Introduction
What’s in this document?
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3
Deck Structure
4
Card Anatomy
5
Everdeck Systems
6
Ranks and Suits
7
Standard 52-Card Deck
8
Pairing Suits by Color
9
Suit Groups
9
Card Letters
10
Card Letter Scores
11
Point Value Distribution
12
Card Names
13
Tarot
15
Sequence Number
16
Colored Digits and Other Digits
17
Unranked and Pyramidal Decks
18
Animal Pictures
19
Hanafuda
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Appendix: Summary of Systems
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Links
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Credits
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1
Introduction
The Everdeck (Boardgamegeek link here) is a versatile card game
system that can be used to play traditional and modern card games.
It’s a universal proxy deck, portable travel companion, and game
designer’s prototyping tool all in one.
This isn’t just a deck with extra ranks and suits. Its 120 cards can
map to many distinct game systems:
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Two Standard 54-card decks
78-card Tarot
48-card Hanafuda
Modern “colors and numbers” games with up to 12 suits or
up to 25 ranks (Lost Cities, Coloretto, Arboretum)
Games that require multiple or unequal copies of specific
ranks (Hanabi, Money!, Mu and More)
Sequential decks (The Mind, Fugitive)
Pyramidal decks (Pairs)
Word games (Letter Head)
Social games (Ultimate Werewolf)
Paired-image games (Noir Detective Game, Memory
variants)
After familiarizing yourself with the deck’s features, you can see a
geeklist of example mappable games here.
It’s designed with a ruthless combinatorial efficiency. Beneath
the Everdeck’s minimalist pen-and-ink design lies layers of
mathematical and linguistic patterns. This isn’t just a deck with
haphazardly placed extra glyphs. Rather, it aims to be both
beautiful and practical.
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What’s in this document?
The next two pages explain the parts of a card and the Everdeck’s
basic deck structure.
The rest of the document describes the Everdeck’s multiple systems
in detail. Take note that none of this advanced knowledge is
needed to enjoy the deck. A user can simply treat it an 8-suited
deck with an animal theme and get a lot of enjoyment from it.
A note on text formats:
● Game systems are colored red.
● Hyperlinks are colored blue.
● Important gaming terms are in italics when they’re first
introduced.
As a final note, commercial games are linked here for illustrative
purposes only. This document in no way endorses replacing them
with the Everdeck. This isn’t just for legal reasons; a proxy deck
would always be inferior to the original!
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Deck Structure
The Everdeck has 120 cards in eight suits. Suits are paired by color:
black clubs and spades, red hearts and diamonds, yellow coins and
crowns, and blue moons and stars.
Each suit has 15 ranks: ten number cards 0 to 9, and five face cards
X, J, Q, K, and A. X is usually used as a roman numeral “10”; but as
the letter is also often used to refer to an unknown variable, it can
also map to “wilds” or additional ranks as needed.
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Card Anatomy
The Everdeck is an animal-themed deck. Every card is uniquely
named and numbered, with a picture at its center. Cards are
asymmetric, but the card's rank and suit is found at two opposite
corners for ease of play.
Underneath the card’s suit is its point value, a pattern of one to five
dots. Face cards have black borders.
The shape of the watercolor background pattern has no gameplay
relevance. The card back is symmetric and continues the theme
with a menagerie of abstract animal forms.
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Everdeck Systems
Ranks and Suits
The Everdeck’s most basic game system is 8 suits x 15 ranks. This
can be done by mapping the face cards to the values 10-14,
something players familiar with standard decks can easily do.
Face cards can also be mapped to special game actions like Uno
special cards, Lost Cities handshakes, or the "+2s" of Coloretto.
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Standard 52-Card Deck
The Everdeck can map to a Standard 52-card deck by taking the
traditional suits (red hearts and diamonds, black spades and clubs)
and removing ranks 1 and 0.
The remaining cards can form a second copy of a standard deck
using non-traditional suits.
Standard decks have flexible construction options. For instance, 0’s
can be added back for Jokers, or be used instead of X for the 10
rank. 1 can also be used instead of A for ace-low games.
Standard decks can not only play great classical games, but also
modern ones such as those found in Thematic Solitaire List,
Femtitva, Cheapass Poker Suite, and Pagat.com.
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Pairing Suits by Color
As the Everdeck’s suits are paired by color, it’s possible to ignore
the suit altogether and instead treat it as a four-color deck.
This has the effect of doubling the number of copies of each rank,
but at the expense of halving the number of “suits”.
For instance, 8 suits x 15 ranks becomes 4 colors x 15 ranks x 2
copies. The two standard decks described in the previous section
also turns into a double standard deck for games like Canasta.
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Suit Groups
The Everdeck has two suit groups, each with four suits of different
colors. Soft suits have icons with rounded tops, and use circles for
their point values. Sharp suits have pointed tops, with point values
drawn with diamonds.
The most practical use of suit groups is to differentiate the two
suits of the same color. For instance, 4 colors x 25 ranks can be
mapped by treating the sharp suits as having +10 value.
