Concept
At "Lincoln"-style co-events, each table requires packs of vowels, consonants and numbers. Certain issues arose with these over time, and my objective with this project was to fix them and stop them reoccurring.
Problems
▸ Inconsistencies: design wise, an assortment was used for the card sets over the years: some came from different releases of the Countdown board game, but the majority were basic black-and-white printouts, cut unevenly and at different sizes. Most of the sets were regularly mixed together, which resulted in some of the black-and-white examples containing the odd square card within a deck that was cut rectangularly. Similarly, some of those from the board games ended up including letters from one release but numbers from another, and so on.
▸ Disorganisation: the most common issue with the cards was keeping the individual decks together. Elastic bands were used beforehand, though most of them would snap or go missing, leaving the cards to be stored loosely in the box. To make matters worse, loose cards being dumped in would upset the distribution of the letters. This then made it a daunting task for the organiser of the next event to redistribute them and band them back together. Many organisers — myself included — understandably didn't waste their time with this due to it inevitably repeating, which it did.
▸ Transportation: it's the responsibility of the event organiser(s) to transport the necessary number of card packs to their event. All but a couple of the packs were stored inside Tupperware containers big enough to accommodate two complete sets, but this was avoided on account of the disorganisation problem outlined above. Each set being stored in a separate container made it difficult for some organisers to lug them around; in particular, those who couldn't drive but had to travel long-distance whilst having to carry the sets with their luggage.
Beginning in February 2024, I've been working on a series of card sets for use at the "Lincoln"-style co-events, as well as the boxes they are stored in.