Highlighting the Queen of Hearts and the game Old Maid
over 3 years ago – Fri, Sep 25, 2020 at 04:25:37 PM

Hi Backers! We are in the middle of the preflight phase of card production. This means that the final designs have been sent to USPCC and are being reviewed. We are now at the mercy of their schedule and will keep you up-to-date on the progress. The Art Book design is coming along nicely and we have another card and game feature to share with you.

"This Queen of Hearts may not be a tyrant like the one in Alice in Wonderland, but who knows what she is thinking behind that alluring smile. She is sure to turn heads and sway hearts."

The Art: Greg chose to depict the Queen of Hearts as a beautiful Elvish queen to contrast her with the other queens in the deck. He looked to current standard card conventions to design her pose. She wears a crown and a classic checkered collar held closed with a heart-shaped brooch.

Before playing cards were double-ended, all queens held both flowers and fans. Greg combined the subject matter of flowers, fans, and games by having her hold a “fan of” cards. She draws a card from her hand with her left hand, revealing a playing-card back with a flower motif.

Game Highlight: Old Maid / The Death Queen

In the Tournament of the Mythic kingdoms, the game Old Maid was banned after the Queen of Clubs started hunting down the players and rolling her Mace of Fate on their heads. As a fan of the game and preferring less violent cultural evolution, the Queen of Hearts suggested they change the name of the game and pick a different card that nobody wants to end up with. The Queen of Diamonds thought the whole issue was just ridiculous. The Queen of Spades, always seeking for a chance to be in the limelight, volunteered to be the odd one out as long as they named the game something cool like "The Death Queen."

Rules for the Original Old Maid: https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/old-maid/

Rule Modification for the Mythic Kingdoms: Name of the Game: The Death Queen. Instead of a special Old Maid card, the player who ends up with the Queen of Spades at the end of the game loses and must act out a death scene and play dead for 15 seconds.

Wizard Complete and Pledge Manager Closing
over 3 years ago – Fri, Sep 18, 2020 at 08:10:09 PM

Hello Backers! The Pledge Manager is closing in a few hours which will lock in everybody's orders. If you haven't completed your survey, you have a few hours left.

The Wizard illustration is complete and we are finalizing the details for printing the cards with USPCC! (Remember, the Wizard cards are only in the Four-Color Set)

Using the Wizard Card

In general, the Wizard can be used as an extra or replacement Joker. There is one green Wizard in the Green Nature Four-Color deck and one purple Wizard in the Purple Magic Four-Color deck.

There is actually a card game called Wizard that is very similar to a game we've already mentioned called Oh, Pshaw (which is similar to Spades) See Update #19. We aren't going to review the rules in detail,  suffice it to say that you can use the Wizard as a high trump card in trick-taking games.

Jon has come up with a couple ideas for ways to use the Wizard card in our game Mythic Challenge.  See the comments after the rules for Mythic Challenge in Update #7. If you have other ideas for how to use the Wizard card, feel free to share.

Treasure Cards Complete!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 04:59:19 PM

Hello Backers, Greg just finished the treasure card illustrations and we're excited to show them to you! 

Star Symbols: To help differentiate the joker and bonus cards when you're holding them fanned in your hand we've added symbols inside the stars. The black joker has a down arrow, the red joker an up arrow, and the treasure card has a double-star.

Using the Treasure Card: The treasure can be used as an additional joker, a first player marker, a trophy to present to the winner of the game/tournament, a moving marker for the current winner of a game, or anything else you'd like to spice up the game you're playing.

Mythic Challenge: To see ideas for how treasure cards may be used in the game Mythic Challenge, see the comments for Campaign Update #7.

Production Status 

With the completion of the treasure cards, the pre-production phase for the Standard Set and Premium Set is now finished. We can now begin coordinating with the manufacturer to finalize the printing details, with the final count of decks to be determined Sep 17th (after the pledge manager closes).

Complete Your Survey

Please remember to complete the pledge manager survey. All choices of cards and add-ons will be locked in after Sep 17th. 

Backer Surveys 80% Complete, and the King of Diamonds
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 09, 2020 at 12:49:58 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Backer Surveys Going Live Today
over 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 05, 2020 at 12:16:32 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.