Board Game Designers Forum

I have been working on this project for several years and finally sold some shares to pay for the manufacture of the first deck Estate Playing Cards. The designs for the deck were done using Fireworks and submitted to the manufacturer in India. They did an initial run of 5000 which I sell on http://ebay.com. I have written a small book (36 pages) explaining the deck and describing modifications to popular games such as Poker, Bridge and 500. Updated versions of this book will happen as feedback rolls in with suggestions and extensions.

A second similar deck is in the design stage. Pin Yin Playing Cards uses the same number of cards but with Chinese zodiac characters and the 5 Elements. A duplicate style book is also underway. I am taking my time with the designs so that they take on an eastern appeal. I might also try a different manufacturer this time, possibly in China.

As I started getting into the designs I realised that 5 suit decks with 12 cards per Estate/Element open up a whole new world of possibilities. I'm particularly interested in how the cards could be used in fortune telling and Tarot reading. There are probably games that haven't been invented that suit this format as well.

Recently I registered a separate domain and created a site called http://vaseycards.com so I could distinguish this project from other stuff I do at the old site http://vaseycorp.com

Please feel free to comment and make suggestions on where to take the book. I'm not sure whether I should cover every card game in existence with Estate/Pin Yin modifications (lol).