The Universal Waite tarot deck is based on original line drawings for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck by Pamela Colman Smith. It is not known whether the flat, slightly garish colours used in the standard Rider-Waite were Smith's idea or her publisher's -- especially since the Original Rider-Waite Tarot , a facsimile edition of the deck as it first appeared in 1907, shows slightly deeper, richer colours.

By popular demand, illustrator Mary Hanson-Roberts , creator of the Hanson-Roberts Tarot , was commissioned to produce a more subtly and attractively coloured rendition of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. The Universal deck first appeared in the early 1990s. It comes in a standard large size and a minuscule travel edition in a keyring case.