Zoo52 - LIVE on KS

[Fud]

Hi Everyone!

Zoo52 HAS LAUNCHED: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/el ... watercolor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Zoo52 is 2-deck series of hand painted cat + dog cards – perfect for animal lovers!

- Custom box with fold-out ears
- Fully custom courts
- Custom Aces, Jokers and Backs

To make this reveal a bit more interesting, post your favorite cat + dog breeds, and (if I have them) I’ll post them up

Ben

[hsbc]

A cat deck. I am in 100%

[BaconWise]

These look great, Ben. Will this be a KS campaign? If so, any stretch goals planned for a tuck upgrade? For example: embossing or adding some kind of felt or foil to the noses and ears? That would take these decks to another level! I think I'm in for these - we'll see how the pricing goes.

[portcullis]

Is it just me or is that feline KoS a special kind of lovely??

[theCapraAegagrus]

I'm intrigued...

[aardvarkgod]

Hoping for some Mini Aussies!

[Fud]

These look great, Ben. Will this be a KS campaign? If so, any stretch goals planned for a tuck upgrade? For example: embossing or adding some kind of felt or foil to the noses and ears? That would take these decks to another level! I think I'm in for these - we'll see how the pricing goes.

Yes, a KS campaign which will be launching in a few weeks. No stretch goals for the tuck at the moment - I have a bunch of other cool stretch goals though Pricing is also pretty darn low for a custom deck!

Is it just me or is that feline KoS a special kind of lovely??

Thanks! It is pretty sweet, though wait till you see some of the other cards...

Hoping for some Mini Aussies!

Not quite mini, but full grown Australian Shepherds are always up to mischief (I should know!)

(Pic's a bit blurry because of website resizing)

[Fud]

Let's get some more cuteness up here!

Who loves Dalmatians?

[SirCrunoke]

This looks really interesting! The Delmatiner K looks awesome!

[Eric Lee]

Wow, very nice so far. Love the direction EPC is going. This may be your best yet since Pipmen World, But you've yet to show us the pip cards. Are those going to be semi-transformational as well?

[Fud]

Wow, very nice so far. Love the direction EPC is going. This may be your best yet since Pipmen World, But you've yet to show us the pip cards. Are those going to be semi-transformational as well?

Hey Eric, thanks for that! I'm loving this deck too
Pip cards are standard - I wanted to keep it as a fully useable deck, so only the courts, Aces and Jokers are custom.

[Fud]

You can see why the Queen loves Corgis - they are so cute when they frolick!

And cats doing what cats do to important and carefully-organised paperwork...

[theCapraAegagrus]

Will these be produced by a good printer? USPCC, EPCC, or Cartamundi?

[vasta41]

Will these be produced by a good printer? USPCC, EPCC, or Cartamundi?

I'm sure they'll be WJPC

[Fud]

Will these be produced by a good printer? USPCC, EPCC, or Cartamundi?

I'm sure they'll be WJPC

Yep, WJPC. I tried to go with Cartamundi, but their response rate to emails is down to about 2 weeks now and it is almost impossible to deal with them. I don't know how others have such a smooth experience with them - I'm trying but it's not working out...

From the proto decks, the finish is pretty good. I have had extensive talks with WJPC about their finish, cutting machines, printing process etc, and I think that these decks are much better. The first run EPC WJPC decks which had a rubbish finish were old stock on the old cutting machine, the latest decks I've been getting from them are pretty good. Not Cartamundi quality, but definately comparable/better quality than some USPC decks I've had before.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Depending on price point, I may back it. I've supported cat decks before with crappy printers.

[Fud]

Depending on price point, I may back it. I've supported cat decks before with crappy printers.

I've already set the price for this project, but out of curiosity, what would your target price be for a deck like this?

[brownsl]

Not a big fan of these. Maybe if the pip cards were like the court cards.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Depending on price point, I may back it. I've supported cat decks before with crappy printers.

I've already set the price for this project, but out of curiosity, what would your target price be for a deck like this?

I personally wouldn't pay more than $10/deck (total).

It's more of an animal novelty than anything else, despite the artwork being nice.

[Decknowledgy]

Did you just renamed yourself GOAT (Greatest of All Time)?

[theCapraAegagrus]

Did you just renamed yourself GOAT (Greatest of All Time)?

[Fud]

I personally wouldn't pay more than $10/deck (total).

