Comparing specialized decks with standard playing cards

 The Shooting Party isn’t a game that I play often but it wanders back to me every once in a while. Maybe once a year or so. Which doesn’t sound that impressive but there are lots of games I’ve tried that don’t come back at all.

The Shooting Party is a solitaire game designed to be played with a regular deck of cards. However, after learning it, I made a copy of the themed deck and the themed deck has been a major reason I keep on playing it.

That actually annoys me a little. The standard deck of cards is an amazing gaming tool. Have a deck of cards in your hand and you are holding a giant library of games. The history and flexibility of a standard deck of cards is staggering.

While Catan and Dungeons and Dragons were major entry point into gaming for me, Go was another. And I had my moments of anti-chrome snobbery. Which definitely is an ice way of saying being narrow-minded and stupid. 

Theme is more than just adding pretty chrome to a game. (And if chrome helps a game actually sell, that alone is a big deal) It can add narrative to a game. It can help explain mechanics, make mechanics more intuitive.

And little Shooting Party is a good example of all that.

I made a copy of the Edwardian deck, which has lovely images of Hoity Toity aristocrats back before the first world war. I am sure that it is all stock art, but it is very well selected and makes for a visually attractive deck.

The game itself is about being a scoundrel who seduces ladies and steals their jewelry. The imagery of the cards helps reinforce both the narrative of the game and the mechanics, which revolve around using the rules of manners to hurry off guests (ie discarding cards)

Mechanically, the Shooting Party isn’t that much to look at, and if I had only played it with a regular deck of cards, I would have forgotten it by now. However, the Edwardian deck adds enough fun for me to keep saying ‘eh, let’s get it out’

I have been looking at a lot of games that use the regular deck of cards, either all by themselves or as an integral part of the mechanics. And I really like the fact that I have such a flexible tool in my gaming kit to let me try out or look at so many different games. And I would definitely try out a game before making a specialized deck.

But specialized decks do add solid value.