Now Taking Off: Jetsetter Playing Cards

 

Regular readers of this blog know that I’m not only an aviation journalist, but I’m a 100% certified aviation geek (#avgeek). I love this industry and do what I can to promote #avgeeks everywhere.  I’m also a big fan of Kickstarter, which is a crowdfunding website that helps people fund their dreams. I have contributed to six of them, and all of them have been funded.

So today, I’m promoting the seventh Kickstarter I’m supporting.  I received an email from Paul Ruccio, the  creator of  Jetsetter Playing Cards, which is “a limited edition deck of playing cards inspired by airport signs that we all have driven by one day or another.” He asked if I would give a few tweets or a blog post on his plan to offer playing cards for #avgeeks.

I wrote him back and said if he gave me a compelling pitch on why I should, I’d support him.  Here’s what he wrote:

“Honestly, the story is twofold. Both aviation and playing cards have been such a huge part of my life ever since I was a little kid. I wanted to bring both of my passions together. When I was younger, my parents took me to every local airshow and always took me to watch airplanes takeoff and land at our local airports. One of the biggest but simplest things I remember was the green airport signs when we were driving to the airports. To this day, when I see those signs when I travel for work – it really takes me back to being a kid and spending time with my family. You can saw I get giddy, even at 30 years old. 22 months ago, my wife and I had a baby boy. Guess what he loves? Airplanes… with no influence from my wife and I (he even sits and watches the entire IMAX Boeing documentary on Netflix… and enjoys it as if it was a Disney movie). We’ve started doing the same with him and it bring so much joy to him to go to the airport and just watch the activity of the planes. Even at home, he hears an airplane fly over and he runs to the windows and says “Airplane!” 

The playing cards have the same impact with my friends and family. It has always brought so many of us together and enjoy the time spent, whether it was on vacation or just hanging around the house. Plus, its tangible. You can place smartphones, computers, and tablets aside and enjoy each other’s company while playing a simple game of cards – whatever game it may be. I decided to take the inspiration of my childhood, airplanes, and airports – then associate it with playing cards. I wanted to create a Kickstarter to share my passions with others out there that have the same memories and passions.
Now, this pitch may seem more personal than anything but there are so many people out there that share the same passions and memories. As much as it would be nice to profit from the project, my main goal is to deliver a product that people will enjoy and take them back to sitting down and playing cards with friends and family. When I decided to launch the Kickstarter, I told my wife “I don’t care if I just break-even. I just want to see people enjoy these playing cards by actually playing with them.” It’s really how I feel. There has been a lot of playing cards on Kickstarter… it has been more about the art on the cards rather than why people actually buy playing cards… to play with them.”

Ruccio did, so not only am I giving him his post and tweets, I also pledged $20 toward his Kickstarter. And I hope you’ll do the same. He’s got a tough row to hoe — although he has 96 backers and $2667 in pledges, he has only 16 more days to reach his goal of $12,000. So I hope you’ll consider helping out a fellow #avgeek.  Pledges range from $1.00 to $800, so there’s something for every budget. I appreciate it, and I’m sure Paul will too!

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