Cards... How many is too many?

I think every game is a special case and the number of cards that is considered too many is unique to each one. For instance, if the discard pile is shuffled back into the deck every turn, then you do not need a huge number of cards, but simply a minimal ratio of cards. Also, consider how many players your game will support. If you want to have up to 6 players, and each player can have a hand size of 6 cards, well then you know you will need at least 36 cards from the very start. If you want to support several rounds of card play without reshuffling the discard pile back into the draw deck, then you will need considerable more cards to support your game (depending upon how many cards a player can play/draw in one turn). So I would have to say 50-70 cards is not too many cards. Also consider what function the cards serve. Is the entire board game pretty much centered around card play? If so, then having a lot of cards isn't out of the ordinary. Also, how often will the cards be accessed during the game? For example, say your cards represent events within your game, and on average they are drawn once every round of turns. If you estimate you might have 15 rounds, then having 50-70 cards would probably be too much. 20-25 might be more in order. Again though, every game is unique, so it's hard to say without exact specifics about your particular game design.

HTH,
Darke

Hello

In my game "The princess and the bard", a fantasy game based on cards, will the player try to build their own kingdom. The game includes backstabbing, earthquakes, wild battles, thieves, happy and unhappy love and more...

The game has three decks of cards.
The first deck contains 167 cards. From this deck will the player build the kingdom. The deck contains 2 x 5 families with a 4 personality's (king, queen, prince and princess), four towers (one in each direction) and 4 guards. It also contains element cards (earth, fire, wind, water, life, death and metal (and a wild one)). When it is a player turn he can draw 0-3 cards from the deck (depending on how many other things he/she wants to do). It is possible to play the complete game from this deck.

The second deck contains 45 cards. 10 cards are faced up and it is possible for the players to trade cards from the second deck with combinations from the first deck. When a card is traded, a new card is drawn. Each card in this deck in unique. There are cards as stepmother, thief and grand thief, tyranny, bards, master chefs, a little giant and more. Every card has its own profile and the rules are printed on the card.

The third deck has 9 cards. This deck contains events.

The first deck with 167 cards is not too many. If the deck runs out of cards, the games end. This happens 1 time out of 20.

The second deck with 45 cards gives the game a little extra. In all play tests; this deck has never run out of cards.

The third deck with 9 cards is circulated, the same event can come up several times during a game, and with the game mechanism, some events never appears.

"The princess and the bard" has over 200 cards and it is not many. It also gives the players a slightly new game with new tactics every time. But this is not all (I sound like TV shop):

The first expansion "The princess, the dragon and the knight" adds 45 more cards to the second deck and 9 more to the third deck.
The second expansion "The princess that came in from the cold" adds another 36 cards to the second deck and 6 more to the third deck.
When we play tested with this expansions (over 300 cards) that where still not to many cards, just a new flavour added to the game.

The number of cards in a game depends on how the game is played and how the cards interact with each other.

// Johan

P.s. This game will be on my home site as soon as I have the possibility to reach it (problem with the internet company). It will only be in Swedish.
P.s.s I will not have the possibility to publish this game (to expensive for a card game)

Well, a plate can hold 55 cards, if you make them the right size: I think the magic size is 2.25" x 3.5". (I'm not exactly sure about the figures, but you can find your own ruler and deck. :-) That should fit onto a plate. My game had to be slightly larger to accommodate some of the text on the cards, so it fit onto the plate in a 5 by 10 pattern, so fifty cards total on the plate.

So, I think regular decks fit on the plate in a 5 x 11 pattern, making 55 cards: 52 regular cards, 2 jokers, and usually one promotional insert.

Speaking of promotional inserts, there are several companies out there that use the last space on a print run for special promotional cards. They hand the special card out at conventions, etc. Looney Labs come to mind, but several companies do this. I'm thinking about doing it for my next game. People like getting special cards like that. I know I do.

-- Scott S.

OK, mind you, this is the experience of just one attempt at getting a game printed, with all the wisdom that imparts... ;)

Before signing off on a game, the printer should show you "proof sheets" showing what the printer will print. When I saw my proof sheet it was five cards down by ten across. If I would have made my cards a little more narrow, I'm sure I could have got 55 cards out of the deal, instead of 50.

I had 2 identical reference cards in my deck, and they took up two spots on the proof.

You'd have to talk to an actual printer about collating for CCGs and that sort of thing. I would assume that if you had 20 cards that were exactly the same (like a "Plains" card in M:tG) each of those in the mix would take up a spot on the proof.

Even though it's a little more efficient to go in multiples of 50 or 55, I don't think it's a requirement, unless your wallet says so. You can have a 135 card game, and that's fine; it's just not as efficient as running a 150 or 165 card print run, IMHO. (I mean, why not do something with that extra fifteen spots on the photographic plate?) Also, perhaps they have other ways of sticking them on the sheet... or different sized printing plates... or... who knows? :) It's always best to ask your printer(s) about such things. Get quotes from different printers, then go with the one you feel the most comfortable with.