because it is softer and thinner than this. Because it handles so consistently and smoothly (e.g. faro shuffles and fans/spreads all work well), and is most similar to USPCC's crushed stock, it is my favourite of their stock options. But given that this is a souvenir style deck for the mass market, durability is important, and so 310gsm stock makes sense for a deck like this.

Product pages:
https://www.rei.com/product/217991/artic......ng-cards
https://www.etsy.com/listing/791184502/n......ng-cards

Social media:
https://www.instagram.com/nationalparkplayingcards
https://www.instagram.com/articavisuals

NB: I have no affiliation with Micah or this product, but I just figured this was a pretty neat story worth sharing. It certainly helped increase my appreciation for this custom deck of playing cards, and what Micah has accomplished with it!