Cards of a different color

[barmar]

Wikipedia says that deuteranomaly, the most common form of color blindness, affects 6% of males. This is one of four forms of color blindness that are grouped under "red-green", and the other 3 affect about 1% of males. So in total we're talking about 9% of males.

 

However, I'd expect that color blind playes are better at recognizing the shapes of the suit symbols, since they rely less on the color cues. Although if they're used to traditional red and black suits, which they can still distinguish, they could be caught off-guard when they encounter 4-color cards.

[NickRW]

I have a friend who is a keen amateur snooker player who has distinct red/green colour vision impairment. He gets by - he just has to look twice sometimes.

 

So, sure blue/red/orange/green (say) is maybe not the optimium choice for suit colours - but I don't buy that it makes matters significantly worse for some people and should not therefore be used when in fact it makes things much better for quite a lot of folk.

 

Anyway, just pick more optimum colours - black, deep red, pale orange and turquoise should put most objections to bed.

 

Nick

[barmar]

Are these the same colors as in bidding boxes? It would probably be best to keep things consistent between them. Although bidding boxes have the added feature that the positions of the tags on the cards reflect the suit ordering, so players probably depend less on the color coding.

[NickRW]

Are these the same colors as in bidding boxes? It would probably be best to keep things consistent between them. Although bidding boxes have the added feature that the positions of the tags on the cards reflect the suit ordering, so players probably depend less on the color coding.

 

The majority of colours I see in England are like this, though some are like this. And I've seen yet a third variation recently.

 

I agree that consistency would be best. Perhaps some card and bid box manufacturer wants to take up the challenge????

 

Nick

[NickRW]

Oops - duplicate

[BillHiggin]

Wikipedia says that deuteranomaly, the most common form of color blindness, affects 6% of males. This is one of four forms of color blindness that are grouped under "red-green", and the other 3 affect about 1% of males. So in total we're talking about 9% of males.

 

However, I'd expect that color blind playes are better at recognizing the shapes of the suit symbols, since they rely less on the color cues. Although if they're used to traditional red and black suits, which they can still distinguish, they could be caught off-guard when they encounter 4-color cards.

 

At the size used for pips on playing cards, the 4 color schemes do not cause me much trouble. When used in publications at smaller text font scale, the orange and green can tend to disappear (which is very annoying). The ♦ symbol offered in this editor is NOT my friend.

[gordontd]

The worst cards to play with are the older decks with the scanner codes at the top, before the duplimates with the optical scanner came out. You look at a lot of gibbersh but a few tourneys still use these for pre-dooped boards.

They're widely used here. I don't notice the bar-codes at all, and I'd be surprised if anyone did who played with them much. Brains are good at editing out the stuff that's irrelevant to their needs.

[Gerardo]

At the size used for pips on playing cards, the 4 color schemes do not cause me much trouble. When used in publications at smaller text font scale, the orange and green can tend to disappear (which is very annoying). The ♦ symbol offered in this editor is NOT my friend.

 

If using Firefox or Chrome, try the Stylish extension with this style: Bridge Base Forums - Red/Black Suits

[Vampyr]

They're widely used here. I don't notice the bar-codes at all, and I'd be surprised if anyone did who played with them much. Brains are good at editing out the stuff that's irrelevant to their needs.

No, I don't think people do notice them. We are really used to them here, and in fact rarely use any other type. I do remember, however, the first time I saw bar-coded cards. It was many years ago, and I was very hung over, and the bar codes were making me dizzy and also causing me to feel like I was going to vomit.

[Trinidad]

No, I don't think people do notice them. We are really used to them here, and in fact rarely use any other type. I do remember, however, the first time I saw bar-coded cards. It was many years ago, and I was very hung over, and the bar codes were making me dizzy and also causing me to feel like I was going to vomit.

Careful use of the Ockham's razor principle might suggest that the bar codes were not the cause of your troubles. :) ;)

 

Rik

[66ANDY]

The red/green colour blindness point is one that I hadn't thought of - it could well be common enough to be a powerful argument against using 4 different inks, rather than light. vs dark for clubs and spades.

Yes, red-green color-blindness affects about 2% of the population - and therefore 4% of men (because the color-blind gene is recessive in women). It is a good reason against the green clubs. The orange diamonds are no more of problem to them than the red ones, I imagine.

 

I want to understand who put the black-red-orange-green foursome into play. Just about all the bidding boxes I see use these four suit colors.

 

I am researching this subject. Here in Europe I have played with decks that had orange diamonds and gray clubs which I think you can find in Germany and in Spain. That seems like the best solution for the moment.

 

Personally I want 4-color cards to become the standard. I do not like having two red suits.