Introduction: Top Trumps Inspired Instructables Card Game
Top Trumps is a card game of chance, knowledge and skill. A fight to the death to posses the whole of a deck of special cards.
This version of the game replaces the classic cars, aeroplanes and tanks with you, the instructables community! The following steps explain why we did it, how we did it, how you can get some and how to play.
This collaboration was brought to you with massive help from gmjhowe, Lithium Rain, Kiteman, Yokozuna, KentsOkay and Lemonie.
We're selling decks of these cards, printed double sided on quality card, for the bargain price of £10 delivered worldwide. All profits go towards funding the Instructables stall at the UK Maker Faire in Newcastle on March 13th/14th!
Promotional video starring gmjhowe and rainbow_han.
Kiteman's reaction when he got given his pack of cards:
Step 1: Choosing the Cards - by Yokozuna!
One of the hardest bits of this project was choosing the right instructablers for the game! With so many to choose from we were bound to offend someone by forgetting about them. Since it's just a game we hope you're not offended if you're not on the list. If you ARE offended, blame Yokozuna. It's all his fault!!!!
We tried to pick all the obvious instructablers with lots of ibles and comments under their belts. We've thrown in a few surprises to keep the game interesting! Choosing 104 names out of thousands and thousands of people was a difficult process, so please don't feel bad if you were left out. Instead, think of it as a real honor to be included in the deck.
=SMART=, 1up, acidbass, alittlestranger, anarchistasian, angryredhead, Brennn10, bumpus, burf, bylerfamily, caitlinsdad, CameronSS, canida, chicken2209, ChrysN, cowscankill, crispyjones, dan, denkbert, derin, dombeef, domestic_engineer, drinkmorecoffee, ewilhelm, fungus+amungus, ganglion, giannyl, gingerpete50, gjdj3, gmjhowe, Goodhart, GorillazMiko, guyfrom7up, hatsuli, HiyaDudez, i_am_canadian, Instructables+Robot, jamesrpatrick, jayefuu, jeff-o, jessyratfink, KaptinScarlet, keith-kid, kelseymh, kentsokay, Killer~SafeCracker, killerjackalope, kipkay, Kiteman, kNeXFreek, kryptonite, labot2001, lasvegas, lateral+thinker, lebowski, leeski, lemonie, LinuxH4x0r, Lithium+Rain, ll.13, merijnvw, mg0930mg, mikeasaurus, Mr.+Rig+It, n8man, NachoMahma, nagutron, nepheron, noahw, orksecurity, philb, PKM, plasmana, purduecer, rachel, randofo, ravingmadstudios, recreate, scoochmaroo, shadow+ops, shastalore, shesparticular, siliconghost, skate6566, spl1nt3rc3ll, steveastrouk, StumpChunkman, Sunbanks, T3h_Muffinator, technick29, tetranitrate, The+4th+Doctor, The+Ideanator, Thermoelectric, timanderson, tombuckey, Tool+Using+Animal, wasagi, weissensteinburg, woodenshoespress, yokozuna, zachninme, zieak
Step 2: Data Mining - by Jayefuu
The Perl script collects:
- Ibler name
- Number of Ibles
- Answers
- Best Answers
- Answers Ratio (calculated)
- Featured Ratio (calculated)
- User's total instructables views
- Number of subscribers
- Date joined
- Comments
The output is spat out into a .tsv (tab separated value) ready for pasting onto the card templates.
Profile images were gathered with a similar Perl script after messaging all of the chosen Instructablers to check they were happy with their current avatar.
In case you'll find them interesting, the Perl scripts have been included below. They won't run without some fiddling as a crucial line has been omitted to stop people running them. They load a fair few instructables pages. If you really have need to run it, PM Jayefuu to get the line you need.
Attachments
Step 3: Designing the Cards - by Gmjhowe
Being a graphic designer by trade, gmjhowe was the obvious choice to design the cards.
Once given the data from Jayefuu, he opened it up in excel Neooffice, slight modifications were made to the data to allow the images to be merged into the design with the data.
All the designing and merging was done in Indesign. Various batch Photoshop batch features were used to scrape the avatars of each user from the web, convert them all to CMYK for print, and resize them for use in the cards.
Once all the merging was done a few avatars were tweaked to improve the resolution or fit.
A proof deck was then printed to create the demo video seen in the first step. This sample deck was then posted to HQ and the finished cards sent to print.
Step 4: Getting Your Hands on Some!
We wanted this project to be open to as many people as possible! For that reason you have two options to get hold of some instructables top trumps to play with your friends, family, colleagues and other instructables lovers!
Buy 'em: If you'd rather have some nice glossy, double sided, rounded corner, professionally printed card cards, printed by gmjhowe at his UK print shop, click here to order a pack using Paypal. They're 10GBP/15USD/11.5 Euros. All profits after paying for materials and time go towards our Instructables stall at the Newcastle Maker Faire 2011. Check back here in a few weeks to see how much we've made to go towards spreading the Instructables love at the UK Maker Faire.
Print 'em: Once we've sold 100 packs of printed cards to raise money for our Instructables table at the Maker Faire UK in 2011, a pdf will be added to this step so you can print your own!
