About this project

PROJECT COMPLETE!

Want Skallops?

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Skallops are the best way to build big!

They’re a construction toy that uses clever laser cut clips—Skallops—and regular playing cards to let you make anything that you can imagine. We’ve perfected the design so that it’s easy to connect playing cards in countless ways. The Skallops themselves are cut out of the highest-quality, sanded and finished birch plywood.

Marshall came up with the basic idea behind Skallops when he was only 8 years old, but because he never had access to a laser cutter, it just sat around in the back of his mind gathering dust. He joined us in California this fall, and together we started working on Skallops as we were finishing up our previous successful Kickstarter project, the Trebuchette (now available at em-labs.com).

At last, after many improvements and plenty of play-testing, we're ready to introduce Skallops to the world. We need your help to raise enough money to place large-quantity orders on materials and move into production.

Skallops Community

Once the Skallops have shipped, we'll be setting up a community website where anyone can post their designs and instructions for building awesome things with Skallops. We’ll be asking you, our amazing backers, to seed the gallery with your favorite creations. And we’ll be there too, posting instructions for the designs you see here.

Rewards

Here's what you get in a Starter Pack: 104 Skallops and two decks of cards.

A Junior Pack is half of this: 52 Skallops and one deck of cards.
A Builder Pack is twice this: 208 Skallops and four decks of cards.

A Junior Pack is enough to make a few simple shapes.

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With a Starter Pack, you can build the wheel shown in our title image or more than 15 base-pairs of DNA.

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If you buy a Builder Pack, the sky (or at least the ceiling) is the limit!

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If you crave even more construction, consider our Architect Pack. Eight decks of cards is enough for the whole family to join in. Plus, we'll upgrade your decks to Ellusionist brand Bicycle Black Ghost and White Ghost playing cards (a $49 value alone)! Normally sold to magicians, these are some of the coolest playing cards we've ever seen.

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Finally, our highest-level backers will receive a Custom Pack with eight decks of high quality, Bicycle playing cards with an image of your choice printed on the back of every single card! Choose a wood-grain image to build a giant log cabin, or surprise your daughter with 432 tiny pictures of her face that she can assemble into an entire city. The Custom Pack also includes an Architect Pack's worth of Skallops. For more info on ordering multiple images, check the FAQ. Images coming soon.

Why Skallops are Great

They're big. Because they use playing cards, it's quick and easy to build large, impressive structures.
They're strong. Using our precision laser cutter, we cut each Skallop to grip ordinary playing cards firmly, and the resulting creations are surprisingly sturdy.
They’re gorgeous. We use top-quality, hand-finished birch plywood and genuine Bicycle brand playing cards, creating a new, yet classic, look.
They’re flexible. Unlike injection-molded, plastic building sets, playing cards are flexible (and disposable) enough to bend and fold into exactly the design you want.
They’re versatile. You can use Skallops with business cards, postcards, company-branded playing cards, etc. Or you can cut out your own shapes from cardstock!
They’re expandable. We already have expansion sets planned for future release that are fully compatible with the current design!
And finally, they’re REALLY FUN to build with!

Warning: Contains small parts. Please keep out of reach of very young children.

Skallop and Skallops are trademarks of E&M Labs LLC.

Main and close-up images courtesy of Käthe Grinstead, kwcgrinstead.com.

Finally, we'd like to give a special thanks to our friends over at GeekDad.com for their help with play-testing!

FAQ

What if I want multiples of a reward?

Pick the reward level you want multiples of, and pledge the total amount for however many rewards you want!
Similarly, if you want some combination of different rewards, pledge the total amount for all the rewards you want and pick the reward for one of them.
Then, to be sure that we know which rewards you want, send us a message on Kickstarter to confirm!

Last updated: Tuesday Jan 3, 12:29am EST
What if I only want Skallops, and no cards?

In order to keep the logistics of this project simple enough to allow us to get everyone's rewards out to them quickly, we're not offering Skallops alone as Kickstarter rewards. Thanks!

Last updated: Tuesday Jan 3, 12:31am EST
For the Custom Cards Pack, do all 8 decks have to have the same image on the back?

Nope! You may choose up to four custom images. Each image must be on at least two decks.

Last updated: Thursday Jan 5, 5:36pm EST
Will the Skallops be made in the USA?

Yes! All of our plywood will be sanded, finished, lasered, and packaged either by us or by local shops in the Bay Area. Also, we will be buying official Bicycle brand cards from the US Playing Card Company.

Last updated: Friday Jan 13, 11:52am EST

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Funding Successful

This project successfully raised its funding goal on February 1.

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128 Backers

Junior Pack: One set of 52 Skallops and one deck of Bicycle playing cards. Domestic shipping included. International: +$7 Can/Mex, +$10 Worldwide.