The United States Playing Card

Company
Custom Decks

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Kickstarter®
Funded Decks

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Kickstarter® Campaign Guidelines

• All Bicycle® branded artwork has to be approved by our legal group prior to starting
your Kickstarter® campaign. Please also send your artwork to us if you believe the
artwork may go against our Offensive Material policy whether it is Bicycle branded
or not. Once you add the required legal language to your tuck box and have the
card artwork ready please send me jpegs or pdfs so that I can forward to our Brand
Manager for approval. This can take up to 5 business days.

• If you have our trademarks listed in your campaign description please send me the
paragraph or excerpt that contains that information as it will need to be approved by
our Legal representative. Legal reviews will be processed within 5 business days.

• Send in your full, final artwork once your Kickstarter® campaign is fully funded and
closed.

• Communicating a delivery estimate of at least 3 months after the Kickstarter®

campaign is closed will be the best course of action.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Offensive Material Policy
We reserve the right not to print anything we deem unacceptable or a threat to national security. We don't allow items that infringe trademark rights of USPC or any
third party. We do not allow items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views. We will
not print anything that graphically portrays violence or victims of violence, unless they have substantial social or humanitarian value.
In addition, we will not allow the following:
1. Racially or ethnically offensive material
We do not allow the use of racially or ethnically derogatory language or offensive images.

2. Discrimination
We do not allow the use of art or language that discriminates against an individual or group of individuals based on their religious believes,
gender, sexual orientation, race, or disability.

3. Offensive or violent material

We do not allow images and text that relate to:
• Profanity and/or the use of profane imagery or gestures
• Explicit crime scene or morgue photographs
• Images of executions
• Images encouraging violence towards humans or animals
• Images related to terrorist organizations
• Images related to drugs or drug paraphernalia

4. Sexually explicit material

We do not allow images nor text that describes, depicts, expresses or otherwise deals with matters of exposed genitals, or sexual activity. We
do not allow images that contain nudity or sexually explicate images of any kind depicting a person who is, or looks like, a minor under 18
years of age.

5. Disasters and human tragedies

We do not allow images or text that graphically portray or glorify human tragedy or suffering.

6. Hate organizations
We do not allow images or text related to hate organizations, regardless of age or historical significance, because of their highly intolerant
views and often violent history.

7. Images and text related to violent felons

Out of respect for the families and friends of victims, we don't allow images or text closely associated with notorious murderers within the
past 100 years unless associated with law enforcement or government agencies for non profit purposes.

8. Satanic or demonic images or text

We do not allow images or text promoting or glorifying Satan or satanic worship.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Artwork

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Getting Started
• Artwork has to be in our die lines and NO artboards – very important! Please
follow the art guidelines from the custom packet.

• USPC prefers the use of vector artwork (i.e. Illustrator®). If raster files (i.e.
Photoshop®, Images) are provided and screens are incorporated in your
artwork, please understand the final image may look slightly different. A stair-
stepping effect may occur in large areas.

• Send all of your artwork files (cards, tuck, custom seal etc.) at the same time.
We need to work up your files all at the same time. Sending files at different
times will result in delays.

• No embedded links in Illustrator® files. We can’t work on your files that have
embedded links. Send us the links and the file at the same time.

• All images need to be CMYK, not RGB.

• Upload your artwork to our FTP site: uspc.wetransfer.com. We need all
complete files before we will begin working up your artwork.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Legal Verbiage Required On Tuck Boxes
• The FTC Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires us to include the name and place (city,
state and zip code) of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor as well as
country of origin on all decks for resale. Since most of the decks we produce even for
initial giveaway purposes end up for sale due to their collectability, we are making it a
requirement that all decks manufactured by USPC will include this information to
ensure our compliance with this Act.

• In Canada, nothing can be on the bottom of the tuck. Any legal language can be placed
on the back or the side of the tuck. Portions of the tuck may need to be bilingual.
Once your artwork is received, Nikki can assist you with the requirements.

• One the back, side or front panel the following legal language must be included as per
below.

Manufactured for (Company Name), (City), (Province), (Postal code). Made in the USA.

