[Barleywine]

Originally Posted by Wheel of Fantastic

The Albano Waite is not everyone's cup of tea but it is one of my all time favourite decks. It has also been popular enough for US Games to keep it in print for, what, 26 years?

I originally got the US Games version in 2014 and immediately connected with it. As time went by I started to become a little disappointed as I discovered how different it was from the original 1968 edition.

Recently, I got hold of a vintage 1968 edition and the differences are pretty clear. The colours of the US Games version are a darker shade and thus not as 'vibrant'; the US Games version is blurry which has affected printing quality (the Page of Wands' staff has a green outline not present in the original); the colours of the Pentacles Court cards have been changed - the Knight of Pentacles is now the same muddy brown as the horse and the lavender skies have become a blah greyish blue.

But now even worse things are afoot. Out of curiosity to see what cardstock the deck is currently being printed on, I bought a new copy of the deck. Same heavily laminated cardstock as before. But now printing errors are creeping in - the King of Pentacles has a scratch in the upper right of the sky which is very noticeable. It could be taken to be a comet but it should not be there.

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the deck and this is the 21st century. The current printing of the deck really is not fit for purpose anymore; it would be to US Game's credit if they obtained a more accurate and faithful imaging/scan of the deck and released it next year. It's the least the company could do for one of their best selling evergreen decks.

I had the same scratch on my King of Pentacles, so I contacted U.S. Games and they replaced it for free with a perfect one, no scratch.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Barleywine

I had the same scratch on my King of Pentacles, so I contacted U.S. Games and they replaced it for free with a perfect one, no scratch.

Yup, I've done the same and customer services seem happy to post me the single card across the Atlantic!

Still, there are an unknown quantity of decks floating around with this misprinted King of Pentacles.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

Here's an update on my replacement card. It arrived today and, I have to say, US Games' customer service is amazing. I think I said that upthread but it bears repeating.

Interestingly, the cardstock of the replacement card is different - it has a much lighter lamination than the deck I bought recently. My reasonable guess is that new printings of the Albano will use this lighter laminated - and nicer feeling - cardstock. If you like the heavily laminated cardstock for this deck then get one now as they are probably soon to disappear.

I'd quite like a whole Albano deck with this new cardstock but I'm not going to buy another one.

[Hedera]

Great news about the cardstock!

I've stuck with my German and French editions of the deck (both printed in Belgium), because it has terrific cardstock, none of the colour/distortion problems of the US Games versions and... No copyright anywhere!


Seconding the wish for a new pocket version, I find I use my pocket decks much more than my regular sized ones.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

@Hedera

The US Games printed decks don't have any copyright on them either.

I have to say, I've heard a lot about the Belgian printed decks and I've seen scans of them. I could be wrong but the colours don't seem any different to the current deck and they're certainly no where near as good as the original vintage printings. I had been tempted to hunt a Belgian deck down but then changed my mind.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

O.K., so I ignored my own recommendation about not buying another copy of the deck, went down to Watkins Books here in London and got one with the new cardstock. The cardstock is a definite improvement but nothing else about the deck has changed except some minor colour variations in certain cards.

I had another comparison between the current US Games deck and the vintage '68 edition I own and noticed a whole raft of colour changes I'd previously missed.

For instance, the water in the '68 Moon is blue; in the current deck the water is green. The throne in the '68 Queen of Cups is turquoise; in the current deck it's green. The robe of the '68 Queen of Pentacles is purple/lavender; in the current deck it's brown.

The effect of these changes seems to be to reduce the range of colours used in those cards and not by accident - it was clearly deliberately done. I can only speculate it was done to reduce printing costs back when the deck was first republished but that strengthens the argument for an anniversary full restoration edition.

With those colour changes, the current deck is not a facsimile of the original, it is a new edition. BUT, were the colours of later printings of the original changed in the 1970s? If so, then the current deck may have been reproduced from one of these later printings.

Does anyone have a copy of the vintage deck printed towards the end of its run in the 70s to verify this?

[Abrac]

The first Albanos have "Accurate Color Tones" on the box. The later ones say "Deluxe Edition." The first ones have slightly darker tones but overall there's not a lot of difference. US Games' colors will be different than any vintage Albano I believe. You can see comparisons of the two Albano versions here.

http://waitesmith.org/index.php/lega...s-albano-deck/

**In the slideshow at the bottom of the page, you can right click on an image and select "Open link in a new tab." It gives you a lot bigger picture.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

My vintage deck is a Deluxe edition. I was just wondering if there were later printings of the vintage deck where the colours were changed; seems unlikely but you never know.

Having thought a little more about all the various colour changes, I have come up with another, more plausible theory. I'm no legal expert but I reckon the colour changes may have been made so that US Games could create a unique deck they could protect with copyright. Just in case Frankie Albano or one of his relatives appeared down the line and took US Games to court. Maybe someone with experience of copyright law could say whether that is correct or a load of old cobblers.

If that theory is true it means we will never get a reprint of the vintage deck with the original colours. Poo.

I have taken to calling the current deck the 2nd Edition because it is clearly a different deck. So long as you don't compare it to the original then it is a fine deck, even with the slight blurring. The new cardstock feels superb and goes a long way to changing my opinion of the current deck.

I'd still like a 50th Anniversary corrected edition though!