Playing Cards R Us seems pretty reasonable, as long as I can figure out a way of getting PDF output into my game card program, which I ought to be able to do, even if I have to find a “PDF printer driver” of the sort I have used at work. They claim specifically to be able to make custom card games with anywhere up to 700 cards, which I imagine adjusts the pricing somewhat.

Your Playing Cards might be okay as well. They need all the cards as a single PDF.

Dr. Finn’s Card Company seems pretty reasonable, though the cards are not on the same sort of professional stock as other links (that said, still miles better than Avery badges)

There just aren’t that many manufacturers that have low minimum number of decks (i.e. 100 or less) or for a reasonable (i.e. less than $25 each) price (here’s one that’s particularly un-low: http://www.usplayingcard.com/uspccustom.html needs a 10,000 deck minimum!), or that publish their prices.

Playing Cards R Us seems to be the winner at the moment.

Yep, that’s the place. I’ve only been there once so I can never remember the name. I haven’t been to the Sentry Box in a while and I haven’t figured out where Games People Play went ever since they were out of Sunridge Mall.

Games People Play moved into North Hill mall up by SAIT. They’re in the entrance one entrance away from the one to Safeway on the 16th Avenue side.

How detailed are your written instructions? Is there a lot that can be open to different interpretations? Maybe you could have a set of simple and then a set of advanced rules or something.

Well, I have been trying to figure out how to keep the rules simple enough, and it’s mostly clear on interpretation, but there have been the odd snags, like “if I give a card to the player on each side, can I give it to somebody who’s already out of cards?” or “what happens if I erase the sole card on the table?", or “what if I’ve already laid down a ‘clever’ combo when someone yells ’stop’?”

Apart from that, there haven’t been too many snags :)

Heh, now you’ve got me intrigued that I’d like to try out your game sometime, if possible. :)

I think you’d enjoy it. You’re evil and quick enough to enjoy the game play style, I think.

I’m trying to figure out whether I should get a professional run of decks done, though, or whether I should keep chewing through the Avery badges. Anything $10 a deck or less at this stage would be well-worth it, because that’s about how much worth of the darned Avery badge packs per deck I chew through on my ownsome :) Of course, it lets me go off and make up new cards and mix them into decks I already have this way!

If you’d like to play it, I’m sure we could schedule something. Perhaps you could be the testbed for playing it with just the instructions first without me there to show you through it, and then write down all your questions you wished I could resolve ;)

Cary’s done his CAPPA course and is in the process of job hunting but December is not so great for it. We are still living in the basement of one of our friends (actually, the ones who know the game store owner) and it’s going to get even fuller since they had a baby girl to add to their two boys last month and my baby is due next month. :) Hopefully we’ll be able to start looking for a place next spring.

Is that the petroleum accounting course? Did he enjoy the material? *laugh* Wow, what a lot of babies! How’s Robert doing?

I hope the job hunt goes well. Kinda crappy when they get you to move and then drop your employment - feh. (More common a phenomenon than it ought to be)

Is that Valley of the Mage? (I don’t know it - I just found it on a discussion on BoardGameGeek)

We occasionally poke our noses into Games People Play and, more rarely, the Sentry Box. Plenty of non-mainstream games in there. There are a few games I read about in said book which I might have to go look up. Mage Knight is like a Warhammer Light - no painting the figurines, and the necessary game stats are kept track of on rotate-and-click bases on the bottom of the figurines. I’m not sociable enough to be a steady game player, though :)

The one thing I’m a little worried about game-wise is whether it still works if I’m not there to explain everything… and nobody else who has played it is there to explain everything. There are a couple of parts to it which are slightly confusing but well worth it to know strategically.

I’m trying to figure out places that might be good at printing totally custom cards: fronts and backs. I think I might need to order the regular and special cards separately just so I can get a different back on the special cards. Making an order of 100 or less would be important to be able to do, too. I can do a fair bit of up-front legwork to save me the hundreds of dollars it might cost to make others do it.

I should have ordered more timers, dangit. At least more than the 5 I did *slap forehead* Two folks have already pleaded for a set as Christmas presents, and three timers are already spoken for with the set at the office, the set at home, and the set I gave to Dena’s parents :)

I hope you guys are doing okay! Coming back down south into this Calgary market: decent for jobs, sucky for actually getting a place to stay.