Choosing Between Cards and Tokens

When it comes to randomizers, decks of cards and token bags both provide a collection of items for players to draw from. They aren't interchangeable though; each option has strengths and weaknesses that affect when you might want to use it. There are three things to consider when choosing between a deck of cards and a bag of tokens:

• Information type
• Ergonomics
• Hidden information

Cards are dense, tokens are movable

Cards and tokens have different advantages when it comes to representing information. Cards offer more space for text, allowing more information per card. You can print detailed, unique instructions on each card, while complex effects with tokens require mapping icons to a reference sheet, limiting how many unique effects you can support. If you need to randomize complex information or many unique effects, a deck works better.

However, tokens do have one major informational advantage over cards: they are easier to place and move on a board or among other objects. This is due to their smaller size and greater thickness, which makes them easier to pick up. Tokens, therefore, have an advantage when representing things that exist in physical space and can move; they can convey position, which is harder to represent with cards. If you need to randomize objects in space, a bag of tokens is a better choice.

Decks are easy to draw from, bags are easy to randomize

Drawing tokens from a bag is awkward. You must find the opening, grab the correct number without looking, and pull them out, often using your other hand to hold the bag open. Drawing a card from a deck is easier; you can do it one-handed in a single motion. If you need to draw objects frequently, a deck works better. This is especially true if your game splits draws into many small draws rather than taking all cards or tokens at once.

When it comes to randomization, however, bags have the advantage. Shuffling a deck is time-consuming, and not everybody can do it easily. Randomizing a bag is trivial: you can shake it, and even without shaking it, it is often random enough for gameplay. Adding an object to a bag automatically provides randomization. If your game involves frequently adding or returning items to the pool, a bag is a better option.

Cards maintain secrecy, tokens support states

In some games, players need to keep information secret. This is easier with cards because you can hold them so only you see them. Hiding tokens requires player shields, which can be awkward. Drawing a card is easy to keep hidden, while secretly viewing a token requires holding it and shading it from others. If you want randomized elements visible only to some players, use a deck of cards.

Tokens better represent different states than cards because they can be double-sided. Cards can be double-sided too, but this causes randomization issues since players see one side when drawing from the deck, since it is in full view of everybody. With a bag of tokens, players draw tokens without knowing what they are and then flip them to the correct side. If you want randomizers with two states, use a bag of tokens.

Conclusion

Anything a card can do, a token can do, and vice versa. But there is always a cost to the player experience when using a component that is not well-suited to the task. Choose your randomizer carefully to align with how players will use it.

Use cards if:

• You need to represent a lot of information or many unique effects
• You need to draw frequently
• You need to keep the drawn objects secret

Use tokens if:

• You need to place the drawn objects somewhere in space
• You need to shuffle frequently
• You need to track two different states for each drawn object