At least a couple of times every month, my friends and I get together for a friendly game of cards. Now, from a designers perspective, standard playing cards are ok, but they could be better. The most common problem with standard cards? Players sit at various positions around an elliptical table and the deal passes from one player to another. At any given time, the cards dealt face up on the table, are perfectly visible for the dealer and what ever player happens to be sitting across from him. For the rest of us however, there is a great deal of neck straining and eye squinting happening each time a new card is dealt. The solution? Multidirectional numeric indicators of different sizes to improve visibility for those at the far ends of the table. Another consideration; people process information differently. Some recognize numbers slightly quicker than the representative word and some process the symbolic pattern of the suits faster. And since poker is all about quickly
