If you’re like me, you have tons of CTA cards lying around. And there’s really no use for them if they’re expired or you have another with money. Here’s an economically-friendly and fun way to use them — and have a quirky set of cards for playing Kings.
Materials:
ETA: an hour for a full deck
Directions:
- Find as many CTA cards as you can (and sanitize by either using a disinfectant wipe or rub with a tissue doused in Purell if you’re afraid of the germs). A full deck requires 52 cards, with no jokers. Finding this many may be a little difficult, but at least it’ll be a fun adventure! El stations often have cards laying around, but I had little luck trying to get the card machine open (yet the people who work there are generally really nice!).
The minimum cost for a new CTA card is five cents, so it can be easy on your wallet. The “train cards” are not binding, though — you can use old scantrons, restaurant drink coasters, business cards or anything you see fit. If you’d like to laminate your deck, it can be as easy as scotch-taping both sides of the card (or as difficult as using a real laminator).
- Think of a design (or multiple!) for each suit.
- Using permanent markers, draw on the back side of the card. Each suit (diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs) has three royals (jack, queen, and king), and eleven numbers (ace instead of one, then numbers two through ten). Be careful if you are using black and another color—the colors can blend easily if the marker hasn’t dried. Leave time for all of the cards to dry before adding another color or picking them up with your hands.Optional: Use white-out to paint on the cards before drawing, or outline where your drawings will go.
When you’re done, you can keep all of the cards together using a keychain ring!