Printing your own deck
Where to Print Your Own Tarot Deck: Comparing Small-Run Printers
If you need 24 to 500 copies of your own tarot deck, there are three real paths. A print-on-demand service — Amazon, or a no-minimum printer such as Greener Printer or Aura Print — will print as few as one deck with no stated minimum, at a higher cost per deck. A small-batch printer with a published minimum in the dozens, including us from 12 decks, prices lower per deck than print-on-demand and usually bundles a box and booklet. An offset-scale printer with a minimum in the hundreds, such as PrintNinja at 500 decks, prices lowest per unit once you have enough volume to fill a production run. This guide compares five printers plus ourselves on published minimum order, card options, box and booklet, where each one ships from, and stated turnaround — every competitor fact sourced to their own page and dated 9 October 2026. We are one of the five, and we wrote this guide; we say so here so you can judge the rest of it accordingly.
What we know from making decks ourselves
We make tarot decks ourselves — Dark Forest, made in Ukraine. Every deck compared on this page is one we could print ourselves tomorrow; our own smallest run is 12 decks. That is the vantage point this guide is written from, and it is why the advice below is about what actually goes wrong on a small card run, not a generic printing checklist.
A few things worth knowing before you send art to any printer, from our own production line:
- Bleed mismatch. Our own print line works to a 2 mm bleed (a 74×124 mm canvas for a 70×120 mm finished card). The wider convention elsewhere is 3 mm. A file built to 3 mm bleed crops down safely to 2 mm; a file built to 2 mm cannot be stretched up to 3 mm without redrawing the edge. Confirm a printer's bleed before you finalize art, not after a proof comes back wrong.
- Safe area. Keep anything that must stay fully readable — text, a frame line — at least 4 mm inside the trim line. That margin is often the difference between an approved proof and a reprint.
- Screen-to-print colour shift. A deck that looks right on a monitor can shift once printed and laminated, especially with large flat dark areas. Ask whether a printer offers a physical or colour-matched proof before a full run goes to press.
- File count and resolution. A full 78-card tarot deck is 156 print files once backs are counted — 78 fronts plus 78 backs — at print resolution (we work at roughly 300 DPI, about 873×1464 px per card face). Confirm a printer's exact DPI and accepted format before you build 78 files twice.
Questions to ask any printer before you commit a small run
Whichever printer you choose — including us — these are the questions worth getting in writing first:
- What is the real minimum order, and the true per-deck price at the quantity you actually need, not the headline number from their largest tier?
- Is a box and a guidebook or insert included in that price, or billed separately?
- Where is the deck actually printed and shipped from — does the printer's own page say so, or do you have to ask?
- What turnaround is quoted, and is it counted from your artwork approval or from payment?
- Is there a proof-approval step before the run goes to press, so a mistake is caught before it is printed on every copy?
- Can the printer state a file spec — bleed, DPI, safe area — in writing, rather than "send us anything and we'll sort it out"?
The full file specification we work to — bleed, safe area, card and booklet geometry — is published on our printing specification page.
Five printers compared on published facts
Every row below is what the printer states on its own public page, read live on 9 October 2026 — the exact page is linked in the Source column. We did not call or email anyone; we are reporting what each printer has chosen to publish. Where a printer does not publish a fact, this table says so rather than guessing. One SERP result, MyBoxPrinter, is not included: its own page is a custom playing-card box product, not a card-printing service, so it is not a fair comparison here.