If you get in for the EB rewards, you can pick up 1 or 2 decks for $10/piece with free US shipping. See you there

And if you need some more convincing, maybe you like cute little cuddlies?

[theCapraAegagrus]

I personally wouldn't pay more than $10/deck (total).

If you get in for the EB rewards, you can pick up 1 or 2 decks for $10/piece with free US shipping. See you there

And if you need some more convincing, maybe you like cute little cuddlies?

UC zoo52 4 (Large).jpg

That'll work!

[STLBluesNut]

I think I am nearly the same on pricing, for me the card themselves are maybe worth up to 10 buck generally regardless of the design on them. Unless of course there is foil on the fronts and/or backs.

For me, what pushes a deck above the 10 dollar mark is the tuck. A plain glossy tuck, regardless of design, isn't generally getting much more than 10 bucks out of me. There are exceptions of course. When you start adding, foil, embossing and matte stock is when I will get my wallet out for a more expensive deck.

So, when you put all of these things together like House of the Rising Spade Cartomancer, 30 to 35 dollars becomes more reasonable for me, even though it was only $25. Which is why when I see some of these shit decks out there with no features going for 15 to 20 dollars that took them 2 years to finally recolor a piece of clip art pasted onto a rectangle twice, I throw up in my mouth a little.

Sent from my Galaxy 8 using Tapatalk

[Fud]

OK, last lot of spoilers before I post the project link on Tuesday

Have you ever seen someone carrying their dog around in a purse/basket? Sydney is rife with this - crazy, or crazy cute?

[theCapraAegagrus]

Crazy. Not cute at all.

[Harvonsgard]

Have you ever seen someone carrying their dog around in a purse/basket?

Unfortunatly yes.

crazy, or crazy cute?

Crazy - as in concerningly retarded ...

[Fud]

Hi Everyone,

A question was raised on the Zoo52 preview page about campaign finances and deck costs, specifically why I would charge $12 for 1 deck of WJPC cards. I didn't want to respond there as that is not the platform for financial discussions, but I am happy to share it here. I am quite open about all the project finances - I don't think many people are getting rich of playing cards; they are a project of passion rather than profit for me. I can understand the logic that using a 'cheap' printer like WJPC will lead to higher per unit profits for the creators, but here is a breakdown of all my costs:

I have provided a breakdown for EB domestic, Regular domestic, EB int'l and Regular Int'l for 1 deck only. A few point to consider:

1) This is for 1 deck only. Obviously if you get multiple decks your cost per deck goes down and my fulfillment cost per deck proportionally reduces as well. This is a win-win.

2) Trump imposed the 25% tariff on some products in January, starting Sept there will be a 10% tariff on ALL other products (inc. playing cards). I wrote a full primer on the impacts and strategies for this, but needless to say it results in an extra 10-20% production/shipping cost. See this for more info: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=14383" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3) Cost of customer acquisition is high relative to the sale price for a deck of cards, but is standard for online eCommerce. I do NOT consider customer acquisition for the EB rewards, as the only people who will be pledging for those are likely the people who are on my mailing list / backers of past projects. I pass the savings of no advertising to people who pledge for the EB, else I have to aggregate advertising cost across the rest of the reward tiers.

4) The deck is not a cardistry nor a magic deck; it is designed for casual use by pet fans. Therefore the price reflects not only the reality of production + import + shipping, but also the market average of a custom deck of cards in that niche taking into account free US shipping. I still don't know how so many people can get away today charging >$15 (+ shipping!) for a deck of 'cardistry' cards with almost zero design...

5) The production cost per deck goes down with volume, but I can't budget my project assuming I will hit 10k decks. I need to budget for a reasonable quantity without being too conservative. If the project goes well I will profit a few cents more per deck (woo!)

When you look at the numbers, I'm selling the decks for pretty much as low as I can, I don't think this is unfair at all. Costs are only going to rise during the US/China trade war, and if you don't want to spend $12 on a deck, get in during the first 24 hours and get one for $10 - that is why I made those reward tiers and am posting here!

[hsbc]

Now this is the sort of detailed transparency I love from creators Next I want to see Fontaine's financials and a three-hour video tour of Lotrek's manufacturing facilities

[montenzi]

@Fud, pay a little more to print at USPCC. It will increase your costs by 10%-15% only for 2500 print run. It does not work for 500-1000 decks.