How to prototype a card game online

Set up the table

1. Open the editor and pick Deck from the bar at the bottom, then click the table to drop it. A deck comes with three areas: Deck, Hand and Discard.
2. Select the deck to open the inspector, and add Cards. The copies count adds several of the same card in one go, which is handy for a deck built from a few repeated cards.
3. Add whatever else your game uses: a Counter for score or life, a Dice area, a Board for a grid, or a Note with the rules you are testing.
4. Switch to Play in the top bar and play a few turns: Draw, Shuffle and Discard are on the deck, and every card moves by drag and drop.

Design the cards

Each card has a title, text sections and pictures, arranged by a layout template: Basic, Big Middle, Two Even Split, Wide Middle, Poker Card or a 3 x 3 Grid. A card can have a second face, and you choose what clicking it does: zoom, flip, rotate, show its text, or nothing.

Pictures can be one of the built-in icons, a short text badge, or a link to an image hosted anywhere on the web. Iterary never uploads or stores your images, it only links to them, so keep your art somewhere with a public link.

If your cards live in a spreadsheet, the Import row in the deck inspector reads a CSV file or pasted text and lets you map columns to title, description, image URL, icon, quantity and back face.

Iterate between playtests

Prototyping is changing things, so nothing is locked: rename a card, swap its picture or change its text and play again. Undo and redo cover every edit and every move, in design and in play.

Drop a Log on the table and it writes down what happens: draws, rolls, flips and counter changes. Reading it back after a session is a quick way to spot the turn where the game stalled.

Iterary does not know your rules and never enforces them. Players move the cards and keep the score themselves, exactly like at a real table, which means a rule you invented five minutes ago is already playable.

Share it with your playtesters

Share gives you a link with the whole game inside it, and that link needs no account. If you sign in with Google you can also make a short /g/ link that keeps showing your latest version as you keep editing.

Everyone who opens a link gets their own copy to play and change; their edits never touch yours. Tick Open in play mode so testers land on the game, not the editor.

Try it in the gallery

• Hearthstone Priest/Shaman mix draft Run a Hearthstone-style card draft free in your browser: draw three cards from a mixed Priest and Shaman pool, keep one in the Draft Area, and repeat until the deck runs out. A simple way to practice or prototype a draft format.
• Counter board game template A free, browser-based template for a No Thanks!-style push-your-luck card game: pull numbered cards from a bag, pay a chip to pass or take the card and its chips, with each player's chips hidden in a private seat. Copy it to playtest your own chip-and-card game.
• Board Game Expansion Prototype A King of Tokyo-style expansion prototype you can playtest free in your browser: six custom monster dice, a deck of power cards, and a tray per player for health, energy and points. A starting point for prototyping your own dice game expansion.