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Animal Pictures
The Everdeck is an animal-themed deck. Each of the 60 unique
animal pictures appear exactly twice, relevant for Memory variants.
Paired pictures always have different ranks and different colors.
Pictures and card names are thematically related, whether through
symbolism, biology, or even just simple plays on words. For
instance, assassin and traitor refer to the praying mantis’
propensity to ambush insects and eat its mate respectively;
physician refers to the regenerative capability of the starfish.
The picture and name tie together to provide a 'wholeness' to each
card that goes beyond its assortment of glyphs.
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Card Symbology
When arranged by rank and suit, the Everdeck follows a strict
naming structure. Within a suit group, every four cards of the same
rank are thematically related.
The colors are also relevant. The thirty black cards represent 30
different archetypes (22 of these correspond to the Major Arcana of
the Tarot, while eight are unique to the Everdeck.) The three other
cards are interpretations of the archetype, each filtered through a
different color philosophy:
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Red Hearts/Diamonds is the SOUL, with themes of
spirituality, passion, art, and nature.
Yellow Coins/Crowns is the BODY, representing civilization,
physicality, and social or military power.
Blue Moons/Stars is the MIND, with roles relating to
intellect, cunning, and the sciences.
Another way to think about the primary colors is that they are
biased viewpoints. These symbolic biases are only fixed when
they’re mixed together, forming the universal color black.
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The symbolism of the Tarot Major arcana is well-established. The
Everdeck follows this symbolism to name all its cards, providing
unique role cards for social games like Werewolf.
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The naming convention described above is still consistent with the
aforementioned animal symbolism.
Pictures: Soft Suits
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Pictures: Sharp Suits
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Tarot
The standard deck can be converted to a 78-card Tarot by using the
X as a “Page” rank and adding the 22 Major Arcana.
Major Arcana get their names from the influential Rider-Waite tarot
deck. The only exception is XX - Judgment, instead using The Aeon
from the Thoth tarot deck (For a reason explained later, the
Everdeck can only have one word that starts with the letter J).
Except for the XX - Aeon and XXI - World, the cards’ major arcana
number also matches their sequence number (the big number on
the upper-right).
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Card Letters
The choice of card names also serves a gameplay purpose: The first
letters of each card’s name have a frequency distribution
compatible with English word games.
Here’s the distribution of the card letters compared to Scrabble,
Words With Friends, and standard English:
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Card Letter Scores
The first letter of each card name is also related to the card’s point
value (the pattern of 1 to 5 dots beneath its rank and suit). The
point value is a proxy for the letter’s rarity, and it can be used for
word game scoring mechanisms. Most card letters have one or
two possible point values, with rarer letters having higher average
scores.
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Point Value Distribution
In addition to representing the card’s letter score, point values
work independently as a secondary ‘rank’ for the cards. Each suit
has the same pyramidal distribution of point values - specifically,
five 1’s, four 2’s, three 3’s, two 4’s, and one 5 (12345 • 54321).
Point values can be used for games that require an uneven number
of low ranks, like Hanabi.
Like with ranks, point values may also be grouped by color instead
of suit to double the number of copies of each value.
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Sequence Number
Cards are uniquely numbered as well as named. Sequence numbers
range from 0 to 119 and are used for games like No Thanks! or The
Mind.
Number cards range from #0 to #79, while face cards are
numbered #80 to #119.
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Colored Digits and Other Digits
The sequence can be split into two numbers. The rightmost
number is the colored digit, which ranges from 0-9. The other digits
are colored black and range from 0 to 11.
Colored digits and other digits can be used for 10 suits x 12 ranks or
12 suits x 10 ranks, depending on which one you treat as the “rank”
and which one the “suit”.
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Unranked and Pyramidal Decks
When cards are fanned to the right, it’s easy to focus on the colored
digit and ignore the others. This gives three copies each of (four
colors x 10 colored digits)
Ignoring the color altogether gives twelve copies each of the
numbers 0 to 9, although many games don’t necessarily need these
many copies. For instance, some games like Pairs use what’s known
as a pyramidal deck. One 1, two 2’s, three 3’s, and so on until ten
10’s.
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Hanafuda
Hanafuda (“flower cards”) is a traditional deck from Japan, Hawaii
and Korea (where it’s called Hwatu). Its 48 cards are divided into 12
"months" of 4 cards each.
The picture above (source: theadhellhawaii) shows a typical
hanafuda deck. Cards of the same month don’t have numerical
indices but have similar flower pictures.
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The Everdeck Hanafuda groups cards of the same month by rank,
and of the same category by suit. There is no formula to describe
the distribution of the cards, so it’s best to use the reference shown
below:
Two of the card types ("animals" and "brights") have specific names
for scoring combinations. The pictures of these cards were
designed to match or visually suggest their Hanafuda equivalent.
This is illustrated in the charts on the next two pages.