Please add your ibles username as a note in the paypal payment. Cost include P+P, printing will take place on Wed 2nd June and decks will be dispatched over the weekend.
10 GBP
~15 USD
~11.5 Euros
Step 5: How to Play "Trump Style" - by Kiteman and Lithium Rain
Firstly, choose who deals with the ever popular Rock, Paper, Scissors.
However you got your cards, you need to shuffle them. If you've printed your cards, shuffling will be a lot easier if you have taken extra care to cut them all the same size.
Deal the cards out, face down, to each player. Top Trumps is usually a two-player game, so you get half each. Since this particular deck has so many more cards than normal decks, you can have 3 or even 4 players. However many you have, all the cards must be dealt out, even if one or two people get a card extra or less than the other players - it won't matter that much.
Each player then turns their whole pile (deck) over, so that they are now looking at the information side of the first card they were dealt.
The player to the left of the dealer selects a category from the card, and reads it out (for example; "Instructables, 43"). The other players then read out their scores for the same category. The highest score wins the hand, and gains possession of the cards, which go to the back of the winner's deck.
If a hand is a draw, then all the cards being played for get placed in a small pile between the players. Whoever picked that category picks another category from their next card, and the winner of that hand gets all the cards from both hands (unless it's another draw, in which case the cards get added to the pile).
The winner of the hand then chooses a category from the next card in their hand, and play continues.
Players do not take regular turns to choose categories - the winner of each hand picks the category of the next.
Play continues until one person possesses all the cards. They are the winner, and get to shuffle the cards for the next round.
TL;DR: Deal out the deck so everyone has the same amount, have them turn them over. Guy to the left of the dealer reads a stat from the card and everyone else reads the stat in the same category. Highest wins the first's cards and reads a stat. Repeat. In case of a draw, set the cards aside as a pot for the next winner. He who has all the cards, wins the game.
Optional rules (which must be agreed before playing):
- Instead of Rock, Paper, Scissors, the oldest player shuffles first (in the Kite household, the oldest player starts in card games, and the youngest player starts in board games).
- Take turns to choose categories, no matter who wins a hand.
- If one player wins five hands straight, they must shuffle their deck.
- Very young players can ask for a Daddy Shuffle - the oldest player sorts through the cards to make sure each player has a roughly even mix of good and bad cards, but then shuffles each players cards so they don't know the order they will turn up (this is purely a Kite family rule - I have never heard of anybody else using it, but it works in most card games).
- Play for forfeits or rewards - the loser washes up, the winner gets the last cookie.
- Whittling - instead of placing won cards to the back of the deck, players place them in a pile to their side. This keeps a game to a fixed length, and then the winner is the player with the most cards in their pile at the end of play.
Step 6: How to Play "Hands Style" - by Kiteman and Lithium Rain
Having 101 cards in the deck (plus any extras you make up yourself) offers chances for a greater variety of games you can play.
This is our favourite alternative to the Trumps style of play:
Quick-Play:
Firstly, choose who deals with the ever popular Rock, Paper, Scissors.
However you got your cards, you need to shuffle them. If you've printed your cards, shuffling will be a lot easier if you have taken extra care to cut them all the same size.
- Deal out seven cards to each player, face down. All players can then look at their cards.
- The player to the dealer's left chooses a card from their hand (without revealing it), chooses a category, and reads it out (for example; "Instructables, 43").
- The other players, in turn, select any of their cards and call out the same category.
- Whoever has the highest value wins the cards, and places them in a pile beside them.
- In the event of a draw, the cards concerned are all placed in their own pile, and another card is played - the winner then gets all those cards for their pile.
- The winner of the cards then chooses the next category.
- The winner is the player with the most cards in their pile after the seventh card is played.
Longer Play Options (which must be agreed before play!):
- Draw - After each card is played, the players all draw another card from the pile of cards that have not been dealt out.
- Admin Benefits - if the winning card of a hand represents one of the Admin Team, the player winning that hand draws an extra card from the pile of undealt cards.
- Winner Remains - the player winning a hand does not add that card to the pile of cards they have won, but keeps it it in their hand. However, they must reveal the card to the other players, and must not use the same card for the next round.
House Rules:
Many homes have their own, special rules for favourite games or types of games ("Granny always has the green counters", "Play goes anti-clockwise on Sundays" etc)
Here are some of mine. If you have any of your own, why not add them in the comments?
- Instead of Rock, Paper, Scissors, the oldest player shuffles first (in the Kite household, the oldest player starts in card games, and the youngest player starts in board games).
- Take turns to choose categories, no matter who wins a hand.
- If one player wins five hands straight, they must replace their deck with fresh cards from the undealt pile
- Very young players can ask for a Daddy Shuffle - the oldest player sorts through the cards to make sure each player has a roughly even mix of good and bad cards, but then shuffles each players cards so they don't know the order they will turn up (this is purely a Kite family rule - I have never heard of anybody else using it, but it works in most card games).
- Play for forfeits or rewards - the loser washes up, the winner gets the last cookie.
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
