The deck comes with your standard 52 playing cards and two jokers. It also comes with a double backer and a blank faced card. The card back design is a one-way image that looks like a two-way image. The cards are predominantly white with a metallic gold print of two fish following each other in a circle. Unless you look carefully at the graphic, you will not immediately know that the back design contains two fish.
The Jokers are identical and contain some Japanese characters in black and the word “KOi” in gold under the characters.
The face of all the cards have standard Bicycle artwork except for the colors of the Court cards, which are less colorful and are cast in black, gray and a less vibrant red. The Ace of Spades is the only custom card with a large black spade, two horizontal lines running through it and the word “KOI” printed in gold.
The tuck box is minimalist. Mostly white, it does have the word “KOi” printed on the front, back and the two edges of the box.
The ad copy states:
KOI Playing Cards celebrates the Koi fish — a symbol of luck, prosperity, and good fortune in Japan.
The beautiful, eye-catching back design poses two Koi fish in a circular, swimming motion with metallic gold as they glitter against the stark white background. The smooth, even feel of the cards are inspired by the scales of these majestic fish.
In Japanese, koi is a homophone for another word that means “affection” or “love”, so koi are also symbols of love and friendship in Japan.
Includes 2 custom Koi Jokers and 2 gaffed cards.
- Gold embossed tuck
- Specially colored Court cards
- Printed by the U.S. Playing Card Company
- Designed by Byron Leung”
The cards handle well as you would expect from the United States Playing Card Company and are classy looking. They look like they are from days past – to my eyes.
These cards can be purchased at any Murphy’s Magic retailer for $14.95.
