Iraqi Playing Cards

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-05-15 05:20pm

I got a pack of them! how cool is that?

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-05-15 05:35pm

I got spammed by someone selling them.

Not very, is my guess, actually.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-05-16 01:28am

Well I think they're fun. THe pictures of them look like they were taken at the Iraqi DMV.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-05-16 08:12am

Keep them, in twenty years they'll be worth something.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-05-16 08:23am

I’ve got to get a pack.. I also want a pack of the democrat cards that where being made in Texas.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2003-05-16 08:46am

I got two packs at the 7-11, one for playing, and one for collecting. Hopefully it'll be worth something in a few years...

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-05-16 10:49am

NecronLord wrote:Keep them, in twenty years they'll be worth something.

If they are the official gov't printing. But, there is no copyright on these cards (I don't think) and anyone could print a pack at anytime, which essentially kills the collectable value. I think that's what the spammers are doing.

Drewcifer · Post by **Drewcifer** » 2003-05-16 07:42pm

GreatUSAflags.com is the only authorized seller of these cards, beware the imitators...

http://www.greatusaflags.com/product_in ... ucts_id=96

Forbes magazine recently had an interesting article about the cards:

Small Business
A Winning Bet On Iraq's Most Wanted
Arik Hesseldahl, 04.25.03, 5:30 PM ET

If there's one thing everyone will remember from the closing days of Operating Iraqi Freedom, there's a good chance it will be a deck of cards.

Some 200 decks of cards featuring Iraq's most wanted on the playing faces were printed by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and distributed to troops at Iraqi border crossings. A deck was shown on TV screens around the world during an April 11 CENTCOM briefing in Qatar by Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, and news reports on every capture of a member of the former Iraqi government has included mention of that person's place in the deck.

One of a deck of cards showing former members of the Iraqi regime.The decks immediately became fodder for the late-night talk show hosts. Conan O'Brien quipped: "The U.S. Military has been handing out decks of cards with pictures of the most wanted leaders of Saddam Husseins' regime. Apparently, three Tariq Aziz cards will get you a Pokemon."

Naturally it wasn't long before Internet vendors jumped into the act, selling copies of the deck to those wanting war mementos. The most successful of the bunch is a Web startup called GreatUSAflags.com. Launched on April 10 as a subsidiary of Lionstone International, a Chicago-based wine importer and distributor, the company had planned to sell patriotic pins and stickers online.

When the deck started getting international media attention, the site's founder Louis Amoroso contacted Liberty Playing Cards, a playing-card publisher, with the intention of selling 500 decks per day, says Ken Gaebler, a spokesman for GreatUSAflags.com.

The site took orders for 25,000 decks the first day, and has since tallied orders for more than 700,000, at $5.95 each for more than $4 million in sales. Liberty didn't have the capacity to meet that kind of demand, so Amoroso went looking for another printer.

Enter United States Playing Card, the 136-year-old playing-card publisher that owns card brands such as Hoyle Official, Bicycle and others. The Cincinnati-based company is the biggest card manufacturer in the world in terms of sales--more than $100 million last year, says George White, USPC's vice president of marketing.

The U.S. military is the biggest per-capita consumer of playing cards and the idea for wartime playing cards isn't new. USPC manufactured cards for the military in the 1940s that were printed with the profiles of enemy planes, and similar cards have been used in other conflicts.

When it designed its original 200 decks, the Defense Department had used a trademarked Joker image on two cards--a trademark that USPC happened to own. As images of the cards spread all over the Internet, courtesy of a PDF-file posted to the Web by the DIA, several small vendors have started selling decks that include the trademarked Joker. USPC lawyers have since been busy forcing them to remove the Jokers from their decks.

"We have sent dozens of cease and desist letters," says White. In fact, USPC sent operatives from the Pinkerton Security Services to Liberty's offices in Arlington, Texas, to make sure all of its Iraqi most-wanted decks were shipped without the offending Jokers.

Meanwhile, Amoroso contacted USPC, looking for a new card publisher, and secured the rights to sell a USPC-printed deck--complete with the trademarked Jokers, making it the only "legal" deck of Iraqi cards that appear as the originals did. Amoroso declined to state how much of a royalty USPC gets for each deck.

"They had been getting calls from all these crazies wanting 500 or 1,000 decks. We wired them the money for 200,000 decks and they realized we were serious. Then we hammered out the exclusive deal," Amaroso said.

Although the significant portion of the war is over, interest in the deck isn't dropping. Sales of the cards on the Web site are now running about 22,000 decks per day. "We'll be packing 500,000 decks this Saturday and Sunday," says Amaroso.

Forbes article link

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-05-16 07:54pm

So, what's the point besides the initial (alleged) humour factor?

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-05-16 08:02pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:So, what's the point besides the initial (alleged) humour factor?

Shrug

None I guess.

I do need a new deck have 2 both missing some cards...

I am not a huge Card fan but I guess I might hunt down that pdf and make myself a nice set.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-05-16 08:06pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:So, what's the point besides the initial (alleged) humour factor?

How else are you going to keep track of the fucks as we round them up, a list?

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-05-16 08:08pm

I think its fitting putting Saddam on the Ace of Spades, although id love to see his reaction ater being put on the Queen of hearts or something like that.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-05-16 08:17pm

Darth Fanboy wrote:I think its fitting putting Saddam on the Ace of Spades, although id love to see his reaction ater being put on the Queen of hearts or something like that.

The reporter was right, he should have been the joker.

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-05-17 06:06am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:So, what's the point besides the initial (alleged) humour factor?

Of the original idea? Probably to get the names and faces imprinted into grunts' minds.
Of the commercially porduced packs? Collectors interest, probably

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-05-17 09:19pm

Its time for the one....

the only.....

BUDDY IRAQI!

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-05-17 09:33pm

Vertigo1 wrote:
BUDDY IRAQI!

[img]http://vertigo1-2.freeyellow.com/BuddyIraqi.jpg[img]

What is, that, thing...

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-05-17 10:05pm

Vertigo1 wrote:Its time for the one....

the only.....

BUDDY IRAQI!

*SNIP IMAGE*

That pic is just strange.

Post by **Kuja** » 2003-05-18 12:38am

Vertigo1 wrote:Its time for the one....

the only.....

BUDDY IRAQI!

That's just wrong...

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-05-18 09:04am

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Darth Fanboy wrote:I think its fitting putting Saddam on the Ace of Spades, although id love to see his reaction ater being put on the Queen of hearts or something like that.
The reporter was right, he should have been the joker.

mohammad Al Sahaf should have been one Joker, and Geraldo Should have been the other one.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-05-18 09:17am

IG-88E wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:Its time for the one....

the only.....

BUDDY IRAQI!

That's just wrong...

Seconded.