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Appendix: Summary of Systems
System
Mapping
Two
standard
decks
54 cards x 2 copies = 108 cards
14 ranks (2..9, X “Ten”, J, Q, K, A) x 4 suits (any)
+
1 rank (0 “Joker”) x 2 suits (any)
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1 may be used instead of A for Ace
Use X instead of 0 for Ten / 0 instead of X
for Jokers
Double
standard
deck
108 cards
14 ranks (2..9, X “Ten”, J, Q, K, A) x 4 colors x 2
copies
+
1 rank (0 “Joker”) x 4 suits (any suit)
8 suits x 15
ranks
120 cards
15 ranks (0..9, X, J, Q, K, A) x 8 suits.
● Treat X, J, Q, K, A as 10..14 respectively
Two copies of 4 suits x 15 ranks: 120 cards
15 ranks (0..9, X, J, Q, K, A) x 4 colors x 2 copies
● Treat X, J, Q, K, A as 10..14 respectively
4 suits x 25
ranks
108 cards
10 ranks (0..9 of traditional suits + 0..9, X, J, Q, K, A
of non-traditional suits) x 4 colors
● Treat X, J, Q, K, A as 10..14 respectively
● Treat all sharp suits as having +10 value
Tarot
78 cards
56 Minor Arcana: 15 ranks (2..9, 0 “Ten”, X “Page”, J,
Q, K, A) x 4 suits (reds and blues)
+
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22 Major Arcana:
11 ranks (0..9, A) x 2 suits (blacks). Only names
and sequence numbers are relevant.
Sequential
numbers
120 cards
120 sequence numbers (0..119)
12 ordered
suits x 10
ranks
12 ordered suits x 10 ranks: 120 cards
10 other digits (0..11) x 10 colored digits (0..9)
OR
10 ordered suits x 12 ranks: 120 cards
12 colored digits (0..9) x 12 other digits (0..11)
10 ordered
suits x 12
ranks
4 suits x 10
ranks x 3
copies
120 cards
4 colors x 10 colored digits (0..9) x 3 copies
10-level
Pyramidal
deck
55 cards
1 colored digit (1) x 1 copy
2 colored digits (2) x 2 copies
..
9 colored digits (9)) x 9 copies
10 colored digits (0) x 10 copies
5/4/3/2/1
copies of
ranks
1/2/3/4/5
120 cards
[1 point value (1) x 5 copies
1 point value (2) x 4 copies
1 point value (3) x 3 copies
1 point value (4) x 2 copies
1 point value (5) x 1 copy] x 8 suits
Alternate counts of the point values (1..5)
● 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 copies x 4 colors
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●
40, 32, 24, 16, 8 copies unsuited
Role cards
120 cards
30 archetypes in 1 color (black)
+
90 roles in 3 colors (blue, red, yellow)
● All cards of the same color are thematically
related according to color philosophy.
● Every set of four cards of the same rank
and suit group is thematically related.
● All names are related to the animal picture
Word Games
120 cards
120 bottom-left letters
● Letters distributed to match the English
language (distribution here)
● Each with 5 possible point values (1..5)
(distribution here)
Paired
images
120 cards
60 animal pictures x 2 copies each
● Paired pictures have different colors
● Paired pictures have different ranks
Hanafuda /
Hwatu
Hanafuda: 48 cards
12 “months” x 4 cards per month. Use reference
file for mapping.
● Ranks correspond to the month:
○ 1..9, X: January to October
○ J: November
○ Q/K: December
● Suit corresponds to the type of card
○ Black cards: “Junk”
○ Red Hearts: “Red Poetry Ribbon”
○ Red Flowers: “Red Ribbon”
○ Blue Diamonds: “Blue Ribbon”
○ Yellow Clubs: “Animals”
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○ Yellow Crowns: “Brights”
Pictures of Animals and Brights match or
suggest their Hanafuda counterpart.
Hwatu: 48+ cards
● Same construction/suits as Hanafuda
● Ranks correspond to month:
○ 1..9, X: January to October
○ Q/K: November
○ J: December
● Add any number of 0 ranks as needed for
jokers
Random
number
generator
120 cards; draw a card from the deck. Complex
mappings are not included.
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Two-sided dice (D2) / coin: suit group;
odd or even rank
D4: color
D8: suit
D10: colored digits
D12: other digits
D15: rank
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Links
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Drivethrucards purchase page
Boardgamegeek file page
Homepage
Geeklist: Games playable with the Everdeck
Credits
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Design: wilhelm.su@gmail.com or on reddit (efofecks).
Boardgamegeek thread here.
Images: Several pieces (bat, boar, chameleon, clam,
clownfish, crane, crow, duck, elephant, kangaroo, lamb, owl,
rooster, swan) commissioned for the designer by Contr4 via
99designs. All other animal art CC BY 3.0 also by Contr4
(Saeful Muslim at nounproject).
Card Font: Alegreya SC, modified kerning. Google fonts open
license.
Watercolors: https://www.onlygfx.com/. Free for personal
and commercial use
The kind folks at BGG who have helped make this a reality
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