• In addition, decks that include our trademarks (brands, card backs, aces of spades,
jokers, etc) will also need to include our copyright line as well as the trademark
statement language that we have been using over the last few years.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Bicycle® Branded Decks

Decks that are using the Bicycle® trademark will need the following legal
statements on the tuck box:

• BICYCLE®, BICYCLE® and Design, BICYCLE® Logo, associated marks, logos,

designs, numbers and finishes are trademarks of The United States Playing Card
Company. If you use our Bicycle® Ace of Spades and/or Jokers you would also
add‘the Ace of Spades design, the Joker design’to this verbiage. (This doesn’t
have to be clearly visible on the tuck box. It can go on the tuck flap that folds
into the box or can be added to the bottom of the tuck box)

• ©2018. The United States Playing Card Company. All Rights Reserved.
Manufactured by The United States Playing Card Company, Erlanger, KY
41018. Made in USA. (This has to be visible and added to the bottom of the
tuck box.)

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Artwork Proofs

• You will receive your artwork proofs in 2 weeks after you upload your files.
• Softcopy JPG proofs will be sent to you for your review and approval.
• Any changes will take additional time to update and send revised proofs to
you.
• Hardcopy proofs are available at no additional charge . These proofs are
printed on a Digital Printer, not a Printing Press and with a different paper
stock than your cards will be printed on. Hard copy proofs are only good for
a close estimate of what the printed deck will look like.
• We don’t have sample decks available but you can visit Zazzle to print a
single deck with a custom back card:
http://www.zazzle.com/custom/playingcards

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Options

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Paper & Finish Options

Paper: Classic playing card stock is our standard high quality card stock and
available at no additional charge. Premium playing card stock is $0.08 more
per deck and is a slightly thicker paper stock.

Crushed paper: Classic and Premium paper stock can also be crushed as thin
as we can safely crush our paper for an extra $0.04 per deck.

Finish: Embossed finish is available at no extra charge. You may have seen
Embossed listed as Air-Cushion, Cambric, Linen and Magic but they are all
the same terms for Embossed.
Smooth finish is available at an additional charge based on quantity. You will
see smooth finish listed as Ivory finish.

Additional Charge for Smooth Finish

1,000: $0.40 per deck
2,500: $0.20 per deck
5,000: $0.09 per deck
7,500/10,000: $0.06 per deck
15,000 + : $0.04 pre deck

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Ink Options
Your custom quote includes 4 color CMYK print on your back card. If you incorporate spot
colors into your back card artwork that would be an additional charge. We use Pantone® Solid
Coated books and can print up to 6 colors per sheet side.

Non Metallic PMS Inks

1,000 deck quantity: $0.25 per color per deck
2,500 deck quantity: $0.09 per color per deck
5,000 + deck quantity: $0.06 per color per deck
Neon PMS colors need an additional week added to the production timeline.
Metallic PMS Inks*
1,000 deck quantity: $0.27 per color per deck
2,500 deck quantity: $0.12 per color per deck
5,000 + deck quantity: $0.06 per color per deck

Premium Metallic (5 digit PMS numbered colors)* & UV(Glow under blacklight)
1,000 deck quantity: $0.39 per color per deck
2,500 deck quantity: $0.16 per color per deck
5,000 deck quantity: $0.11 per color per deck
7,500 + deck quantity: $0.08 per color per deck

*Please note that metallic inks are not shiny like foil. Our cards are made of paper and as a rule, paper
absorbs ink. This effects the reflectivity of metallic inks as compared to high gloss surfaces such
as plastic and the darker the metallic the less shine it will have. Dark metallic inks have less of a sheen than
light metallic inks. Please consider this when using metallic inks in your designs.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Custom Seals

USPC Custom Seal Shapes

Stamp Oval Standard Square

Custom seals will be quoted upon submission of design. They can start
at $0.10 to $0.68 per deck depending upon quantity and design.

You can use the USPC Standard Seal at no additional charge.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Special Custom Tucks
Special Custom Tucks are those that have special tuck stocks, foil, embossing/debossing.
Pricing will depend on your quantity, design and options chosen. The basic guidelines are
below:
• Embossing/debossing needs to be on one side only – Front or Back. Our machinery scratches and
severely scuffs any tucks that have embossing/debossing on both sides. We want to send you a
quality product so we can no longer allow embossing/debossing on both sides of the tuck box.
• Tuck cases and cartons must be 12 pt in thickness. Thicker or thinner doesn’t open properly, gets
jammed in our machinery, and rips more easily. 12pt is usually around 100# cover.
• Foil and embossing artwork must be at least 4 pt or larger for type. 3 pt or larger for lines. Too
fine of detail can fill in when stamped and embossed so we don’t suggest using designs that are
too fine. We cannot go finer than these specs without customer release of liability.
• Matte finish tuck stock will show dirt and machinery marks more than a gloss finish.
• T-052 tuck templates are used for special custom tucks. If you decide to do a special tuck please
use this template.
• Black stocks cannot be printed on, only foil and embossing are options for the black dyed paper
stocks.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Additional Options
Uncut sheets: These are $5.00 per sheet with a minimum order quantity of 25.

