The original NFT Deck
of Playing Cards
of Playing Cards
The Deck represents one of the earliest NFT projects, minted in June 2016, incorporating many innovations that, even now in 2026, are still ahead of their time.
Introduction
The Deck is a set of 53 NFT (non-fungible token) poker playing cards that were originally minted in 2016 on a blockchain known as Breakout Chain. Cards in The Deck are the usual playing cards consisting of Two of Clubs through the Ace of Spades, plus one Joker. Deck cards are true NFTs that can be transferred between users on the Breakout Chain blockchain. Each card is a single, unique, indivisible token that is distinct from any other token on the blockchain. A single person can hold multiple cards from The Deck.
The Deck was created to produce a card game in its most elemental form, with one implicit rule:
For example, two-pair beats one pair. Four-of-a-kind beats a full house, five-of-a-kind beats a royal flush, and so on. With only 53 cards, no duplicates, and the decentralized, pseudo-anonymous nature of the blockchain acting as a bottleneck, making a hand from The Deck represents one of the greatest gaming challenges ever invented.
The reward for making a hand in the Deck is the ability to flex it. To that end, the Breakout Chain wallet had incorporated into it the ability to display one’s hand, showing up to 15 cards, which was thought to be an upper bound for the number of cards an individual could conceivably collect.
An image from the testnet wallet shows how the cards would be arranged if 15 were present. Testnet cards were quickly distributed according to a fair lottery, so all these cards were never owned by a single person after distribution, even on testnet.
Examples of flexes can be found on the original Multicurrency (the Breakout Chain testnet) and Breakout Coin bitcointalk.org threads.
History’s very first NFT flex is the Jack of Spades. This NFT was minted on Breakout Chain’s testnet, which preceded mainnet launch by over five months. Testnet NFTs were distributed by the same lottery as the mainnet, although the testnet distribution was slightly botched (that’s why we do testnet!), so some testnet recipients got the wrong NFTs. NFTs were correctly distributed according to the lottery on mainnet, of course.
Since capturing this screenshot of the post, the image of the wallet within is no longer displayed correctly on the bitcointalk forum, which is a known issue with imgur and not due to missing files, acknowledged by Theymos, OP and admin of the Bitcoin Forum. The original hosting location still features this screenshot incl. the date it was uploaded here. The direct image link can be found in the sourcecode of the page.
History’s first flex of an NFT
All world’s first of The Deck
1. World’s first collectable NFT cards Contributions
2. World’s first NFT playing card set Contributions
3. World’s first NFT PFP project Contributions
4. World’s first in-wallet pictorial representation of NFTs here
5. World’s first functional NFTs
6. World’s first NFTs that function to secure a blockchain
7. World’s first staking NFTs Contributions
8. World’s first flex of an NFT here
9. World’s first public NFT auction here Contributions
10. World’s first and only NFT mined as block reward Contributions
11. World’s first and only NFTs that are enforced by a consensus protocol
Proof and evidence for all events is documented and backed on this website.
© Copyright 2026 The Deck
