"GSB signifies Gold, Silver and Bronze. The idea is to remove gender hierarchy and race differences from our card decks. Why should the King have a higher position than the Queen? Why should the King, Queen and Jack be white? However, rather than complicating the sex and race inequality debate even more, we decided to remove the gender and race factor as a whole and to introduce a common, universally known ranking system. All the other cards in the deck are the same as usual. This card pack was designed with the passion to fight for equality in gender as well as race. Our goal is for everyone to feel comfortable while playing cards."
https://www.gsb-playingcards.com/

This may be a non-issue for some, but personally I encourage all initiatives that contribute to a more gender-neutral understanding.

"Why should the King have a higher position than the Queen?" - because it's a game. And games have rules. Like chess. The key is to put the king in check but the Queen is the most powerful piece. And its white vs black. Should we change it? No. To do so would be lunacy. Just like gender neutral playing cards.

I'm a black man.

I never paid attention to whether or not my playing cards (jacks, queens and kings) are black or white.. Could care less....

I perform card magic and leave all the extra stuff out of it.

I didn’t know the face’s of the face cards had a color (I know the suite has color) but I always thought the faces to be colorless outlines. I guess I could be wrong ... just my take on it. As far as the gender of the cards I don’t see an issue creating a gender neutral alternative to the current system but I’m not sure magicians are the place to start .... not because magicians as a whole do or do not agree with gender equality ( I would never generalize a group like that and I certainly would not venture to speak for a group) but in my opinion one big reason that magicians do card tricks is because people are familiar with cards, they are a common, house hold, almost universal thing, sure what the backs look like and the picture card imagery might change from 1 brand to another but if some one is asked to “pick a card, any card” what ever they pull out they know & understand with out explanation. Once you start changing some of the cards you have to be concerned with wether or not your audience is going to think that your using some kind of “magicians deck” in order to accomplish your slights you have taken years to master. Maybe down the line once common playing cards that people are familiar with have gone gender neutral magicians will happily use them but until than you may have a hard time getting magicians to use them .... just my opinion on the matter ... again I could be totally off

I'm all for equality and that sort of thing, but where are all these people that are uncomfortable playing cards because of the gender/race aspect of the court cards? I can't imagine that this is a problem of such a scale that it needs to be addressed. Seems more like a solution in search of a problem.

Ron

Great. Now playing cards are offensive.

Anybody know where I can buy some bronze rabbits?

First hard pass of the new year

Well said Camron. It's a complete non-issue, but unfortunately we all now have to be careful not to criticise!!!!!

I'll be a rebel... What a load of ********!

I just proved to my wife that I do not buy every magic trick or deck of cards that comes my way. The gender-neutral paying cards are a Hard Pass for me too!

So I'm playing poker.... I have a full house, Bronze over Silver, what do you have? Nope... Hard Pass here also.

It may not be an issue for many here, but clearly it's enough of an issue for enough people for someone to make a product.

Will it catch on? I don't know.
Will I use them? Probably not.
Will it bring something to some? Absolutely, and that's a good thing.

Things change and evolve, even playing cards.

In general, I think that the gender difference in card decks will not lead to anything good, so your idea is good

I guess it's worth a try in today's world. Please let us know how they sell. Good luck!

Well. First things first.

The design does not look absolutely stunning. It's ok but looks a bit cheap. Like a deck from a dollar store.

Secondly there is no mention of the printer. Since on the website they offer custom printed decks with your logo I guess they print themselves. And therefore I guess the handeling aspect can become very problematic. Magicians want/need cards that handle extremely well, I'm not sure this can be guaranteed.

Lastly the concept.
This idea has probably its place for 1% of the population which will love this. For the rest normal cards are not connected with social compassion or modern issues.

And if you are a magician you don't want to bring attention to your props. They should look normal. To start explaining that you use a special deck and laying out the meaning will raise suspicion about the deck.

And also if you perform a magic trick the people watching should forget about their ordinary lives and reality and experience some wonders. I don't think it will be helpful to bring in modern social mores and explain to your audience at first that you use this deck for more equality... This is definately not the story I want to start to tell to my spectator.

By the way... a lot of magic tricks do not use the hirarchy of the cards at all....


So over all this deck might be nice if you perform tricks on the gay pride parade.... but in most enviroments I would prefere a more elegant deck that just looks amazing (theory 11's White Artisans are one of y favourite ones)

No thanks. When you remove the people from the court cards, as this deck does, you're effectively neutering the deck, and removing the very elements that are the main interest for most people.

Just enjoy the male and female characters for who they are. In the world of playing cards, this is more about them being different than it is about them being ranked. In fact, in any given card game you can rank them however you want. If you really feel you must, then just change the rules of the game you're playing. But don't remove their genders, or make the cards completely impersonal.

I know I'm not the only person that feels this way, as you can see from previous discussions where this concept was raised more than once over on the playing cards forum over on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/playingcards/co......al_cards

https://www.reddit.com/r/playingcards/co......ard_deck

With all due respect, a deck of playing cards just isn't the place for making a statement about gender theory. This loses more than it gains.

Just the kind of idea that allows people to scoff and then pour scorn and ridicule on those seeking to bring in meaningful change. Ranks alongside not allowing engineers to say manhole cover.