Custom Tucks from our Tuck vendor: Price will vary depending on artwork, tuck paper stock,
embossing/debossing, foil, quantity etc. I can send paper stock samples for these special tucks and pricing
for the most common tuck specs upon request.

Stripper decks: You can add stripper decks to your order for an additional deck cost of $1.60 per deck. For
example: if the base deck price is $2.99 (2,500 decks) + $2.05 for a total cost of $5.04 per stripper deck.
Minimum quantity is 144 decks and will take an additional 1-2 weeks production time.

Gilding: Deck gilding is available with different color and pattern options. Sample swatches are available
upon request. Gilding is not recommended for full bleed artwork and will have ink missing on the edges
since the decks are sanded before the gilding material is applied. Gilding is $7.50 additional per deck.
Pigmented gilded decks (red, green, blue etc) will have more flaking and gold and silver will have the least
amount of flaking of the gilding material.
Minimum quantity is 144 decks and will take an additional 8-10 weeks production time.

Custom 12 pk Inner boxes: Custom 12 pk inner boxes are available and pricing is based on order quantity,
design and paper stock chosen. Due to the low amount of boxes needed for an order, the pricing is more
than $20.00 per inner box on an order of 2,500 decks. Quotes and templates available upon request.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

Design Guidance

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Shading And Chipping
• Solid designs with no borders can
more noticeably show shading (see
top picture). This is true with all
printers and varies somewhat with
colors selected. Red, brown/tan,
purple and blue are the most
common colors that shade. If this
is objectionable, we recommend
either borders or patterned
designs.

• Solid designs with no borders can

also show chipping (lower picture)
on the edges. This can be avoided
with white borders or lessened
with lighter colors.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Border Limitations

• We allow a 3/64” in finishing for border width variation from side to side and top
to bottom.
• The thinner the border is, the more noticeable it will be if the registration is
slightly off.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Solid Colors and Double Backers
• Heavy ink coverage (especially with
darker colors) should be avoided if
small spots are objectionable. Dust
or paper fibers cause small spots
on cards with all manufacturers.
The two pictures on the right show
the difference that a patterned
design makes. We cannot
guarantee the absence of very
small spots.
• We cannot guarantee an exact
color match between the back and
the front of a card. Double backer
cards can vary slightly in color due
to the paper grain difference from
the front and back of a card sheet.
• Our machinery will leave slight
marks on the bottom right of your
tuck boxes. It will be a light
scuffing and the darker the color on
the bottom of your tuck box the
more noticeable it will be. White
or lighter colors will make it less
noticeable.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™

 Frequently Asked Questions
What forms of payment are accepted? We accept wire transfers, credit cards and PayPal® payments.

How are the cards delivered? We ship via UPS or FedEx. The decks are packed by inners of 12 into cartons of 144 and loaded onto a
skid. Please let us know if we are delivering to a residential area or to a location without a loading dock.

What are the case, inner and deck dimensions?

MASTER CASE DIMENSIONS INNER DIMENSIONS EACH DIMENSIONS
HEIGHT WIDTH LENGTH WEIGHT CUBE Ti Hi HEIGHT WIDTH LENGTH WEIGHT HEIGHT WIDTH DEPTH WEIGHT

11.63 8.38 11.75 33.02 0.66 16 3 3.69 2.75 8.00 2.65 3.63 2.56 0.69 0.22

What do I have to pay besides the deck price and set up charges? If you don’t have a resale certificate you will pay sales tax based
on the address the order is shipping to. We also have a 10% over / 10% under printing policy. Due to normal printing variations,
quality checks and printing scrap we will end up within 10% of your contracted order quantity - ie. An order for 2,500 will end up
somewhere between 2,250 – 2,750. You will not be responsible for purchasing more than 10% of your order quantity. Up to 10%
will be at the full contracted price.

Are your playing cards Eco friendly? Our playing cards are crafted from sustainable forest paper, starch-based laminating glue and
vegetable-based printing inks. They are recyclable unless they have foil on the cards or tuck box.

How are the decks cello wrapped? Only the tuck box is cello wrapped.

How many locations am I allowed to ship to? Your quote includes two continental US shipping locations at no charge. Each
additional shipping location has a $50.00 processing fee.

Do you offer fulfillment services? Unfortunately, we are not able to offer fulfillment services.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD COMPANY ™