Card Games

TYPES OF CARD GAMES:

There are thousands of types of card games. Perhaps the biggest distinction is to differentiate between the classic card games and the modern card games.

The classic card games (poker, blackjack, canasta, mus, etc) are played with the classic deck of cards and all their variations:

• English  and French Decks: 52 Cards Ace, 1 to 10, Jack, Queen & King (Spades, Diamonds, Hearts & Clovers) or
• Spanish Decks: 40 Cards 1 to 7 and Jack, Horse and King (Coins, Cups, Swords & Clubs)

The first option for a media property is to simply brand a French Deck or a Spanish Deck.

http://www.nhfournier.es/blog/descubre-la-baraja-de-star-wars-rebels

http://www.nhfournier.es/blog/star-wars-saga-ya-est-aqu

The modern card games have specialized cards, they are divided into two main categories:

1. Trading Card Games (TCG) or Collectible Card Games: This is a card game with a number of cards that is not defined and can expand. Each card is individual and defines its own properties, by collecting them you can freely build a deck according to each game in particular. These games were born in 1993 with Magic: The Gathering. These games are common for films. Card are meant to be played with but are also meant to be collectible.
2. Collectible Deck Games: These have a predetermined number of cards so you just buy the deck of cards and the game is predefined and simpler. You collect the deck and not individual cards. They can be defined in different kinds one depending on this being a original game or on it being a branded deck for classic games. The original games can be defined depending on the age range:

• Children, simpler rules and design for children,
• Youth: Oriented for an adolescent audience with rules that are slightly more complex and for
• Adults, adult themed and elaborate rules.

Samples:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Se%C3%B1or_de_los_Anillos:_juego_de_cartas_coleccionables

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Card_Game

TRADING OR COLLECTIBLE CARD GAMES:

The cards are sold in random assortments. This means that the cards must continue to be mass produced and players will continue to buy the cards to expand their decks. Players can also trade cards with other players to diversify or expand their cards. The availability of the cards determines its value, the more available the less valuable, the more unique the more valuable. The bigger the deck the bigger the resources to play. The task of acquiring all unique cards should be costly and extremely difficult, in fact this is one of the most important identifying traits of these games. Average number of cards on established CCG games ranges in the thousands. Most games start out with hundreds of unique cards and then expand from there. Magic: The Gathering has over 15000 unique cards. If it is simple to gather all cards then the game is not a CCG or if it is it will likely not be successful.

CCG games usually have:

1. A starter or intro deck. The minimum basic deck of cards that need to be used to be able to play the game. The starter pack will also include any other item needed to play the game (i.e. rulebook)
2. Booster Packs: Random selection of cards of varying rarities, usually between 8 and 15 cards.
3. Starter Set: Introductory product which contains enough cards for two players and includes instructional information on playing the game. In order to speed the learning process, the card content is typically fixed and designed around a theme, so that the new players can start playing right away.
4. Theme deck or Tournament deck:  Most CCGs are designed with opposing factions, themes, or strategies. A theme deck is composed primarily of cards that work well together and is typically non-random.

Because CCG change and evolve over time, if a media property were to have a CCG it should allow interactivity in the form of the players being able to submit their own cards for us to print and include. This would allow the game to evolve according to player participation.

According to this CCG are divided into two categories:

1. Dead games: Games which are no longer supported by the manufacturer and therefore lack expansion and can only be played with cards that had been printed. A lot of games fall into this category.
2. Live Games: Games which are supported by the manufacturer who continues to expand the cards and therefore the game continues to evolve.

There are two main activities involved with the CCG:

1. The acquisition, collection and customization of your deck to be able to use for play. This is one of the main activities that sets these games apart from the rest of card games.
2. Playing the game.

