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Desert Bus 2025 Total Raised
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06:21:00:00
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Giveaway: Balatro Playing Card Deck
A handful of the cards, showing several faces, the jokers, the box, and the back sides. The backs of the cards are printed with the pattern of some of the default Balatro decks.
The Legendary Jokers, colophon card, and the Ace from each suit.
Several of the cards from each suit. The backdrop of each card's face is a pastel wallpaper of all the various joker designs, in a pale version of that suit's color; the pips and ranks of each card are printed on top in darker, more saturated colors, simply as letters and numbers, so as not to cover too much of the backdrop.
A part of the large linoleum block used to print the backdrop for the eventual cards. The block itself is about 11x16 inches, with 146 little icons representing each of the jokers filling the space. The linoleum block is carved by hand for relief printing.
The flatbed press used to print the large linoleum block.
The form & chase of handset type used to print the pips and ranks on each face. Every letter and space is a separate piece—to print each card face, the form is partially disassembled to swap out the ranks and suits, and re-locked into place.
Several individual cards, showing joker icons like: Swashbuckler, Turtle Bean, Golden Joker, Raised Fist, Castle, Bootstraps, Ceremonial Dagger.
Several individual cards, showing joker icons like: 8 Ball, Campfire, Wee Joker, Superposition, Acrobat, Square Joker, Hanging Chad.
Winner: Mrlector
Donation drive raised: $14,070.56
The Balatro Playing Card Deck is a standard 52-card deck which unfortunately can't infinitely clone its 9s as a money-making scheme, but can play a totally normal game of cards. Done letterpress from linoleum blocks and handset type, the face of each card is a unique cut from a larger print, such that somewhere in the deck is represented every one of the game's 150 jokers. (Non-standardly, there are 5 actual Joker cards, one for each of the Legendary jokers.) Printed in high-contrast four-color suits.
Acid-free paper with archival inks. All type handset in Century Schoolbook and Bradley. Custom hardcase box. Handle gently and protect from sunlight for greatest longevity.
Donated By Tess LeNoir
I grew up in the apartment above my mother’s letterpress shop, doing linoleum projects as a kid and typesetting jobs with her since high school. After four years majoring in art, running that shop and working in letterpress, printmaking, and book arts has been my full-time job for ten years. For personal projects I do a lot of broadsides in lead type, and work with digital, ink, and linoleum or wood block illustration.