Clive/ModularMegadeck

What?

A design for a modular collection of 56-card decks which together allow a great many games to be played.

A key concept in the design is that cards can be normal. A normal H3 is red on white; a reversed H3 is white on a red background.

The decks

Each deck is 56 cards. One of the cards is always an "identifier" people can use to index the cards in storage solutions.

T = Ten, E = Eleven, W = tWelve H = tHirteen, N = kNight + = +2

Regular (normal colour)

Black spades: 23456789TJQKA
Red hearts: 23456789TJQKA
Blue diamonds: 23456789TJQKA
Green clubs: 23456789TJQKA

2 * jokers, Bridge scoring card, identifier.

(Jacks are also Uno Skip cards; Queens are also Uno Reverse cards.)

Special ranks (normal colour)

Red diamonds: 123456789TEWHJQKNA
Black clubs: 123456789TEW JQKNA

Black spades: 1EWN+
Red hearts: 1WEHN+
Blue diamonds: 1+
Green clubs: 1+

2 * jokers, non-suited +2, identifier.

Reversed deck (reversed colour)

Black spades: A23456789TJQK
Red hearts: A23456789TJQK
Blue diamonds: A23456789TJQK
Green clubs: A23456789TJQK

2 * jokers (suitable for use as wild +4 in Uno), identifier.

1 card TBD.

(Jacks are also Uno Skip cards; Queens are also Uno Reverse cards.)

Special suits (reversed colour)

Yellow balls: 011122334456789T
Black spades: 01112 3 4
Red hearts: 01112 3 4
Blue diamonds: 01112 3 4
Green clubs: 01112 3 4
Orange squares: 01 2 3 4 56789T

Identifier

Foil and Tarot (mainly reversed colour)

Indigo stars: 123456789
Violet rods: 1234567 (foil)
Rainbows: 1112233445
Tarot trumps: 1-21 (non-reversed, foil, elaborate)

5 * non-reversed +2 cards for Uno
2 * jokers (suitable for use as wild +4 in Uno), identifier.

Low numbers (reversed colour)

Red 0-9
Orange 10-19
Yellow 20-29
Green 30-39
Blue 40-49

00 for Dominoes, Bull, Bear, Identifier

High numbers (reversed colour)

Purple 50-59, tan 60-69, cyan 70-79, grey 80-89, white 90-104

Identifier

Mahjong

TBD

Mapping games onto the decks

Normal card games

52-card deck = regular
Double deck = regular + reversed, ignoring reversal
8-suited deck = regular + reversed, treating reversed suits as different

52-card deck with traditional suit colours = regular + special ranks

52-card deck with French ranks = regular + 1s from special ranks

Augmented deck for 500: regular + EWH from special ranks

Tarot: regular + special ranks + trumps from foil/Tarot?

Parade

From reversed + special suits:

  0123456789T in reversed black, red, blue, green, yellow, orange

Red 7

From reversed + special suits + foil/Tarot?:

  1234567 in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet

Twins

From regular + reversed:

  123456789T in regular black, red, blue; reversed green, yellow, orange

Pairs

Reverse the deck so it has 10 1s, 9 2s, 8 3s, etc.

From reversed + special suits + foil/tarot:

  Ten colours: black, red, blue, green, orange, yellow, indigo, violet, rainbow, trumps
  Draw enough cards of each rank from across those colours.

Hanabi

From reversed + special suits + foil/tarot:

  1112233445 in black, red, blue, green, yellow

Or add foil/tarot for rainbow as well.

Coloretto

From reversed + special ranks + special suits + foil/tarot:

  9 each (rank unimportant) of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, voilet
  3 rainbows
  10 +2 cards
  1 joker

Love letter

From reversed + special ranks:

  Any 1111122334455678

To-do:

No Thanks
The Game
6 Nimmt
Pit
Mahjong