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Make a VPG 10: Pieces - Cards & Tiles (continued)
Cards and Counters, Similarities and Differences
Often in game design, cards and counters are used as interchangeable parts. That is, putting counters in an opaque container (e.g., a coffee mug), mixing them, and then drawing one at random has nary a difference to fanning out a deck and saying “pick a card, any card.” Likewise, cards can take a specific position in game world, be moved about like counters, tokens or other game pieces, and convey important data to the players by their type and location in a manner very similar to their smaller game component cousins. It is not unusual to find cards merely standing as a “large counters” that can hold more data or nicer artwork (due to their larger size) as shown below. Here you see the front an back sides of the two factions' Supreme Leader cards from Caesar XL (that serve the function of large counters):
Cards are also regularly used as a “dumping ground” for the rules book text. That is, instead of listing in the rules what all the various cards can do in a game, such data is printed directly on the cards themselves in hopes that those cards' instructions are self-explanatory. When the rules for a card’s use are printed on the card itself, and no further clarification is necessary in the rules book, the “rules weight” (amount of text in the rules book itself) for that game declines, and that is always a good thing.
Of course, abuse of the self-explanatory game card has lead some designers to cram so much text onto each card, and in such a small font, that those cards cause Pause and Squint Syndrome (PSS) as players cease their function of enjoying the game to stop and carefully study (donning their reading glasses, when necessary) all of the text on a card – extending this break in the action even longer because, after reading a card's micro-type, more time is then required to digest what all that text really means and its potential gameplay implications. Pause and Squint Syndrome game cards are just plain bad ergonomic design and bad game design; whenever it is observed during playtesting, it is a clear sign that designer needs a data presentation “rethink.”
You’ve probably played a game of Scrabble. Did you notice that the letter tiles function, essentially, as a hand of cards? You draw them at random and your opponent can see their backs but not their faces while you “hold” them “in your hand” (on the rack).
If you think about it, cards and counters can perform many of the same functions, but their key differences, and your most important concerns when deciding whether to use cards or counters in your game design, are the ease that larger, more flexible card components can be:
• shuffled
• dealt
• held in a player’s hand
• passed between players
• stacked in large amounts (i.e., into Draw and Discard Piles)
• hold more text or whole game rules
• have room for better graphics
Conversely, counters are:
• easier to move about in a smaller space and show their exact position (and “facing”) within the game world’s playing area
• easier to pick up off a flat surface (because they’re thicker)
• are a more durable, sturdy and long-lasting component after repeated playing
• come in a greater variety of shapes and sizes (that, itself, can convey important game information)
Also, the reverse of a card is generally used as a "limited intelligence screen" (i.e., it is printed with a generic card-back design seen by other players), while the reverse of a game counter (when it is not simply left blank) is generally used to show a second state for that unit (e.g., damaged, moved, unsupplied, etc.), as shown here from The Arduous Beginning:
Note that this is not always true as a distinction between cards and counters. Many games use the reverse of their game counters as their generic “hidden” or “untried” side, for example the Napoleonic 20 counter shown below
But whether the back of a card or counter is to be left blank, used as a second state of being, or printed with a generic ‘fog of war’ side, it is an important consideration for thinking about that game piece’s function in communicating data in the game world will work. Cards and counters are the where rubber meets the road between the players and the game designer, and good 'traction' between them means good communication.
