Kickstarter Hardwood Playing Cards Bibelot Games Project Is LIVE! Support It Now!

Absolutely beautiful!

Hardwood Playing Cards by Bibelot Games via Kickstarter is their newest project! These veterans of the boardgame circuit, who previously funded the amazing Reliquary Collection and Midnight Collection (now purchaseable on Amazon!), have created one of the coolest items I’ve ever seen!

Real-life playing cards created out of ACTUAL wood! This is not the fake stuff, this is the REAL deal. Real wood. Not only that, but the Cards actually shuffle! You can bend them and use them to play any Card game that exists! Like their previous projects, these cards are made of the highest quality materials, infused with mineral oils to keep them soft and smelling amazing, and laser-etched on real-world material so that no two cards are exactly the same!

While these cards are amazing and great for display and “flash”, they are still real playing cards and are suitable for friendly card games, shuffling, house building, card tossing, and many other activities. They are also surprisingly durable!

Gorgeous!

To quote myself in an email to the company:
“The one thing I might add, although I don’t know if this is going into it or not, as I didn’t see it mentioned, but if these are scented like the deck you sent me with that oil, then you MUST mention and emphasize it! That smell…. Oh man. It’s like heaven. It’s like opening a new book or a new videogame for the first time. The smell simply must be experienced and cannot be properly conveyed through video or pictures! So please talk about it! Even without the smell, I think you should emphasize texture a bit more as well. Talk about how amazing these cards FEEL in the hands. It truly is unique. Everyone I showed the cards too was enthralled and wanting to touch and smell and bend them. It just has such a cool texture that’s so unique and feels like nothing else.”

Let me tell you, I was sent a prototype copy of these Hardwood Playing Cards (before they even had themes!) and I and everyone I showed them too was completely enthralled! They are so impressive, and when you get them in your hands you can’t help but be amazed. Have YOU ever played with cards made of real wood? The answer is NO! lol.

To that end, you owe it to yourself to check out this amazing project and please BACK IT!

Durable, bendable and playable!

“At Bibelot Games, we love taking games to “the next level”. Better formats, better materials, better entertainment. With this project, we’re doing the same for playing cards! We’re discarding the plastic and paper, and making beautiful and luxurious playing card decks from real hardwoods. They’re thin enough to shuffle, thick enough to cherish, and unique enough to know it’s real wood!”

These cards are created using super thin veneers, composed of three layers, including laser etched Okoume hardwood fronts, themed hardwood for the back, and an acrylic core binding them together. Each card measures 2.5″ wide x 3.5″ tall x 0.04″ thick and shows off the natural beauty of real hardwood, imperfections and all. These are not a “printed woodgrain pattern”! Because it’s actual, real, natural wood, the blank backs of the cards are free to show off the unique patterns, markings and coloration of each card; giving you true depth and tactical bliss with each piece.

The are SIX themed decks, each with completely unique artwork! In addition, each deck sold through Kickstarter will be a limited edition, individually numbered on the speciality Ace Card, based on Backer Number. Meaning the first people to support the project will get the earliest, lower numbers!

All decks except the Tarot come with a real leather “tuck box” to keep your cards fresh and stored. The cases are also laser-etched with visually appealing grommets, magnetic snaps and a belt loop for easy portability! Each Collector’s Set meanwhile comes in a laser-etched wooden box to store your cards and display them to impressed on-lookers! :D

You can completely customize and build the deck you want, and there are four different deck sizes of playing cards to choose from (“By doing our own manufacturing, one deck at a time, we can build any combination of theme and deck size so you can get the cards that are perfect for you!”). You can either choose a: 25 Card Deck, 34 Card Deck, 50 Card Deck, 54 Card Deck or 78 Card Deck!

I WANT ALL OF THEM!!!!

So what are the six themes? Here is what each one contains:
1. Classic Theme – The classic suits and royalty you know and love! The backs are Maple, a truly classic hardwood.
2. Reliquary Theme – Features artwork from the “Master of the Playing Cards” ca. 1430. German suits and Cherry backs tie this theme into the collection of ancient games that got us started!
3. Midnight Theme – A horror-themed deck featuring Walnut backs, spooky suits, and campy monsters; all about the lighter side of Halloween!
4. Piratical Theme – Highlights charming rapscallions and buccaneers with nautical suits and African Mahogany backs!
5. Outlaw Theme – White Oak backs, thematic suits, and comically endearing gunslingers to bring the wild west to your card games!
6. Reindeer Games Theme – Celebrate Christmas any time of the year! This theme brings the joy of the holidays to your card table through adorable comic reindeer, themed suits and Ash hardwood backs!

