Decks and Cards
A deck is a themed set of cards. After you select a deck, one or more card stacks appear on the canvas. You draw cards from these stacks and place them on the table.
What it is
Core elements
- Deck: a themed set of cards with a shared visual style.
- Groups: categories inside a deck (for example: people, situations, resources).
- Display mode: "By groups" or "Single deck".
- Card draw mode: "Face down" (random draw) or "Face up" (choose from a list).
- Card on the table: can be face up or face down, moved and resized.
Built-in decks
Eleven decks and 929 cards ship with every account. Pick by what your session is about, not by visual style.
Scene decks – a scene you can step into:
- Crosspoint – choice and motion. 78 cards, six groups: thresholds, forks, trails, resistance, anchors, shores.
- The Open Door – archetypal images. 90 cards built around symbolic doorways and thresholds, word cards included.
- Urban Myth – the modern life-script. 108 photo-style scenes of adult life: rooms, streets, work, family.
- Threads – ties between people. 72 cards, six groups: belonging, contact, voice and boundaries, care and exchange, stories and legacy, change and loss.
Portrait decks – a face across the table:
- Reflection – 103 cards for reading emotional layers without analysing scenes. Two groups, word cards included.
- I Feel – picturebook scenes for naming feelings. 84 cards, seven groups. For children, teens and adults who need a softer entry to emotion work.
Resource decks – about support:
- Light Within – warm symbolic imagery. 80 cards across Nature, States, Symbols, plus a small Words group.
- Here – support in a hard moment. 60 cards, six groups: attention and landmarks, sensation and movement, choice and boundaries, people and practical help, room for the feeling, carrying on.
Coaching decks:
- Momentum – 88 cards across eight tracks: energy, calling, money, boundaries, achievement, recovery, learning, integration.
Special decks – a narrow theme, stated up front:
- Between Us – couples and close relationships. 96 cards, eight groups: approach, closeness, the shared "we", differences, conflict and boundaries, repair, choice, the third field.
- Rhythm – the body in everyday life. 70 cards, seven groups: sensation and attention, load and environment, movement and comfort, food, sleep and rest, rhythms and change, attitude to the body.
Authors keep adding decks through the deck editor. Use Deck Marketplace below to find published community decks and to use invite codes for closed ones.
How much a deck is used
A deck may carry a line under its description, such as "Taken into work 1 240 times, 8 630 cards drawn". These are two different numbers: how many times the deck was picked for a session, and how many cards were drawn from it onto the table and on the card-of-the-day page.
- A deck counts once per session, so flipping between decks does not inflate it.
- Re-opening the same daily card does not count.
- The line appears once a deck has actually been used: a new deck has none.
- Private and draft decks have no line: there the number would say how often the author works rather than how popular the deck is.
Roles and limits
- Only the host can change deck modes.
- All participants can draw and move cards.
One stack on the table, cards from several decks
There is always one stack on the canvas: the session's active deck. But drawn cards are not tied to it. When the host changes the deck, the stack is swapped and everything already on the table stays where it is.
The direct consequence: one layout can hold cards from several decks. The host may change the deck mid-session, and that is the normal way to work, not a workaround.
How to use
Key steps
- Open the deck settings panel and switch to the "Deck" tab.
- Select a deck from the list.
- If the deck has multiple groups, choose a display mode: "By groups" or "Single deck".
- Choose a draw mode: "Face down" or "Face up".
- One or more stacks appear on the canvas. Click a stack to draw a card.
- In "Face up" mode the card selector opens; the "Card selector" section below covers it in full.
- Position the card, then flip or resize it if needed.
Changing the deck mid-session
- Go back to the "Deck" tab at any point in the session.
- Pick another deck. Display mode and draw mode are set again, because they belong to the active deck.
- The stack on the canvas changes, and the cards already on the table stay: the layout keeps growing out of both decks.
- To clear everything at once there is a separate "Clear table" button - changing the deck does not clear anything.
When cards do leave the table
A layout is cleared only by an explicit action: the "Clear table" button, switching to another session, or ending the session. One special case is turning private mode off while a private-only deck is on the table: the app warns that this deck and its cards will be removed, while cards from other decks stay.
Scenarios
- Random draw: pick a card "face down" for spontaneous associations.
- Conscious choice: open the card list and select a specific card.
