Here's the situation.
I'm designing a game where players will place cards (representing planets) in specific orbits around a star. The cards can be placed in any orbit when they're played (e.g. you could put a planet in orbit 4 without there being anything in orbit 3 or 5). Players are trying to create planetary systems with specific characteristics (e.g. a rocky planet in orbit 3, a gas giant in orbit 7, ...) and so must be able to place these cards where they want, when they have the opportunity.
I've designed the cards so that the left 2cm of the card contains all of the information about the planet (type, tags, etc.). I did this so that the cards could be played overlapping on the table so as to reduce the amount of space required. Players may be building 2, 3, or more star systems at a time so table space can get eaten up quickly.
What I need is a suggestion for how to place these cards in such a way that they stay fixed in their orbit but that also allows other cards to be played in other, nearby orbits as the game goes on. I'm thinking of a player board / tableau, or some sort of slotted board in which to insert the cards but I'm struggling to find a solution that I like. Note that the cards must be played face-up on the table so a playing card rack isn't really viable.
Any suggestions or things that you've seen before that might work would be appreciated. Thanks!
