Five Nintety-Seven Playing Cards
The Five Ninety Seven playing cards, or just 597s, were a huge step away from the standard very-detailed design that's often brought to us by Joker and the Thief. The tuck and deck designs host a minimalist vibe and vintage aesthetic that's just enticing!
Starting with the tuck, the 597s case is matte paper with a letter-pressed orange-tinted logo on the front, a word or two on the sides, and the logo again on the back. The inside of the tuck doesn't feature printing of any kind, but it is a vibrant solid yellow, so that's pretty neat. They still stuck with the perforated seal though -- a classic feature of a Joker and the Thief deck. I normally hate stickers / seals on decks, but I hate it slightly less since it's perforated =P
The back design of the cards themselves is similar to the tuck, a muted vintage green color with a logo in the middle. the logo here, however, is yellow opposed to the orange from the tuck. Give the design, it is a one-way pattern here. They had a good opportunity with the minimalist approach to finally produce a symmetrical design that's better for both magic and cardistry, but that was their decision. It still looks pretty nice.
The front design is almost standard, but just different enough to feel like it's been modified. The courts are not the normal fully custom artwork, and the pips and colors of the rest of the deck seem pretty Bicycle-standard. All in all, it's a great everyday deck!
The deck consists of 56 cards:
- 52 playing cards
- Two non-identical jokers, one a joker and the other a thief.
- Two ad cards
Where to buy?
Last I checked, you should be able to pick up Five Nintety-Seven Playing Cards at Joker and the Thief. The last price tag I saw for this deck was set at $16.00.