Variation on cards, do they exist?

I think the right way to go about this is to ask what about normal cards is deficient, and then utilize a new type of card as the solution to that. Novelty for novelty's sake will lead to a game that could feel like a gimmick with a game attached.

-Jeff

You lost me with this statement. Round cards evoking MtG? How so?

Anyway, I think you'd be better off thinking of why you'd need more corners, angles, edges, or what had you, or why no corners is the the way to go. How does this or that shape aid the game? Same with materials. If it's just about being cool, the game will have to be something spectacular to justify the cost.

Also, there are downsides to each of your ideas apart from production costs. Heart-shaped cards have an angle greater than 90 degrees and two semi-circular protrusions, just begging to be bent. How are these alternate shapes held in the hand? Few shapes reveal as much information as rectangles when fanned out. Circles would be nearly useless, as they could be held in any orientation, and so the arc revealed would likely not hold the bit you need.

Materials such as inflexible plastic are more acurately called tiles, and have an entire genre of game devoted to them. Thin cards of plastic would have slickness and thickness issues. Fan out a handful of just seven credit cards to see what I mean. Also, very hard materials would pose other dangers. I wouldn't want to be the one shuffling the metal cards!

I'm all for innovation, but, as jwarren points out, the innovation should support a concept, not the other way around.

I have played hecatomb. It has pentagonal plastic cards. It's a bit weird and makes card tapping a bit hard to track. Still the platic card make sure you card stay "mint" much more longer but it does not mean that there are indestructable. There is also nothing to hold these kind of cards ( box, plastic sheets, etc ).

Are you sure that there needs to be? Standard cards have advantages of ease of shuffling, ease of handling, and an existing infrastructure for cost-efficient printing, cutting, and assembling. Think about it from the perspective of a game player rather than from a marketing standpoint -- would you honestly want to pay more for a game that used heart-shaped cards, which were a complete pain to shuffle and hold in a hand, just because it was different? Novelty only takes you so far.

This is exactly it -- playability matters way more than a novel presentation. Of course, a game that is visually pleasing could do better, but nice presentation is NOT the same thing as gimmicky card shape or design. If a game is going to have cards made of a different material, or a different shape, there had better be something in the gameplay that demands this.

There's a whole world of card games out there that you are apparently unaware of. Go here: boardgamegeek.com for a database of more games than you can imagine existing. Some particular games to look at include Lost Cities, Verrater, Citadels, and Bang!, for examples of the tremendous variety of play experiences you can create with little more than a deck of cards. Suffice it to say, there's a lot more out there than MtG!

I believe that there is a game with round cards called "Snowball Fight", which you might look up.

The product and the experience are pretty much one and the same, from my point of view. The brand matters somewhat, but the designer's name is a bigger selling point. (again, talking about the hobby games market than the mass market).

It's my personal opinion that you're shaking a tree that's not really likely to yield any fruit. I think that your time would be much better spent learning about and playing the games that are out there and trying your hand at designing some yourself. This will help you to gain understanding about how the game market works, and how games in general work. It will also help you understand why unusual-shaped cards probably wouldn't be a selling point in the hobby market, and would be competing with established games like Uno, Rook, and Pit in the mass market, which is a whole different ball game.

-Jeff