Here are the different Deck Sizes you can choose and what kind of Card Games can be played with each sized deck.

1. Euchre Deck – Consists of 25 Cards: 9 – A (#9 through Ace) in four suits, plus 1 joker. Use it to play Euchre, Sixty-Six, Thundee, Clabber, …etc!
2. Piquet Deck – Consists of 34 Cards: 7 – A in four suits, plus 2 jokers. Use it to play Piquet, Sheepshead, Klabberjass, Septica, …etc!
3. Pinochle Deck – Consists of 50 Cards: two each of 9 – A in four suits, plus 2 jokers. Use it to play Pinochle, Doppelkopf, Bezique, …etc!
4. Standard Deck – Consists of 54 Cards: 2 – A in four suits, plus 2 jokers. Use it to play Poker, Rummy, Bridge, Cribbage, Canasta, …etc!
5. Tarot Deck – Consists of 78 Cards on Red Cedar backs: 2 – A in four suits, plus one extra royalty per suit, plus 22 unsuited trump cards (major arcana). Use it to play Tarock, Scarto, Jeu de Tarot, …etc!

All the different Aces for each theme!

Additionally to just the playing card decks themselves, there are a number of different sets that you can purchase including an INCREDIBLE POKER SET! There’s also a unique Tarot Cards set!

In addition to these, there are THREE seperate, very cool Accessories you can purchase along with your Cards. They are a “Pocket Aces Key Chain”, a “Royal Flush Necklace” or a “Pair O’Queens Earrings”!

:O AMAZING accessories! Does the genius of Bibelot Games no know limits?! :D

Here are the individual prices per item:

“Want something extra? No problem! Simply add the right amounts from the list below to your total pledge! We’ll ask you for details about what you have chosen in the Backer Survey after the completion of this project!”

* Pair O’Queens Earrings: $5
* Pocket Aces Key Chain: $7
* Royal Flush Necklace: $10
* Euchre Deck: $30
* Piquet Deck: $35
* Pinochle Deck: $45
* Standard Deck: $50
* Tarot Deck (w/box): $100

In addition, there will be a number of additional Achievements that will be unlocked and add additional cool things to the project if more people Back it! I’ll report on those in future articles and cover them in this piece as well (as the unlockables are unveiled).

Last but definitely not least, here are the different Backer Categories and the prices for how to get in on this amazing Hardwood Playing Cards Kickstarter Project! Remember that you can add the prices above and mix and match decks to create your own custom set!

Absolutely amazing! My jaw dropped when I saw this Poker Set!

* Tier 1 – Pledge $5 Or More
Two-Card Hand: Your choice of any two cards from one of the seven themes.

* Tier 2 – Pledge $10 Or More
Royal Flush Necklace: Five 1” Mini Cards (10-A) on a 24” ball chain necklace! Your choice of theme and suit! All hardware has a gunmetal finish.

* Tier 3 – Pledge $20 Or More
Accessories Set: Two Card Hand + Royal Flush Necklace + Pair O’Queens Earrings + Pocket Aces Key Chain! Your choice of theme, suits and cards (as applicable).

* Tier 4 – Pledge $30 or More
Euchre Deck: Your choice of theme for a 25-Card Euchre Deck. Includes laser-etched leather case!

* Tier 5 – Pledge $35 or More
Piquet Deck: Your choice of theme for a 34-Card Piquet Deck. Includes laser-etched leather case!

* Tier 6 – Pledge $45 or More
Pinochle Deck: Your choice of theme for a 50-Card Pinochle Deck. Includes laser-etched leather case!

* Tier 7 – Pledge $50 or More
Standard Deck: Your choice of theme for a 54-Card Pinochle Deck. Includes laser-etched leather case!

* Tier 8 – Pledge $100 or More
Tarot Deck: The 78-Card Tarot Deck, with an un-dyed muslin wrap, in a gorgeous wood box!

* Tier 9 – Pledge $200 or More
Themed Deck Set: All four deck sizes (Euchre, Piquet, Pinochle, and Standard) from the theme of your choice! Comes in a laser etched wooden box!

* Tier 10 – Pledge $250 Or More
Poker Set: A Standard Deck in your choice of theme + 250 Wooden Poker Chips + Dealer/Small-Blind/Big-Blind Buttons in a beautiful laser-etched wooden box!

