4 Color Decks - Yay or Nay? (1 Viewer)

[jamesjkim]

I do not get the color blindness argument at all.

If one can distinguish two shapes that have the same colors, ie clubs and spades, hearts and diamonds, I do not understand how 4 colors would complicate the matters?
Sure, green and red / blue and green may be a bit similar, but not so much as two reds or two blacks, and the shapes are still different, as in a traditional 2 colors deck. What is the fuss about?

For someone who isn’t colorblind it may be difficult to understand, but for colorblind folks, adding additional colors draws more attention to them and as a result more to try and decipher. If a 4 color deck had colorblind friendly colors, say yellow and blue, it could help resolve this. Association to suits leads with colors (eg yellow = clubs). Adding colors for the purpose of distinguishing suits becomes more of a problem for colorblind people (red/green colorblindness being the most common).

It’s similar to the game where the word is a different color than the name (eg Yellow word in Blue font) and you need to say the color font not the word shown.

 

[cpac54]

4 colour decks? Heck to the yes, please.

 

[allforcharity]

You don't solve the colour-blindness problem with more colours. There are other ways, and it does not impact the non-colour-blind. It's agonizingly simple.

 

[jamesjkim]

Agree. To @BGinGA earlier point, one color is all you need. Or a rainbow deck. It doesn’t matter.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Real life fail, perhaps, but you can buy a deck on Amazon if you are still in doubt.

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Low-Vision-Playing-Cards/dp/B000GT669O/ref=mp_s_a_1_20?crid=3RKR22V7KPS6T&keywords=4+color+playing+cards&qid=1693436488&sprefix=4+color+playing+ca,aps,1428&sr=8-20

God, I was hoping I was going to get Rick-rolled.

 

[Ainton]

In hold ‘em… no thanks, but when we are playing circus games, hell yeah!

 

[binoclard]

If a 4 color deck had colorblind friendly colors, say yellow and blue, it could help resolve this.

Thanks for your explication. I think it is what I had in the back of my mind with my incomprehension of the problem. The problem is not the 4 colors per se, but the poor choice of colors, and so with a good contrasted and differentiated palette that does not confuse colorblind people, we could have a deck that associates a nice legible/identifiable color with a suit, and satisfy everyone.

 

[binoclard]

View attachment 1188098

I am definitely not a huge fan of the mix of colors and index/pip font on the same card, and it seems that having the pip to the right might be weird, but… I have to say, I kind of dig the "in your face" mega huge index effect plus the 4 colors. I might order one to test, and report back.

 

[jamesjkim]

Thanks for your explication. I think it is what I had in the back of my mind with my incomprehension of the problem. The problem is not the 4 colors per se, but the poor choice of colors, and so with a good contrasted and differentiated palette that does not confuse colorblind people, we could have a deck that associates a nice legible/identifiable color with a suit, and satisfy everyone.

Charts and graphs with a multitude of colors is triggering to say the least - need lots of different reference points to figure out what’s what. Lots of pc games have incorporated “colorblind” mode. Believe it or not, 1 in 5 males are colorblind (whether they know it or not), and more prevalent among males.

 

[AceFour]

Tried it and you really need the right lighting. There was a weird glare that made it hard to read green if I remember

 

[graywolf]

God, I was hoping I was going to get Rick-rolled.

These are the cards a certain blackjack YouTube channel uses in their basement casino. It reminds me of when my kids were in VPK and had flash cards for basic learning activities.

 

[Coyote]

For the time being, my opthalmologist prescribes me glasses.
I 'll hate the moment when he 'll prescribe me a German Shepherd. Poker would be over, at that point of time.

 

[Annorax]

These are the cards a certain blackjack YouTube channel uses in their basement casino. It reminds me of when my kids were in VPK and had flash cards for basic learning activities.

yeah, fuck that. My basement casino's blackjack table has Copag Tech Art I cards that work with the hole card peephole.

I use four color decks for Omaha (Desjgn for in-person games, Copag for livestream due to the more matte finish) and games where the players have more cards to parse than in Omaha. For holdem (and table game variants), I use Kem Arrows.

 

[pinballhead]

I like the 4 color cards, everyone in my games hates them.

 

[NotLilShrimp]

I will always love my 4 color cards. Even though there are better designs and pips or whatever with standard black and red decks, i play with usually a lot of novice players and it can be hard for them to differentiate between suits. I'm all for inclusivity in poker, and I feel like 4 color cards are a lot easier for new players. Plus I just like being different so having 4 color in real life is just fun for me

 

[Chippy18]

From the game perspective of poker I say no. It takes away the chance of misreads and kind of helps the player to spot the board texture. So no. But I like the colors with the suits. They match.

 

[RagahRagah]

Those Modiano bridge sized 4-pip, 4-color decks are a miraculous anomaly.

 

[merkong]

No.

 

[KillingDyl]

I have some nice decorative decks with 4 colors and it does make the suits stand out more in those cases. Especially for when you're sitting at the far ends of the tables, it makes the suits stand out easier.

 

[jpoppaaa]

Mostly indifferent but lean toward “yay”.

 

[Rex]

Nay, I would find it annoying playing with a 4 color deck. Stay with the classic 2 colors deck of cards

 

[dragonswillrise]

One of my weekly games is literally called "The Old Guys Game" and when I started I was the only player in the game under the age of 60 filling a seat for the winter when the snowbirds went south. Brought the large face 4 color Copag decks one week and they have never looked back. Everyone bought a set.
I don't need the 4 colors but at a large table, I am always a fan of the large index.

 

[ChrisTot]

Yay!

 

[Timmah]

Nay.

 

[Sisu41]

10/10 I pretty much always try to get 4 colors when I can

 

[springbox]

Played my first game with a 4 colored deck the other day. One or two people were a little thrown off, but I liked them. I tend to peek at my cards pretty quickly, and sometimes I need to recheck the suit because I didn't peel far enough, and 4 color eliminated that for me.

 

[Taghkanic]

There is always a big chunk of any audience which hates changes to familiar designs. No matter how much better the new design is.

Then they get used to it or even prefer the new version.

If four-color decks were the traditional standard, and someone tried to switch a room to two-color decks, the same people would say “I hate it.”

 

[ValueTown]

I'm indifferent, but the rest of the players didn't care for them.

 

[ChrisTot]

There is always a big chunk of any audience which hates changes to familiar designs. No matter how much better the new design is.

Then they get used to it or even prefer the new version.

If four-color decks were the traditional standard, and someone tried to switch a room to two-color decks, the same people would say “I hate it.”

Yeah, I’m actually really surprised so many don’t like it IRL — when it’s the better online setting. If anything, I would think that maybe the problem is there isn’t any KEM version and just Copaqs.

But then again, the Christmas trees with multicolor lights are the same price as the ones with just white lights.

 

[drdr]

Red-green colour blind person. I find the four colour decks irritating, the green especially. Brain keeps trying to work out what damn colours are present, which can be difficult for partial colour blindness. With a standard deck my brain seems to do a two step process; what colour, then which shape of the two for that colour. With the four colour decks the brain seems to struggle by applying the same sorting process. I suspect it's easier to mentally distinguish between two options then the nested two options within that, rather than trying to distinguish amongst four options instantly all at once. Though, I suppose it may just be pattern/colour recognition habit that the four colour decks are interrupting and then causing unpleasantness.