[bongodongobob]

That's just not the right question to be asking. Not everything needs to be digital. If you think handling physical cards is "faffing about", it's just not for you and that's ok.

Edit: How you're holding and dealing the cards is quite literally part of the game. You can read people by how they fling the cards when dealing or how they rearrange in their hands, etc. It's meant to be a tactile experience. It's part of the fun. Yes of course you can play whatever you want online. Call me old fashioned, but 5 dudes at a table playing cards on their phone just grosses me out.

[scubbo]

"Actually you're doing it wrong and you shouldn't even be asking this question" - feels just like StackOverflow!

It might well gross _you_ out, but that doesn't make it wrong. Some people socialize in different ways from you, and that's ok.

[yardstick]

Some of the most entertaining experiences I’ve had are with stupid card decks where the back pattern/image isn’t mirrored. So you could tell eg in Monopoly Deal if someone was holding a dual-colored property card as the card would be held upside down, whereas all other types of cards would only ever be held one way.

Similarly if you play a pack for a while and notice a particular card has a scruff or bend on it. Definitely had that while playing with a friends Uno deck.

Fun times…

But I can definitely appreciate some people wanting to try digital in-person. Games like Codenames take a few minutes to set up (plus shuffle time), and I’d rather spend time playing than doing mundane setup. Would love to see a product that can do it right…!

[scubbo]

Having played Gloomhaven on the Steam Game, I cannot _imagine_ spending the setup time on the physical version. But I'd still love to be in-person while playing!

Honestly, same (but even more so) for D&D and other TTRPGs - automate away all the calculation, dice rolls, etc. for me, give me an easily referencable and clickable character sheet with all my options, but let me enjoy my friends' energy face-to-face!

[mikepurvis]

Further to this, I would say that if you want to get together in person and have a digitally mediated gaming experience, even a turn based one, there are of lot of those to be had that are much richer and more interesting in uniquely-digital ways than simply playing an on-screen version of a game that was meant to be a pack of cards— an obvious example is Civ 6: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sid-meiers-civilization-vi/id1...

For me at least, part of the delight of a truly analogue tabletop game is experiencing all the little design tricks that are used to elegantly implement complex game mechanics (scoring, hidden info, turn taking, catch-up, etc) within the constraints imposed by bits of cardboard and plastic. Once a computer is part of the equation anyway, there's no point in any of that, and you might as well just be playing a game that is native to that platform.

[scubbo]

> How you're holding and dealing the cards is quite literally part of the game. You can read people by how they fling the cards when dealing or how they rearrange in their hands, etc. It's meant to be a tactile experience. It's part of the fun.

For some people. Others (like myself!) actively dislike games where you have to read social cues, and prefer to be able to focus on the explicit (not implicit) game mechanics, keeping their socializing brain separate from (but still active during!) game-playing. Again - other people can enjoy things in other ways to you, and (so long as they're not hurting anyway) they are not wrong to do so.

[WheatMillington]

What a strange response. It's perfectly acceptable for someone to enjoy card games while not enjoying physically handling cards.

[furyofantares]

Actually it's OK if someone else would like to play cards in person without physical cards.

[robobro]

Is it?

[scubbo]

Yes

[password4321]

I'm not saying my way is the right way or your way is the wrong way, I'm asking what's the best way to do things my way (to meet some people I know half way).