Replicating Cards / Board, etc.

[Emp]

Allow me to jump in here. I work as a printing press operator and think I do have some knowledge on the subject.

From what I can tell by just looking at the cards is that they are being printed with the offset printing method. It could be that they are done on a digital printing press but two things bother me about it and that is that the register of the 4 colours on the cards is just to perfect. I operated a digital printingpress before and register was always a problem on those things. The second thing that keeps me away is the amount of cards being made. It seems a little to high cost to go allong the digital path. But one can not be 100% sure about this except when someone from flying frog can confirm wich way they went with printing.

The finishing of the cards apears to be something called UV or High Gloss Coating. This is done inline with the printing press. I don't think they are laminated. Laminated paper tends to feel thicker and is more even. If you look closely at the cards you can see an uneven layer over the cards.
But I would only be 100% sure if i would take a card apart and destroying it in the process. Wich I will not do

My opinion on the matter is that it would be possible to create your own cards but to make them look exactly the same it would be rather expensive. Because the way they are made can not be replicated with your standard at home printer. You would be needing one of the high end ones, preferably a laser printer because desk jet printers ink does not stick to the kind of paper used for the cards. And then there is also the problem of the finishing of the cards. I don't know anyone who has an UV coater at home

You can go to a professional printing shop with your design (and I am not talking about kinkos here) and with one of the original cards and just ask them that you want cards made like the original but with your design...but I hope you got some money to burn or are prepared to print out hundreds of the same card just to keep the cost down.

Playing cards are even in the printing world a different branch. You have printing shops that only print those, Carta Mundi is one of those for example.

Hope this helps.