Playing cards have been around since the 9th century and are used for thousands of different games. They’ve been a cultural staple for over a thousand years. In recent years, creating custom playing card decks has become popular for gifts and promotional products. Custom decks can be great wedding favors, birthday gifts, and conference giveaway items. They’re a much more fun way of promoting your brand when compared with brochures, door hangers, and direct mail. If you’re interested in creating your own custom deck of playing cards, then you need to learn the basics of playing card design. In this article, we’ll explore the standard sizes of different playing card types. Let’s get started!

What Size Are Playing Cards?

Playing cards come in all shapes and sizes. Your custom ones can be made in any dimension you want. However, if you’d like your cards to match the size of other cards, then you should stick to the standard sizes. Don’t forget to print a matching card box to store your custom playing cards!

Standard Playing Card Dimensions

Hand holding 5 playing cards — Photo by Izzy Park on Unsplash

When you think of playing cards, you are probably thinking of these standard playing cards, also known as poker cards. This is the most common form of playing cards. Standard playing cards include 52 cards in the deck. There are four suits: hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs. Each suit includes 13 cards: numbers 2 through 10 and the jack, queen, king, and ace. Standard decks can also include 2-4 unsuited joker cards, bringing the card total to 54 or 56 cards.

Standard Playing Card Size: 2.5in x 3.5in
Required Bleed: 0.125in on each edge
Recommended Margin: 0.2in on each edge
Rounded Corner Size: 3.5mm radius
Recommended Standard Playing Card Box Dimensions: 2.6in x 3.6in x 0.75in

Bridge Playing Card Dimensions

Hand holding an entire deck of bridge cards — Photo by Luca Volpe on Unsplash

Bridge cards are the slimmer counterpart to the standard playing cards. Since a game of bridge can require players to hold as many as 13 cards in their hand at once, bridge cards are designed to be skinnier than classic poker cards, making them easier to hold. Other than size, bridge decks are the same as standard decks. A deck contains the same number of cards.

Bridge Playing Card Size: 2.25in x 3.5in
Required Bleed: 0.125in on each edge
Recommended Margin: 0.2in on each edge
Rounded Corner Size: 3.5mm radius
Recommended Bridge Playing Card Box Dimensions: 2.35in x 3.6in x 0.75in

Tarot Card Dimensions

Tarot cards, also known as oracle cards, are used to play card games and tell fortunes. The modern standard tarot deck has 78 cards divided into two sections. The major arcana (meaning major mysteries) section has 22 cards and the minor arcana (meaning minor mysteries) section has 56 cards.

Tarot Card Size: 2.75in x 4.75in
Required Bleed: 0.125in on each edge
Recommended Margin: 0.2in on each edge
Rounded Corner Size: 6mm radius
Recommended Tarot Card Box Dimensions: 2.85in x 4.85in x 1.25in

Large Playing Card Dimensions

Stack of needs deck cards in front of a card box.

Sometimes bigger is better. Larger playing card sizes can be great when creating educational flash cards or novelty cards. Large playing cards can be made in any size larger than the standard card size, but the following info details the most common choice.

Large Playing Card Size: 3.5in x 5.75in
Required Bleed: 0.125in on each edge
Recommended Margin: 0.2in on each edge
Rounded Corner Size: 6mm radius
Recommended Large Playing Card Box Dimensions: 3.6in x 5.85in x 1in

Miniature Playing Card Dimensions

Stack of cards with one inspirational quote card flipped over.

Smaller card decks can also be a great choice. The smaller size makes these cards perfect for travel. They can also be a good size to create custom cards for board games.

Miniature Playing Card Size: 1.75in x 2.5in
Required Bleed: 0.125in on each edge
Recommended Margin: 0.2in on each edge
Rounded Corner Size: 3mm radius
Recommended Miniature Playing Card Box Dimensions: 1.85in x 2.6in x 0.75in

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) Playing Card Dimensions

Set of 5 Magic: The Gathering cards — Image from magic.wizards.com.

Creating custom Magic: the Gathering Cards has become a common choice as the game rises in popularity. Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game where players collect cards that vary in power and battle against each other. MTG decks must have a minimum of 60 cards. Luckily designing your own MTG card is easy. MTG cards are the same size as standard playing cards.

Magic: The Gathering Playing Card Size: 2.5in x 3.5in
Required Bleed: 0.125in on each edge
Recommended Margin: 0.2in on each edge
Rounded Corner Size: 3.5mm radius
Recommended Magic: The Gathering Card Box Dimensions: 2.6in x 3.6in x 1in

How Thick Are Playing Cards?

The thickness of a playing card depends on the material the card is made from. Playing cards can be made from plastic or paper. Paper is the most common option, and comes in a variety of thicknesses. A popular paper choice for playing cards is 120lb silk cover. This is roughly 0.015 inches thick.

Ready To Print Custom Playing Cards?

Greenerprinter is ready to help! With years of experience printing high-quality, eco-friendly products, we are the perfect choice for printing your promotional items, including card decks, books and booklets, flyers, and boxes. We offer complete customization of all products. You have full control over the final product. We can’t wait to print with you!

Lead Image by Jack Hamilton on Unsplash

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