- Group-based work: draw from different stacks for different themes.
- Mixed layout: draw a portrait from Reflection, then switch the deck to Here and place a resource card next to it.
- A resource for a hard card: after a heavy image, switch to a resource deck and add support without taking the layout apart.
Card selector
When the draw mode is "Face up", clicking a stack opens the selector: a surface that shows every card in the deck or group. The app opens in this mode by default, because it lets you look at the whole set.
Row or grid
The switch in the top-left corner of the selector changes the layout:
- Grid fills the screen with cards and scrolls vertically. This is the default.
- Row is a single horizontal strip that scrolls sideways.
The choice is remembered on this device and comes back next time.
Card size
Next to the switch sit a five-step scale and the "Smaller" and "Larger" buttons. Steps that do not fit the current window stay on the scale, dimmed: a narrow screen cannot show the large sizes, but the scale does not jump when you rotate the phone.
The size is remembered too. If the layout cannot fit your step, cards are drawn smaller while your choice is kept and returns once there is room.
Looking at a card
A click or tap on a card opens the preview:
- In a small row the preview leaves the strip visible, so you can click neighbouring cards and compare.
- In a large row and in the grid the preview covers the screen.
Escape from the preview returns you to the selector rather than closing everything.
Placing a card on the table
You do not have to open a card to take it:
- In a row, drag the card up.
- In a grid, drag the card aside.
- In the preview, press Enter.
The hint at the bottom of the selector names the gesture for the current layout. On a touch screen the drag has to be longer than with a mouse, so that scrolling stays scrolling.
The card lands under the cursor. If you took it without a pointer, it lands where you tapped the deck to open the selector; and if the selector opened on its own, without a tap, in the centre of the visible table.
Keys
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
+ / - |
Larger or smaller |
| Arrows | Move between cards |
| Enter | Place the card on the table (in the preview) |
| Escape | Close the preview, then the selector |
A card that is already on the table is inactive in the selector and labelled "This card is already on the table".
Deck Marketplace
Sections of the deck list
- Favorites – decks you marked with a heart. They come first.
- Library – public approved decks.
- My decks – what you built in the editor.
- Acquired – decks unlocked with an invite code. Access stays forever.
Buttons on a deck card
- Favorite adds or removes the heart. Requires a signed-in account.
- Report files a complaint about the deck. Requires sign-in; details are in Reporting content.
- Mod is visible only to team members with the MOD badge: badges and unpublishing.
Deck badges
- Starter – a deck that ships with the account.
- Featured – an author deck marked by moderators.
- Badges sit next to the deck name in the list.
Private-only decks
An author can mark a deck as available in private mode only. If such a deck is selected while private mode is off, the app offers to turn it on. Turning private mode off removes that deck and its cards from the table, and a separate dialog warns you first.
Invite codes, Pledge and pearls
The marketplace economics live in their own section: invitation types and their cost, the pearl shop, pinning a deck. See Pearls and marketplace.
Random card
The simplified sidebar has a "Pull a random card" button. It takes a card from a random favorite deck, or from any public deck if you have no favorites. Word cards are never drawn this way.
Tips and errors
- If you don't see mode toggles, the deck probably has only one group.
- If modes are disabled, you are not the host - ask the host to change settings.
- You can flip a card with a double click, a card button, or the context menu.
- Use the context menu to return a card back to the deck.
- A deck must contain at least 35 cards to generate invitation codes.
- If the selector offers no large sizes, the window is too narrow: widen the browser or rotate the phone.
- A dimmed card in the selector is already on the table.
- A deck marked "Deck unavailable" was moved back to draft by its author, or blocked.
Screenshots
Elements on the screenshot: 1. "Deck" tab 2. Deck list 3. Display mode toggle 4. Card draw mode toggle 5. Deck stack(s) on the canvas
Elements on the screenshot: 1. Card on the table 2. Flip button 3. Fullscreen button 4. Resize handle 5. Card context menu (right click/long press)
Elements on the screenshot: 1. "Row" / "Grid" switch 2. Deck name and card count 3. Size scale with "Smaller" and "Larger" buttons 4. A dimmed scale step that does not fit the window 5. Gesture hint at the bottom of the selector
Elements on the screenshot: 1. Enlarged card in the preview 2. The row strip still visible below 3. A card already on the table, dimmed in the strip