Rule29 is the American design studio. Teaming up with Just For Kicks and O’Neil Printing, the studio set out to create a deck of cards to capture their love for games and fresh Kicks. From the beginning, the Perfect Pair deck was designed to be as usable as possible. The one-eyed jacks are present, as is the one-eyed king. Each face card was given a name after a type of person that loves their shoes: “The Athlete,” “The Congressman,” “The Writer,” “The Fashionista,” etc. The remaining 36 cards each feature a different shoe profile to complete the unique deck.

The deck: 52 playing cards + 4 Jokers. Poker size. There were printed 2,500 decks in 2012.

Rule29 decided to create a special box for these playing cards. It nicely imitates a shoe box.

“Shoes are, by many, considered the ultimate expression of personal style. And even when you don’t consider yourself a shoe connoisseur, your kicks still make a statement about you.

So, what better way to combine style and fun than adding a favourite personal accessory to your favourite collection of 52 sequential, game-inducing cards? Next time you’re calling a bluff, or on the losing end of a mean game of war, at least you’ll be doing it in style.” ~ Rule29

The entire deck and box were printed using O’Neil’s HP Indigo digital press. The outer sleeve was printed 4/4 with white ink printed on top of the Neenah CLASSIC Linen Red Pepper stock. The tray was printed white ink first then 4/0 on Neenah’s Environment “Desert Storm” stock. Playing cards were printed 4/4 with a satin aqueous coating on CLASSIC Linen White Pearl (cardboard without graphitic layer) to add that final sheen to the set.

It was a bold experiment which has two sides. On the one hand the appearance of these playing cards is really amazing. All colours are some mixture of metallic ink and foil – even black and white (pearl). I tried to show that on pictures but it is really hard to shoot that effect.

On the other hand O’Neil wasn’t able to provide full homogeneity of backgrounds. So you can see some spots on several playing cards. As a result some backs are marked due to that fact.

So, let’s try on this deck.

SPADES

HEARTS

CLUBS

DIAMONDS

JOKERS