Introduction: Blind Man's Cards
This is a pack of cards I made so our friend Miguel, who is blind, could play poker with us.
They are thicker than normal cards, but it isn't difficult to shuffle them.
Step 1: Materials
To make this card pack you will need the following:
-2 playing card packs.
- A paper punch
-Paper glue
Step 2: Making the Holes
In order to allow blind people tu know the number of the card they're holding, just make holes through the card, from one (ace) to thirteen (king).
I made the holes by the sides of the cards: from one to six by the left side (1-6) and, if needed, from one to six by the right one (7-12). For the king I made another hole near the top side, between the two lines of holes I already made.
Don't make any holes through the jokers.
Step 3: Marking the Suit
To mark the suit of the card, make holes near the corners of it. I use the following code, but you can use wichever you want:
1 corner pierced: Hearts
2 corners pierced: Diamonds
3 corners pierced: Spades
4 corners pierced: Clubs
Be sure to make the holes clearly by the corners, so no one gets confused between this ones and the ones that show the number of the card.
Step 4: Making the Holes Invisible
Now is time to use the other pack of cards you have.
I you want to use this card pack to play both blind an non-blind people you need to make the holes invisible to anyone but the holder.
To achieve this, just paste another card (of the same value of the first one) behind each of your pierced cards.
Now you have your blind man's card pack ready!
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53 Comments
9 years ago on Introduction
Your creativity and obvious love and care for a dear friend brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart! My 90 year old Dad is is WWII Veteran and has recently been declared legally blind. He is a HUGE fan of both Poker and Euker (sp?). He and my Precious Mom (age 88) are celebrating their 68th Wedding Anniversary July 6th, and are the proud parents of 8 kids. We recently had to uproot them from independent living in their own home and move them into assisted living in order to ensure they are better cared for. It's been highly traumatic for all involved. Needless to say, they have both been active until now and find this new life so very traumatic. I cannot WAIT to try this method which will not only allow him a new challenge to conquer, but also provide a gentle springboard to show him there are still things he can enjoy-not to mention...give him back the right to say "if you trump my Ace, I can STILL (always said jokingly) BOUNCE YOU DOWN THE BASEMENT STEPS!" God Bless You. I will be sure to let you know how he responds. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR EFFORTS AND FOR SHARING!
9 years ago on Introduction
I gave my opinion and suggested a CONSTRUCTIVE alternative.. and even complimented the author on his invention. You sought to just to criticize me. Guess you missed that focus on the be nice policy and be constructive.
12 years ago on Introduction
I don't think this comment has been added so here goes. The punched holes is a good idea, but it does allow the other players who can see, tell what some of the cards of your blind friend are. Instead, why not take the punch and punch out some small paper dots and glue the dots to the suit face of the cards. Different numbers and sizes of the dots would be a good system for identifying each suit of cards. A blind person who knows braille, or even one that does not, could easily count the number and location of the raised dots on the card, but the other players could not tell what cards he had. More fair this way and still uses your "dot" method but just in a different way. Excellent idea.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
How would this be any better than what he did? Did you even read the whole thing? The last step involved taking the punched card and gluing it to another identical card, so the holes only go halfway through. (Gluing dots on would make the deck impossible to shuffle, anyway.)
12 years ago on Introduction
Thanks averybody for your comments!
If you liked this instructable, please vote for it in the Humana challenge!
12 years ago on Step 4
Fantastic idea!
12 years ago on Step 4
This is a good idea.
I had a blind friend who had braille imprinted into his cards.
He also folded his money in different shapes so he knew what value it had.
12 years ago on Step 3
Instead of marking the suit in all 4 corners, you could mark it in both corners opposite the number marked side. This way the suit is clearly marked and won't cause confusion being so close to the number markings.
12 years ago on Introduction
Interesting task. Kudos for figuring out how to include your friend in a poker game.
That said, I would be curious to watch someone hold five cards and try to read them. The player would have to feel the whole face of the card to check for holes on both the left and the right. Does it slow down the game quite a bit? I like the idea of lining the holes up and down on only one side. Anything to make it easier to find the information fast.
Actually, the Braille Alphabet might work out very well, even if the person doesn't know Braille. It might be to their advantage to learn the needed characters. Instead of trying to locate and count all the holes on a card, everything is represented in two characters.
Just thinking out loud. Sorry for trying to improve on your working solution. Now, how does your friend tell the difference between the different colored poker chips?
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
We are thinking of piercing the poker chips with a needle to mark them, but for now we just don't cheat on him.
Actually he reads the cards pretty fast. At the beginning he was slower, but now he just read the with the hole palm of the hand, one by one, but quite fast.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Good to hear that you don't cheat on him! Also, good to know that he can read the cards well enough to play with you and your friends. Bravo!
12 years ago on Introduction
Hello gonal...
First, I applaud all your efforts to include your blind friend into your poker events. Well done !
Unlike your friend, I can read but need Larger Text and Symbols to function on my own.
I'm sending the following LINK so you can see a commercial card product that provides both the LARGE TEXT and Braille,
if he reads Braile.
Check with your friend and his other vision impaired friends.
http://www.flaghouse.com/Braille-Poker-Cards-item-9056
Good Luck in all Future Endeavors.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Thank you very much!
He doesn't read braille yet, but he is learning now, so he'll probably be able to read it in little time.
12 years ago on Introduction
lol I had a deck similar to this I was not blind you could figure out what you where dealing. sorry for your "blind friend" I could not play with a with marked or cut cards. you can buy some real nice decks out there. you just have to know where to look.
12 years ago on Introduction
That is an excellent idea!
I volunteer at Vision Australia- a collaborative organisation that aids people with vision impairment and total blindness- and this would be awesome for the men to be able to play poker on our social days!
Thanks a lot for sharing this out there :)
12 years ago on Step 4
Is it difficult to shuffle/deal the doubled up cards?
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
look at the intro and read it again.
12 years ago on Step 4
Very clever idea! And it's really nice of you to work out a solution so your blind friend can play card with you. Totally cool.
12 years ago on Introduction
must be hard being blind
12 years ago on Introduction
How about laminating the cards after gluing them to preserve them when the glue eventually gives up. The cards will also be easy to clean and no hassle to shuffle.