Card rules · 2026-10-29
A Hidden Card Face Can Still Belong to the Hand
Overlapping card graphics can conceal a face without removing the physical card from the hand. Counting visible faces and counting held cards are therefore different tasks.
Overlapping card graphics can conceal a face without removing the physical card from the hand. Counting visible faces and counting held cards are therefore different tasks.
Twelve faces, thirteen entries
In a teaching display, twelve faces are visible, but the complete hand record lists thirteen distinct cards. One card is covered by the layout. The display alone is not evidence that the hand has only twelve cards.
The reverse also needs care. A decorative card back, an animation frame or an old selection preview should not automatically be counted as another held card. The source of the count matters.
Separate identity, visibility and permission
A card may be present but partly obscured. Its identity might be available through an authorised complete-hand view. Whether it is currently selectable is yet another property. None of these properties should be substituted for the others.
A complete inventory of thirteen distinct cards settles the count even when only twelve faces are readable. It does not make the covered rank readable. The count can be known while one identity remains unknown.
Count entries without inventing the covered face
A reliable inventory may establish thirteen cards while a cropped image leaves one rank unreadable. You can report the count as thirteen and the covered identity as unknown at the same time. Guessing a useful missing card to complete a sequence adds evidence that the image does not contain. Count certainty and identity certainty need not rise together.