Copag Playing Cards
The Copag comapny is located in Brazil. They have been in business since 1908, operating in the city of São Paulo. In 1918 they began manufacturing their own cards. Today they have a manufacturing facility in Manaus, and send their cards to players all over the world.
You can visit the COPAG website and find out more about the company.
I picked up two setups of of COPAGS to run through our tournaments. Both were Copag 1546's, one a burgundy/green setup and another a red blue setup. The red/blue were a regular sized index, the burgundy/green were jumbo index cards.
All the cards I received were poker size cards (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").
The 1546 series are made from 100% PVC. They come in decks of 55. There are the traditional 52 cards for regular play, and two jokers are included. Also included is the COPAG guarantee card.
The guarantee protects against manufacturing defects that are found before "extensive use" occurs.
Copag 1546's in Box
In the picture, the lid of the box underneath the cards. Once you take the cards out of the display setting, you can discard the fancy cardboard and use the lid to seal the box. And, on both setups of Copags I received, the lids seal as tight as a Christmas popcorn tin.
You actually have to pry the box open. That can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on the strength of your fingers. If you drop the box of cards, you won't have to worry about the lid popping off and cards spilling all over the place.
When i measured the cards they came in at .6218 inches for 52 cards. That makes them as thick as the KEM Arrow decks I use.
I picked up a set of Jumbo and a set of standard index faces. You can see the differences below. Also in this picture, you can see the difference between red and burgundy backs.
Burgundy Back - Standard Index - Jumbo Index - Red Back
The cards themselves are incredibly flexible. You can bend a card in half with little resistance. This flexability also leads to the next characteristic of the cards. They feel flimsy. This is despite being rather thick.
The cards are definitely slick. Shuffling them will test how nimble your fingers are, not how strong your forearms are. While these cards are more slick than some of the other plastic cards I'm reviewing, they are not the slickest of the bunch.
Overall, I think the card backs are absolutely beautiful. These cards look like they should have a lot of life in them. The extra flexability means that in games like Hold'em, even players that feel the need to bend their cards in half to see what's in the hole shouldn't damage them. My only issue with them is the slickness.
In my opinion, if you deal most of your games, or have a set of relatively experienced card handlers sharing the deal, the deck should work fine (and it should last nearly forever). If you pass the deal through a group of players that have less-than-nimble fingers, I suspect you'll be picking up cards from the floor twice a night. But, that may be the case with any brand of plastic cards.
I'll be putting my Copags right next to the KEMs on the card shelf, so that's mighty high in the pecking order.
|
