I wanted to gauge interest in an idea I had: a deck of cards with instructions on how to play card games. So, just to be clear, this deck of cards will not be playing cards. Instead, each card will have instructions on how to play a different game - Gin Rummy, or Spades, or Go Fish even. I've always wanted to have just a small "card" of game instructions, that I could even insert into the tuckbox of my playing cards. Attached is an example of what this might look like.
Would you be in interested in a deck of cards like this?
It's not a terrible idea - but there are other ideas that might be more effective. For example, USPC makes a Bicycle app for iPhones and Android phones that has rules for several playing card games all at your fingertips. Combine that with the fact that there's a boatload of websites with playing card rules and lots of people carrying smartphones, and it's a hard combination to beat.
However, having said all of that, it's not a terrible idea, really. A card that fits in a pack of cards with rules for a card game is very neat and efficient (and doesn't need recharging or a wireless signal)! It sounds like the kind of thing that you could target to the camping market - the kind of people who would often find themselves in places with poor cellphone signal, little to no access to electricity and a desire for pocket-sized entertainment. I'd recommend having them made specifically for the camping market - in a sturdy box and printed on plastic, so they can withstand dunking and downpours and continue functioning as needed. You could make it part of a two-deck set where your deck of game rule cards is combined with a pack of plastic playing cards, perhaps even in a neat little zip-closed pack. If you get really fancy, you can even create a score counter for it!
The issue you're going to run into is that while making it on plastic is best for the target market in question, making it in plastic is also far more expensive than making it on paper or pasteboard. It will be hard to price it attractively and make it as a durable product that will survive camping trip after camping trip.
I'd select a set of games that fit a few criteria:
1. Simple to play
2. Variety of players - 1 player, 2 players, several players, etc.
3. A mix of old favorites and less-common games
4. Games that don't require too much by way of added accessories
5. Games that can be over fairly quickly - anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes is good for a hand.
Another interesting idea - for non-solitaire games, print the cards in pairs, where you have two cards that are identical, whether it's a single game with a longer set of rules printed on both sides of each card or two games printed one on each side. By printing in pairs, when you have a multiplayer game, there's less need to pass around the rules cards if there's one on each side of the table!
Good luck!
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