Custom playing cards

[donkirkby]

It might be easier to keep track of some game mechanics with custom playing cards. I think it makes sense to have the piece type as the suit, and a rank for each card. The pawns could be like number cards with small symbols in the centre and the rest could be like face cards. Each suit would come in red (UPPER CASE) and black (lower case).

The whole deck would be 1P, 2P, 3P, 4P, 5P, 6P, 7P, 8P, 1N, 2N, 1B, 2B, 1R, 2R, 1Q, 1K, 1p, 2p, 3p, 4p, 5p, 6p, 7p, 8p, 1n, 2n, 1b, 2b, 1r, 2r, 1q, 1k, for a total of 32 cards. Maybe add a couple of jokers, if I can think of a use for them?

• [x] card for each piece
• [x] cards for a few checkers
• [x] show piece colour in corners
• [ ] change backs to use light and dark brown, along with back of masquerade screen
• [ ] add player aid for each game

[donkirkby]

I simplified the deck to just 32 cards, one for each piece.

[donkirkby]

Add playing cards for a few checkers? Add pips of 4, 7, 8, 9 to be used in laying out Chess960.

[donkirkby]

Switching from small symbols in the corner to letters makes the cards more readable in diagrams, but now you can't see which colour the piece is.

Options to try:

• black or white circle/square below the letter
• black or white circle/square behind the letter, then the letter is contrasting colour, but does the letter or the shape match the piece's colour?
• filled letter for black, outline for white, but outline looks ugly - save with antialiasing?
• small symbol below letter, too hard to distinguish white from black with current symbols
• simplify symbols to be more readable