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Hi All,

Thought of sharing the progress on Ganjifa deck with all of you. I received Prototype decks yesterday (printed in USA) and have started playtesting here in Sydney. This deck is based on Dashavatara Ganjifa and artwork inspired from traditional Madhubani art. There will be 130 cards per deck (120 game cards + 10 avatar description cards).

I've still not decided whether I'll be going with Guru Ganjifa or Divine Art Playing Cards deck as the first campaign on KS but thought of sharing a promotional image for Ganjifa deck.

There are still some talks going on with respect to shipping & fulfillment, and I'm struggling with how to make the shipping costs more pleasing to non-US backers. Also, though the artwork has got me some good reviews but I'm not planning to add any additional items to the deck as I see it makes things a bit complicated wrt. shipping and fulfillment and this being the first campaign, I just want to focus on building community and delighting backers. Still, I would like to know your thoughts on this aspect.

Lastly, the card stock will be 310 gsm black core with linen finish and box will be a two-part and gold foiled. I tried tuck box for prototype but it is not able to withstand the weight of the cards.


Regards,
Sunish Chabba
Guru Playing Card Company

Artwork is very interesting and having 10 "index" cards very helpful.

I don't think a round deck will be a big seller unless people like the "art card" vs. "playing card" idea.

Not knowing the Madhubani art or Dashavatara Ganjifa is another problem you'd have to explain in the KS description. Even then, this deck limits you to playing that game only. Any 52 card poker deck can be used to play solitaire, poker, war, and many other games.

Hi Rich,

Yes, I understand. I've already started working on introduction of Ganjifa and Madhubani art for the campaign. Like Poker deck, there are different games that can be played with this deck.

Lack of interest can still happen, but I think education and positioning as a collectible can change that. The first documented reference of Ganjifa cards is from 15th century. This small information made lots of people excited during the conversations I had with them.


Regards,
Sunish

Hi All,

Thought of sharing a quick update with what has been happening wrt the deck. Artwork is almost complete with editing on rulebook happening at the moment. Most of the leading printers took an inordinate amount of time in getting the quotations and I'm still expecting quotations from LPCC & EPCC. USPCC said that they have to outsource the printing for this deck to a vendor in China, and gave a high MoQ for the order. I got in touch with Ludo Fact, Panda Games & Longpack after getting recommendations from a few game designers on Board Game Geek forum. Longpack has been one of the most prompt with good customer service & communication, and they are even liaising with SFC (sendfromchina.com) for shipping & fulfilment. SFC has got pretty good reviews from various card & board game designers on Kickstarter and it is definitely worth a try for both US & International shipping.

Has someone in this forum aware or have utilised their services before? How did you find them?

A mockup of the deck below. It includes a 2-part rigid box, 130 cards (74 mm diameter) & a rulebook with history, significance of Dashavatara (10 reincarnations of Lord Vishnu), Madhubani artform & rule for various games that can be played with this deck. Stretch goals will include gold foiling on box and metallic gold ink printing on back and a possible move to one of the leading printers as well.
Regards,
Sunish

Looks very interesting! I'd definitely get one if the price is right
Good luck!

This has my attention for sure, I would defiantly like to see some more images.

Thanks for the interest. I'm also looking forward to make this deck a reality and working towards it.

There is not much awareness about Ganjifa but during my research and by talking to a few collectors, Ganjifa had been one of the innovation due to certain unique rules and the cards being round and not rectangular.

Records concerning Ganjifa decks date back to the early 1500s, but apparently they were already used in earlier times, as suggested by the pre-Mughal style of some illustrations.

As per Andy Pollett, who has done good amount of research on Ganjifa and other historical card families:

"Each Ganjifa suit has two leading cards, which basically have the same meaning of western courts: a king (or lord, or rajah, etc.) and a general (second in rank); the remaining cards have decreasing values (differs according to Ganjifa theme), shown by arrangements of suit signs, as in western cards.
From both geographic and historical reasons (the Mughals ruled India since the 16th century), a connection between the early Arabic cards and the Ganjifa sets would have not been impossible, although no evidence at all seems to exist, neither in favour nor against this theory.
Comparing the two early systems, the suit of Sabres found in Indian Dashavatara style sets seems to match the Mamlûk Swords, and Vases are reminiscent of Cups."

Here is a playing card family tree prepared by Tor Gjerde and it is also being reproduced in the booklet accompanying the deck after taking his permission,
And, here is the chronology of the evolution of playing cards (Andy Pollett) and there are still some questions on whether playing cards were in use in India before 15th-16th Century.
That said, if anyone would like to help me by reviewing the booklet, it will be appreciated. I'll also make sure to mention his name in credits on the booklet itself.


Regards,
Sunish

Hi All,

I'm pleased to announce that the project is live now on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/su ... yrevisited" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You've always provided constructive suggestions for improvement and I hope the same will happen in future. Please do take a look at the project page, and support.

Heartfelt thanks to Mike Ratledge and RJ Tomlinson for their help & support during the course of this project . There were times when I got pretty anxious and was stressed on a no. of fronts like card stock, pricing etc. and these two provided lots of insights over mails. Thanks a ton. Appreciate your help.


Regards,
Sunish

Best of luck Sunish

Very beautiful deck, especially very look alike hand painted original ganjifa cards. I think that it will be a good seller.