CCG Gameplay:

1. Fundamental set of rules that describes the player’s objective.
2. Cards are divided into categories or types.
3. There are basic rules by which cards interact.
4. Each card has additional info which explains that specific card's effect on the game.
5. Each card represents a specific element derived from the game's genre, setting, or source material. The cards are illustrated and named for these source elements, and the card's game function may relate to the subject.
6. Standard customized deck size is about 60 cards but may vary depending on the player’s strategy for playing.
7. Some games limit the amount of copies of a card that can be included in a deck.
8. The playing of the game is usually divided into phases, these usually are:
1. Ready phase — A player's own in-play cards are readied for the upcoming turn.
2. Draw phase — The player draws one or more cards from his or her own deck. This is necessary in order to circulate cards in players' hands.
3. Main phase — The player uses the cards in hand and in play to interact with the game or to gain and expend resources. Some games allow for more than one of these phases.
4. Combat phase — This typically involves some sort of attack against the other player, which that player defends against using their own cards. Such a phase is the primary method for victory in most games.
5. End of turn — The player discards to the game's maximum hand size, if it has one, and end of turn effects occur.
9. Card scarcity is divided into three categories:
10. Common
11. Uncommon
12. Rare

13. Special cards may also only be available through promotions, events, purchase of related material, or redemption programs

CCGs also exist in online form and played on the internet via digital cards. As a launch strategy in order to minimize risks the game could be launched online to get players playing and create demand, before moving to the print version if the demand is there. Although normally the situation has always been the opposite, successful print CCG will get its online version.

PROS

A CCG has the option if successful of becoming a profitable property.

It is in line with the idea of audience engagement as the game evolves with the players.

If the game is able to catch on, the sale of cards is constant as there would be a continuous demand for new cards.

With a crowdfund big enough where you are just selling the starter deck you might be able to create a large enough player base to allow the game to trigger on.

CONS

Competition is high and the industry is tight.

There is no way of starting small with a game like this, you either go all in or are likely to fail.

Start up production and distribution costs are high. Marginal Costs are too high. You need enough cards out there to encourage your “connectors” to start playing.

You need a large enough player base to allows the game to trigger.

If you do not have a large enough character base you are not able to fulfill a CCG. It needs many characters with varying “powers”

COLLECTIBLE DECK GAMES:

These are games where you buy the deck which contains all cards needed for playing. The deck therefore is the game itself. The most common games are comparison games, where you split the deck between the players and then try to win your opponents cards by comparing a card with a higher value. For example, if the theme of the deck was cars, you could determine that the car with the highest motor power wins, so as you compare cards whoever has the card with the higher engine power would win the cards. One of the more popular companies is Top Trumps, here is description of the game play from wikipedia:

“Each pack of Top Trumps is based on a theme, such as cars, aircraft, boats, dinosaurs, or characters from a popular film or television series. Each card in the pack shows a list of numerical data about the item. For example, in a pack based on cars, each card shows a different model of car, and the stats and data may include its engine size, its weight, its length, and its top speed. If the theme is about a TV series or film, the cards include characters and the data varying from things like strength and bravery to fashion and looks, depending on the criteria.

All the cards are dealt among the players. There must be at least two players, and at least one card for each player. The starting player (normally the player sitting on the dealer's left) selects a category from his or her topmost card and reads out its value. Each other player then reads out the value of the same category from their cards. The best (usually the largest; in the case of a sports car's weight or a sprinter's 100m time, for instance, lower is considered better) value wins the "trick", and the winner takes all the cards of the trick and places them at the bottom of his or her pile. The winner then looks at their new topmost card, and chooses the category for the next round.

In the event of a draw the cards are placed in the center and a new category is chosen from the next card by the same person as in the previous round. The winner of that round obtains all of the cards in the center as well as the top card from each player.[1]

Players are eliminated when they lose their last card, and the winner is the player who obtains the whole pack. Some variants of the rules allow 'three card pick', whereby a player who has only three cards remaining is allowed to choose any of their three cards to play with. Typically, this lengthens the game considerably.”

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Trumps)

Magic’s initial print run was 2,6 million cards.

Magic uses the concept that in some instances normal rules can be overridden.

Manufacturers need to support organized players mostly through tournament play

Wizards of the Coast was granted a patent in 1997 for the TCG type game. Whether this patent is valid or not is under debate.

Some companies in the CCG business:

http://www.upperdeck.com/

http://www.hasbro.com/en-us/

http://enter-play.com/

https://company.wizards.com/

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/index/

http://www.paniniamerica.net/index.cfm?

Conventions:

http://www.gencon.com/

http://gama.org/

Process of creating a card game:

1. Research
2. Ideas
3. Rules
4. Design

Some popular card games:

Illuminati (a classic conspiracy theory game)

Flux

Cards against Humanity (my personal favorite)

Gloom

Guillotine

Get Bit

Chez Geek

Space Hulk Death Angels Card Game