| Printer | Minimum order | Box | Booklet / insert | Ships from | Turnaround (their words) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Forest (us) | 12 decks, steps of 12 to 192 | Included in the deck price | 48-page booklet included in the deck price | Ukraine | 3–4 weeks door to door (≈16 days production + 7–10 days transit) from artwork approval | our own printing page |
| Greener Printer | No minimum stated (as few as 1 deck) | Custom tuck box, part of the product | Not published on this page | USA (California) | "2–3 day turnaround" | greenerprinter.com ↗ |
| MakePlayingCards | No minimum on standard stock; 1,000 required on 3 premium stocks | Add-on (tuck, rigid, magnetic options) | Add-on, offered in the order builder | Not published on this page | Not published on this page | makeplayingcards.com ↗ |
| PrintNinja | 500 decks | Add-on (tuck, rigid, magnetic options) | Add-on, listed as "companion guidebook" | Not published on this page | "~4 weeks production + shipping" | printninja.com ↗ |
| Aura Print | No numeric minimum stated (as few as 1 card) | Printed by Aura, add-on | Not published on this page | United Kingdom | Production 1–2 working days from proof; dispatch 1–3 or 5–7 working days after | aura-print.com ↗ |
| Boardgamesmaker | No minimum stated | Add-on (tuck, rigid, magnetic options) | Add-on, offered in the order builder | Not published on this page | Not published on this page | boardgamesmaker.com ↗ |
Which option fits your run size
None of the six options above, including us, is the right fit for every run size. Fairly sized to the job:
- A single copy or a prototype. A print-on-demand route — Amazon, or a no-minimum printer such as Greener Printer or Aura Print — is the right tool, not a batch printer. You are buying one object, not a production run, so a per-deck minimum built for volume works against you here.
- Around 24 to 100 copies — a test batch, a first store order, a crowdfunding fulfilment. This is the range where a published small-batch minimum, ours at 12 decks in steps of 12, starts to beat print-on-demand on per-deck cost, and where it is worth asking every printer in writing whether a box and booklet are bundled or billed on top — several of the five above treat them as add-ons.
- 500 or more copies. PrintNinja's own published minimum is 500 decks, built for exactly this volume. At that size, an offset-scale printer will likely beat a small-batch printer's per-unit price, and that is the honest recommendation regardless of who ends up printing your deck.
Who we are, and why we are on this list
Dark Forest Tarot is a tarot deck maker, and the company that wrote this guide. We are one of the six options compared above, not an independent reviewer, and you should read the rest of this page with that in mind. Our own minimum, price ladder and production facts are published in full on our wholesale page and custom tarot printing page — the same standard we have tried to hold the other five printers to: what each one states on its own page, dated, with nothing invented or implied.
Our decks are made in Ukraine. Two US addresses are used only as delivery points for finished stock that has already shipped from Ukraine — never as the place of manufacture. A newly printed order ships directly from Ukraine.
Common questions
- Where can I print a small run of my own tarot deck?
It depends on how many copies you need. For a single prototype, a print-on-demand service with no stated minimum — several are compared above — is the right tool. For 24 to 500 copies, compare minimum order, what's included and stated turnaround on each printer's own page; this guide does that for five printers plus ourselves, Dark Forest, sourced and dated 9 October 2026.
- What is the minimum order to print a custom tarot deck?
It varies by printer. Dark Forest's published minimum is 12 decks; PrintNinja publishes 500; Greener Printer, MakePlayingCards, Aura Print and Boardgamesmaker publish no fixed minimum on their standard card stock. Check the minimum at the specific stock and finish you want — some printers set a separate, higher minimum for premium finishes.
- Do I need 1,000 decks to print my own tarot deck?
No. A four-figure minimum is one printer's number for one finish, not an industry standard. Minimum orders published by the printers compared on this page range from no stated minimum up to 500 decks; ours is 12.
- Where are your decks printed?
Dark Forest decks are made in Ukraine. Two US addresses are used only as delivery points for stock already shipped from there, never as the place of manufacture. For where each other printer compared on this page ships from, see the table above — several publish a country, and some do not publish one at all.
- What is included in a small tarot deck print run — box, guidebook?
At Dark Forest, a printed box and a 48-page booklet are included in the deck price from the 12-deck minimum. Several other printers compared here offer a box and a booklet as paid add-ons rather than including them by default — confirm this in writing before you order, since it changes the real per-deck cost.
- How long does it take to print a custom tarot deck in a small run?
For a new print run at Dark Forest, plan 3 to 4 weeks door to door — about 16 days in production plus 7 to 10 days in transit, counted from when you approve your artwork. PrintNinja publishes roughly 4 weeks for production and shipping combined. A quoted turnaround and the turnaround you experience can differ; ask whether the clock starts at payment or at artwork approval.