Even Tarot Cards are covered with this set.

* Tier 11 – Pledge $300 or More
Collector’s Set: Six Standard Decks, one from each theme! Comes in a lovely laser-etched wooden box!

* Tier 12 – Pledge $400 Or More
Complete Theme Set: Everything from your favorite theme! The Themed Deck Set + the Poker Set + Royal Flush Necklace, Pair O’ Queens Earrings, and Pocket Aces Key Chain!

* Tier 13 – Pledge $1,100 Or More
Every Deck: All six Themed Deck Sets + the Tarot Deck! Includes 25 decks of cards and 7 boxes!

* Tier 14 – Pledge $1,250 Or More
Poker Party: All six Poker Sets – one per theme! Includes a total of 1500 Poker Chips, 6 Standard Decks and 6 Boxes!

* Tier 15 – Pledge $2,000 Or More
EVERYTHING!: Six complete Theme Sets (one for each theme) + The Tarot Deck! That’s a massive total of 31 decks of cards, 1500 Poker Chips, 6 Necklaces, 6 Pairs of Earrings, 6 Key Chains, and 14 Laser Etched Boxes! WOWSA!

The estimated delivery time for this project is November 2013. Add $80 to ship outside of the USA. Everything offered is 100% hand-made right here in the USA by Bibelot Games. If you’re looking to support this project, click the link at the very top of the article (the first sentence) and pledge your support at any dollar amount! Your support is greatly appreciated by this small company called Bibelot Games, and will ensure that they are able to continue making awesome boardgame-style projects in the future (they have many more in the works!). ^_^

 

The Midnight Collection Boardgame Set By Bibelot Games On Kickstarter. Support It NOW!

Please support The Midnight Collection and spread the word to your boardgame playing friends!

The Midnight Collection boardgame set on Kickstarter is the follow-up to The Reliquary Collection from Bibelot Games.

If you never heard of either set, prepare to feast your lovely eyes on one of the coolest boardgame collections ever created! Be sure to buy and help back the project if you can, and spread the word to everyone you know, especially boardgame lovers. Let’s help this Kickstarter project get funded! The project ends on October 15th 2012, with 15 Days to go and $2000 left for the project to get funded.

Like The Reliquary Collection before it, The Midnight Collection is a set of 8 boardgames, created with the highest-quality materials in a very unique format.

Isn’t this boxset just beautiful?!

Each game in The Midnight Collection comes in a suede leather pouch with the game pieces to play the game inside the pouch, which is securely wrapped via an attached satin drawstring cord that wraps around the pouch to close the included pieces securely inside and allow for easy portability.

The pouch doubles as the gameboard, with the board LASER-ETCHED onto the material, providing you with a board that should stay usable and vibrant for a long time to come. When you want to play, just pull the string and lay out the board, the pieces will be right there for you to dive in. Last but definitely not least, the game pieces are made of solid marble or high-quality wood, and the rules are created using extremely durable composite paper, and are laced onto the satin drawstring so you always have the rules available and can never lose them!

For the Midnight collection, each of the game’s is horror-themed, just in time for Halloween! Each of the 8 “Monsters & Mayhem” games is easy to learn, fun to play, and include games of strategy and chance, each with varying rules, themes, gameboards and included pieces!

These are each of the individual boardgames available in The Midnight Collection!

These individual games are:

* The Fore Horsemen (2-4 Player Party Game)
* Scared Sheet-Less (2-4 Player Lucky-Strategy Game)
* The Stake Out (2-Player Unequal Forces Strategy Game)
* That’s A Wrap (2-4 Player Race Game)
* Frankie (1-4 Player Cooperative Game)
* Them Bones (4-Player Strategy Game)
* Where-Wolf? (2-6 Player Hunt Game)
* Zombified (4-10 Player Elimination Game)

You can buy each of the individual games of your choice on the Midnight Collection Kickstarter for $30 per game, and there are lots of additional add-ons you can purchase to add more fun to your customized set.

Or, if you’re feeling the boardgame-love and prophesying the many fun-filled nights these games will bring with family and friends, you can spring for the full 8-game set, packaged in a beautiful wooden Limited Edition box with a laser-etched leather top for $350!

Meanwhile, $500 dollars will net you all 8 games, plus the chest to store them in, as well as every additional Accessory!

Pay a little extra and you can get your hands on some snazzy Midnight Collection Accessories!

