605 Series Signature Playing Cards

   It’s been a little more than four months since I got my first deck or Fournier 605 playing cards. I expected to write this review sooner but wanted to include in my report the life expectancy of the cards. This took much longer than I anticipated. Out of the box the first thing I noticed was the elegant design and classic colors. No dragons, heavy-metal graphics, grey or silver suits or black boxes, these cards immediately struck me as “Classy”.
   The paper stock is much heavier than the Bicycle Casino card stock and the cards appear to be a stiff sheet between two thinner sheets. A trip to the Fournier website informed me that the cards are varnished, then baked, then pressed before cutting. This process leaves the cards with a unique feel that is not at all slippery, one of the hazards of brand-new Bicycle playing cards.
   While I’m not a professional printer I’ve had enough experience to recognize that these cards have been printed using a complex process. The yellows being added before the blacks makes the face cards “pop” from ultra-crisp lines. The royal’s art is dignified and beautiful without pretense.
    In addition to card magic I’m an avid card player. My pack of 605’s played dozens of games and performed hundreds of tricks (with a little help from me) and it took the majority of four months to “wear the deck out.” I say that in quotations as the deck is still usable, it’s just getting a little sticky.
    I can kill a pack of Bicycle 808s in two weeks – It took eight-times that long to wear out the 605s and I’m very, very impressed. That’s simple math: I used $11 worth of 605s in the time it took to wear out $24 worth of Bicycles.
    It may interest you that I WASHED my Fournier 605s. I’m not sure that the manufacturer endorses this but I used a wet and dry towel to wipe accumulated dirt and oils from the face and backs of the cards. Dirt and oils that soak INTO a bicycle card can be easily WIPED OFF of a Fournier 605. Once clean, they performed beautifully again. The pack I just retired has been washed four times. If I give a Bicycle playing card the same bath in turns into a “taco” in a few seconds from water warping.
    Add to this the fact that 605s undergo TWENTY-ONE different quality controls, are always cut evenly, and are the same color and feel every time as guaranteed by Lloyd’s of London.
    I’m done buying cheap, substandard paper – For me, it’s Fournier 605s from here on out.
                   - Steve Johnson November 25th, 2009