A set of standard playing cards is a marvellous invention. 52 cards, 4 suits, cards in each suit numbered 1-13. So many games can be played with these. From children’s games to gambling games and tournament games, pick up a standard deck of playing cards and you can unlock the door to a world of play for all ages. The deck of 52 playing cards dates back centuries and almost every household has a deck of playing cards in a drawer somewhere. Inventive minds have designed games in this design space for centuries.
Commercial game design is about creating a physical product that someone can buy. Ideas are free but when you bundle them in colourful boxes people will pay you money for them. But playing cards have been around since before modern consumerism. The ubiquitous UNO started out from two decks of standard playing cards.
These last few weeks I’ve studied classic card games to become better as a game designer.
The card game design space
Almost all my game designs use cards — albeit custom cards. Even some of my story games (Montsegur 1244, Death of Rapacus). The more I design games, the more I appreciate the subtle details around physical components. How many cards can you hold in your hand? How many cards can you shuffle in a deck? Play a card face up or face down. Slide it to the player on your left. Put it aside or pile them high. And all the subtle cues these physical acts communicate to the players.
Draw a card. Discard a card. Play a card. Shuffle, deal a hand of cards. Sort them, fan them. Collect them, stack them. Lay them down overlapping or 90 degrees. Which cards are special? Collect four of the same value, collect cards in sequence, collect cards in the same suit. Aces high, aces low. Jokers. So many things you can do with them and there is a large audience out there that is already familiar with these.
Great games are as much about ideas as about shiny components. Also, if you design into a universe of kings, queens and jacks, hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades, you tap into a large audience. Balatro is a recent example that there are new games to be created in this space. Balatro is Poker with deck building.
Studying the classics
I’ve played a ton of classic card games in my life. Games like 31, Black Peter, Whist, Rummy, 500, Go Fish, Casino, Poker, Black Jack. It’s amazing what you can do with the same 52 cards. But maybe there are great games out there I don’t know? Or maybe I could be reminded of a great game I had forgotten? Now when I add my own dent in the universe with game designs of my own, I felt it was a topic worth studying. What games are out there. How they work and what they can do.
So I dug in. Some time ago I picked up a book in Swedish about classic card games (Stora Kortspelsboken, Björn Holmström, 1981). Now I read it cover to cover and tried out some of the games. I supplemented with Wikipedia articles and BoardGameGeek. I read about kids games, trick taking games, poker, and games that were new to me. At the end I was inspired to create a game of my own that can be played with a standard set of playing cards.
In this series of posts I will give you an overview of what I learned. In the final post I present the game I created and describe the process that led me to the design.
- Part One: Kids games (this post)
- Part Two: Trick taking games (coming soon)
- Part Three: Gambling games (coming soon)
- Part Four: Designing a game for standard playing cards (coming soon)
Kids games
I have many memories of playing cards. An early memory of mine is playing 31 with my grandmother and my dismay when I found out she had already collected a winning set but didn’t announce it — she played to let me win! Now what fun is there in that? 🙂
As an adult I appreciate games that allow me as subtly dial up and down the level of difficulty for the kids to overcome. When you play with peers, you play to win and to socialise. When you play with kids, you play for the kids to have a great experience. You want the kids to walk away happy, having learned something and maybe come back for another game later. That won’t happen if you play to win hard.
In 31 each player gets three cards. You play to collect 31 points: Ten to king are worth 10, aces 11, the three cards must be in the same suit.
It’s a simple set collection game with some open information and a simple choice when it is your turn. A great feature is that it works for a variable player count. Designing a game that works for both 2, 3, and more players is surprisingly hard.
Go Fish
Another game I revisited and played with the family recently is Go Fish. You collect sets of four by taking turn asking other players to give them all their kings, fives, or whatever. But you must have at least one card in your hand of the set you ask for. You are rewarded for paying attention also when it is not your turn. When it is your turn you are either rewarded by getting cards from another player or by picking up a card from the table (a fish from the pond). It’s a great game to play when you learn a new language as you get to practice the numbers. And then there is the anticipation when someone collects three of a kind and you know that the set likely goes to the one who gets the fourth.
My mother laid solitaire on the kitchen table. I played Casino with my sister, a great two player game. I played War and built house of cards with my childhood friends. We played Olsen, a variant of UNO that you play with a standard set of playing cards. A friend also taught me to play King and Collector. We only played that once: One player fans out all the cards on the floor, the other picks them up.
What is great about kids games is that they need to be super simple yet contain a core that excites and draw in players. Learning the suits, counting, adding, subtracting. Dexterity games. Memory games. Hidden information that is revealed to some or all player. One player wins. Does not overstay its welcome.
Petroglyph that I designed and published earlier this year does a lot of this.
Next
In the next post I examine trick taking games (coming soon).