Accessories include a lot of 70 game pieces and stones (enough to play all 8 games), 8 glass mini-vial necklaces (one for each game), 9 unique Walnut Wood Coins (one for each game), a lot of 64 wooden walnut bones (stack, build, create, play!), and a number of additional Achievements that will be unlocked as more people back the project! Achievements include Avatars for each game, a Bibelot Necklace, glow-in-the-dark Marble stone game pieces(!), a Midnight Collection Keychain, and more! Additional Achievements will be revealed as the The Midnight Collection Kickstar closes in on the final days.

Either way you shake it, this is a beautiful and unique piece of gaming art!

Additionally, Bibelot Games is a small, independent, American-made company based out of my home state of Arizona in Cave Creek (I live in Phoenix). They are offering game lovers the highest-quality boardgames, that are sure to be enjoyed by your kids and grandkids for generations, and make a great collectible or display piece, even if you aren’t big on board games.

Thus, I urge you to back the project and support Bibelot Games with their Midnight Collection Set! Labors of love like this need our support to thrive!

Look forward to additional videos showing off a few of the games as well as reviews of two of the Midnight Collection Set games (The Stake Out and Where-Wolf) and one game from The Reliquary Collection (The Royal Game of Ur), in the near future!

Eventually I will review the entire Midnight Collection and Reliquary Collection sets early next year! I CAN’T WAIT!

 

My Virtual Boy Videogame Collection (VB). Do You Own A Nintendo Virtual Boy? (Poll Question)

The Nintendo Virtual Boy thinks he is hot stuff…. As more successful consoles look on and mock.

MY NINTENDO VIRTUAL BOY COLLECTION

1. Demo Cart
2. Golf
3. Mario Clash
4. Mario’s Tennis Virtual Boy
5. Nester’s Funky Bowling
6. Panic Bomber
7. Red Alarm
8. Teleroboxer
9. Tetris 3D
10. Wario Land Virtual Boy
11. Virtual Boy System Complete with Box, instructions and accessories. Sadly the head piece quite working though a few years back. A common problem…

Nintendo Virtual Boy was a lil-known 1996 videogame console created by Nintendo’s mastermind… no not Shigeru Miyamoto, but his mentor, Metroid creator Gunpei Yokoi (who also created the Game & Watch handhelds, the Game Boy and Kid Icarus).

Virtual Boy was the first ever mainstream stereoscopic 3D videogame console/handheld, wherein the player looked through a pair of goggles (a headmounted display) at a dual-monochrome screen made up of exclusively scarlet-red graphics. Only two colors of in-game graphics were available, red and black. Resulting in games with no real color… This made them seem lacking compared to the bright, colorful graphics seen in console systems, and the ever-present deep red and pitch black mix, while giving the games some “pop”, also made them seem drab and lacking in personality… once the extremely unique look wore off, that is.

Lacking portability due to the fact that you had to place it on a solid surface and look into the viewfinder, the system had many issues that killed it quickly… making the Virtual Boy Nintendo’s biggest ever system failure (resulting in the immediate firing of Gunpei Yokoi).

Putting the nail in the coffin of the system were the supposed headaches caused by extended play of glaring red graphics in front of your face, the battery-obliteration of a system that required six-double A batteries for only a few hours of play (though an AC adapter was available), the low-amount of high-quality games (only 14 ever released in America, 22 worldwide) and, worst of all, the extremely high cost. The system launched at a cost of $180, cheap for a console but somewhat high for a portable. Too high for what the system offered… and it thus died a sudden death without selling even 100,000 systems.

You can read much more about the system in my History of Portable Videogames.

I am extremely proud of my Virtual Boy collection, all of the games I own are boxed and complete, with instructions, and I have 9 of the 14 North American games ever released; alongside a super rare demo cart. There were 22 Virtual Boy games released in Japan/Worldwide (mostly Japan), so I still have a ways to go in order to actually complete my system collection. But the Virtual Boy set (including the system boxed) is arguably the pride of my collection.

Sadly the head-mounted display no longer works, and I’ve yet to replace it (this is a common problem). Some day I plan on doing unboxing videos of each game, and reviewing all of them, as well as tracking down a COMPLETE Virtual Boy set.

Now enjoy this awesome Virtual Boy commercial!

* See MY ENTIRE VIDEOGAME COLLECTION for a giant list on the rest of the videogames I own!

