Playtesting with cutout paper as playing cards for Mint Tin Pirates and Mint Tin Aliens is coming to an end! The mini poker cards are in the process of being printed and it will be nice to have uniform playing cards that can actually be shuffled! =)
I was originally going to do 300 gram per square metre (gsm) cards with an aqueous coating and leave the 310 gsm linen finish plastic coated ones as a Kickstarter stretch goal. But when I look at a quantity of 200 to 300 of each game for the Kickstarter, the price difference between the two types of cards drops to $100.
Rather than create a false stretch goal for the better cards, the linen ones will be the final ones. The linen finish creates a cushion of air making shuffling easier. Mind you that mini poker cards are inherently harder to shuffle than full-sized cards, so anything that helps make that part of the game nicer and less hassle is important. The plastic coating also makes the cards more durable.
False stretch goals? You know what I mean, taking pictures of your game with wooden cubes and saying you’ll upgrade to meeples at a certain level. Not all game creators do this, and probably not most, but some do and it’s been recommended to me by peers. I can’t do this because I’ll be asking for people’s hard-earned money and that’s never something to play games with (doh! seriously, no pun intended! well, maybe a little). =p
Anywho, I digress! =D
This first set of real cards is for additional playtesting with some hardcore gamers. Once that’s done, the second batch, with any modifications, will get printed for game reviewers.
I don’t know if alpha and beta are ever used in tabletop game prototyping but it’s terminology I’ve been immersed in for years with other endeavors (mainly Sim-on-a-Stick which is alpha software).
The hand-cut paper cards were the alpha version, this set of real cards are the beta release candidate, and the reviewer and Kickstarter version will be the release to manufacturing and official general availability version (gee, sounds so official eh?). =D
