Participate :: Mini One Deck Game & Score Cards - 52 cards; endless fun by Rob Hallifax

Mini One Deck Game & Score Cards are a single deck of cards with which you can play a shed load of games, including chess, dominoes, checkers and more. And of course, any regular card game.

As well as games, the cards have poker chip markings on them so you can use them to collect points or keep score.

The usual 52 cards of a standard deck, but with multiple extra symbols allowing for all the different games. Plus four jokers will tell you all you need to know about how to set up separate games like draughts, chess, dominoes and dice.

As a stretch goal I'm excited to be able to offer a deck of cards with a different coloured back - red in addition to the standard black.

The fronts of this second deck will be the same, but the backs will be red instead of black, opening up loads of new options for games.

By default, your reward will be the original black-backed cards. You can add-on red decks to your pledge, or chose your deck colours after the campaign when you respond to your shipping survey.

Firstly, these are playing cards with the standard four suits. You'll have noticed that they're square though, and also slightly smaller than regular playing cards, but still made from quality 310 gsm casino grade, black core playing card stock.

Then in addition to the playing card values, the cards have clear simple markings on them that let you play chess, dominoes, checkers/draughts, backgammon and many other games with them.

As well as the games, there are poker chip markings on all the cards so you use them to keep score when you're playing card games (not just poker) with another deck. Depending on how many people are playing you could use a couple of these decks for the scoring.

And here's the magic part. When using the cards to play chess and checkers you use the black backs of the cards to make up the chessboard. So you can play all the games with no extra equipment!

How the cards work

Here's me going through the various features on the cards.

And here's Adam from www.shelfclutter.com previewing the deck.

Beyond playing card games, here's an overview of the cards shown configured for different games.

The core gameplay for these cards has been proven out with the original One Deck Game Cards, but I wanted to make sure the smaller cards and the addition of poker scoring markings didn't mess them up.

As I always do, I tested the prototypes with friends and family. I also sent some of the prototype decks out to previous backers to test the usability. I made some small tweaks based on their feedback and now I'm super happy with the design.

The fronts

In each corner there are standard markings for playing cards, and then in the middle of the cards there are additional icons and symbols for the other games. And the backs of the cards are used to make up the black squares on your chess or checkers board!

These cards are based on the original One Deck Game Cards and use the same custom icons as before, with an extra ring around the centre to mark the poker chips.

In addition to the new poker scoring features, the key difference between these cards and the first One Deck cards is that they're smaller - about 70% of the size by area. This is to make them generally more portable and particularly to make it easier to play chess and other games where you need space to lay out the cards.

And although these cards are smaller than the first One Deck cards, the central components on the cards are the same size so will be just as clear for playing chess, etc.

A key point about these cards is that you don't need a separate board to play chess and checkers - the black backs of the cards act as the squares. However, if you do happen to have a full size chessboard to hand, these smaller cards will fit on the squares...

The backs

The back of the cards are made up of graphic elements from all the different games you can play with this deck.

From a distance they might look like a classic playing card back, but when you look closely there's lots of fun stuff going on in the detail.

One of the key design constraints was that the back of the cards were predominantly dark so they can be used as the black squares of a chess/checker board.

The jokers

Each of the four jokers has a simple diagram to remind you how to setup chess, checkers/draughts, dominoes and backgammon. (Just in case you forget that the queen always goes on her own colour in chess!)

Joker 1 - how to lay out a chess board

Joker 2 - how to lay out a draughts/checkers board

Joker 3 - how to lay out a backgammon board

Joker 4 - diagram showing all the domino and dice cards, and it can also be used as a dealer marker

The four jokers also each have a small marking on them to allow you to play Tichu. In the corner of the jokers you'll find a dog, a phoenix, a dragon and a Mah Jong. You can read more about Tichu here.

The idea behind these cards is that with just one set of cards you can play loads of other games in addition to all the games you can play with a regular set of cards.

Take them with you and you'll never be without a game to play! Or keep them at home for a nice minimalist set of game cards.

This is my seventh Kickstarter and I've successful shipped rewards to thousands of happy backers in over 70 countries.

My cards have also been featured in lots of publications, including the ones below.

You can also see the Trustpilot reviews from my card shop and on Etsy where I've been selling cards post-Kickstarter.

As mentioned above, these cards are not only square, but slightly smaller than regular cards. They're made of standard card stock though, so feel like regular cards.

The full deck of cards will weigh about half that of a regular poker-sized deck and you can see them here compared to the first One Deck cards and one of my Cocktail Cards which is a standard poker size card.

The cards will be printed by the Expert Playing Card Company in their classic stock, a 310 gsm casino grade, black core stock.

Thanks for getting this far down! I'm Rob and I'm a product manager, designer and engineer based in London. This is my seventh Kickstarter, and I'm really excited to be launching these cards as the fourth deck of cards under the Cartesian Cards name.

Playing cards are relatively simple to ship so pledges for the campaign can be shipped anywhere in the world.

Fulfilment

For fulfilment I've teamed up with Gambler's Warehouse in the US, Deallez in Germany, and Zatu in the UK. These guys are the experts in shipping cards!

Shipping from these separate locations might add a few days to delivery times, but the idea is to make fulfilment smooth and cost-effective for as many people as possible. So if you're in the EU for example, your cards will come from Germany so you won't need to pay extra duties. All shipments will be tracked.

Timeline

A lot of work has gone into getting this idea to this stage and I couldn't have done it on my own.

Firstly, many thanks to my previous backers on Kickstarter. Without all the support and encouragement from you, my products literally wouldn't exist. So thank you for helping me make it all happen. This time around I'm especially grateful to Marvin, Tim and Kristina who took the time to have a play with the prototype cards. Sorry I couldn't have sent more out to the many of you who also offered to help.

For this deck I've once again had help on the graphic design front from the excellent JMG Studio.

On the product photography side thanks again to long-time collaborator and friend, Rob Wilson. And for the video, post-production was done by the excellent team at Shooting Reels.

And finally to the friends and family who've provided me with support and feedback, and also their amazing modelling work in photos and videos!

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