 

The Last of Us E3 2012 Official Trailer of Gameplay and Videos

The Last of Us official E3 2012 trailer and videos! Check them out and tell me what you think!

Here is an awesome IGN stage demonstration with the development team at Naughty Dog discussing the game!

 

Dishonored E3 2012 Official Trailer of Gameplay and Videos

Dishonored official E3 2012 trailer and videos! Check them out and tell me what you think!

Here’s another video.

 

Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 E3 2012 Official Trailer of Gameplay and Videos

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 official E3 2012 trailer and videos! Check them out and tell me what you think!

 

Elder Scrolls Online E3 2012 Official Trailer of Gameplay and Videos. Releases 2013. Beta Next Week.

The Elder Scrolls Online official E3 2012 trailer and videos! Check them out and tell me what you think!

The beta for Elder Scrolls Online is starting very soon, next week in fact! Be sure to look into that at the official website and sign up if you want to help them iron out the bugs and check the game out early!

Here’s another video

 

My Game Collection Game By Game (All Systems, Digital and Physical)

…. A few of the games on one of my shelves. Not pictured is the bottom half, and my Wow: Burning Crusade stand full of videogames.

Give my entire videogame collection page a look to see all of the 1000 videogames I currently own!

At least, it gets closer to closing in on 1,000 everyday! (Although lately I’ve been selling off a lot of games to make chump-change to buy food…. oh to be young and jobless :/ I’ll be fixing that soon as Summer hiring is in full swing!).

I own games for virtually every system imaginable. I hope you have fun looking through them all. :)

 

My Republican 2012 Presidential Candidate Political Quest (Button and Pin Collecting)

I would love to grow a collection like this of actual historical Presidential Pins or Buttons!

I’m a political junky, if you haven’t already figured that out. I generally follow what is going on in Politics on both the Left and the Right intently. I’m a hardcore Republican and Christian Conservative (or Evangelical as I’d be called) so obviously I am more intent on keeping up-to-date with Republicans and following the current Republican race than I am the other side, but even so I try to keep a wide eyed view. So I will gladly hunt down President Obama’s speeches, and I love watching all the speech’s and foreign meetings with dignarities that President Obama holds or Secretary of State Clinton gives.

Just like I did with President Bush and Secretary Rice. I still find these events to be fascinating, and I love to watch how President Obama interacts with foreign dignitaries.

So what’s the quest? Since the Republican Presidential Candidates Race for 2012 is over and Mitt Romney will be our nominee, I decided that I want to do something fun to remember the race. I want to track down Pins/Buttons, Tshirts, Bumper Stickers, Mugs and other memorabilia from all of the Republican Presidential Candidates! Especially while the race is still relatively fresh and these things shouldn’t be too hard to track down. I’ll definitely start with Newt Gringrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, President Obama/Biden and Mitt Romney in that order.

Unfortunately I’m not working right now so it’ll have to wait, but hopefully I’ll still be able to purchase these items (or some of them) from the official websites or PACs of the candidates. In particular I was a huge fan of Herman Cain and he was my original Top Candidate for the Republican Nomination of 2012, so I really hope I can still get ahold of his memorabilia. Also Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry, whom I supported to a much lesser extent. And of course, I don’t wanna forget Gary Johnson! And Tim Pawlenty! And last BUT NOT LEAST, Jon Huntsmann. I was a big Huntsmann fan despite my Conservatism, I thought he would’ve made an outstanding President. I hope he’ll also be tapped for Mitt Romney’s cabinet.

I’ve actually thought it would be really fun to collect the buttons, pins, bumper stickers from Presidents of the past… and then not just the President’s themselves, but also the Presidential Candidates that ran during the elections against them. It’d be a great history lesson, since my interest in politics didn’t start until the Bush Administration. :P During the Clinton years I was too young in gradeschool and Junior High to give a damn (although I still remember this female History teacher of mine saying, “How dare a President wag his finger at the American people!” Course, I hardly knew/cared what she was talking about lol)… so I have LOTS of history to catch up on!

These are awesome pins! They may have been given out for the 3rd 2008 debate between John McCain & Barack Obama

Here’s a video showing some random Presidential pins. :)

 

Now THAT is a Zelda collection! (Photo)

I am soooo envious..... lol.

I thought I’d give a shout-out to Liam Donovan for this amazing Zelda collection.

I just love the way he has everything placed on the shelf. I wish I could do that, sadly I don’t have enough room at my place…

I’d love to do something like this though. One day I will have a setup similar to this great one. :)