It's a shame US Playing Card Company, as a brand of playing cards that represents perhaps a gold-standard of quality and consistency, is diluting the Bicycle name by seemingly allowing creators to piggyback on the collectability aspects of the Bicycle brand. Now we are seeing Bicycle Decks with zombies, skulls, clashing colors, or anything really. Correct me if I'm wrong - is USPCC allowing any creator to buy a run of decks that feature the Bicycle logo? Where will the USPCC draw the line? I'm sure they have had proposals for decks that they refused to produce, being considered either lewd, too political, controversial, etc.

Not the same company any more.

https://ir.newellbrands.com/news-release......ER%C2%AE

If it was about 5 years or so ago you noticed a change maybe this was why.

Here is the site of the old factory. https://www.factory52.com/

They are in Kentucky now but produce about 100 million decks a year. My complaint is they stopped producing Streamline.

Thank you, I didn't know there had been a change. I remember seeing the Streamline decks in stores but never tried them.

If we talk about playing cards... I have to say I mostly do cards on stage, the quality is not so important.Not many moves to do But now a few cloe up gigs coming up and I bought new Bycicle cards... and they are terrible.. is there diffrent quality standarts. And If... which I should going for? Or another Brand?
Best regardes Shorty

Can someone explain what the quality problems are with bulk-bought Bicycle cards? I am only a hobbyist, but I have not experienced any issues with Bicycles that I cannot attribute to my skill level, not card quality. What are others seeing?

What I don't like about the Bicycle are sometimes they are very stiff... but there are diffrent qualitys... maybe I bought just the cheapest second quality. I know start testing little with diffrent ones.
Best regardes
Shorty

I don't remember having quality issues with Bicycle cards either (also an hobbyist though), but what I don't really like about Bicycles is that their Queens have kind of depressed/bored faces (I would prefer them to have a more neutral or ok face like the Jacks and Kings).

Since some time now I use Copag 310 cards, they feel great and their Jacks/Queens/Kings are the same kind of drawing than Bicycles but with better faces.
The only drawback is that their finish seems to catch dust/sweat/whatever more easily than Bicycles, so they kind of degrade a bit faster.

Hum, writing the above made me want to re-supply in Copag 310 (only have two decks left) but I discovered they are discontinued and out of stock everywhere :-/
Guess I will have to go back to Bicycles then, sorry for the outdated recommendation...

Theory11 cards are everywhere now but they're triple the price of Bikes. It seems like a lot of the playing card market is meant for collectors and not for people to use unless they are sponsored by the company.
Cards are the Funko Pop of... uh... cards?

I don't hate the collectible decks, I have many, but it's not like I'm buying a brick of $15 a pack cards. I get one and then don't use it because I only have one and it was fifteen hecking dollars.

I don't mind zombies, though, it's Yellowstone that I can't stand.

I guess it just depends on what you are doing with the cards. It matters both for the physical manipulation and for if you destroy them.

I go through more decks than I care to count. You can still find good enough quality for what I need them to do, and still destroy them for under $2 a deck. I go through 2 decks a show minimum.

I use Rider Back simply because that is the most common deck in houses where I am from by a WIDE margin. I don't collect cards or use collector cards for any reason. I don't do any of the cardistry stuff so these decks are just great for me and my needs.