Cheap Suits

teto

7/10/25 - cookin a card like no other

I had this concept cookin' for a while (since BakeBuild), and after seeing all of the Hacker Card PCBs being submitted recently, I was inspired to give my own take on the guide with all of the new experience I've gained from my past hardware projects.

warning: lore drop

I've had the idea of making some form of Hack Club playing card for a while (partly due to my crippling poker and balatro addiction), which I took with my BakeBuild submission a while back in April, making custom pixel art of Orpheus on a joker card inspired by Balatro.
Now looking back, I can definitely improve this idea through a Hacker Card, which contains a much slimmer form factor, custom graphics, and some form of interactivity with the NFC chip. I've improved my skills in hardware, art, and design across all of my projects, and I'm finally ready to give this idea it's due justice.

also inspired by the song Cheap Suits by mekaloton and OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH AKJHDLSAHDASD I LOVE GAMBLING

To start off, I decided that the card will have the same dimensions as a Bicycle playing card, which is 2.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall (88.9mm tall and 63.5mm wide), with a 3mm fillet on the corners. I then went into my drawing software and made a quick mockup of how I wanted the card to look like.

Since PCB manufacturers will make 5 copies of one PCB, I can't make 5 different cards with differing suits, so I'll have to merge all 4 into one cohesive design. I also want to design a hardcore electronic vibe with the card, using strong and sharp lines.
I plan on using 8 LEDs, but I also worry that the low power from the NFC will not be able to handle all of the LEDs at full power, which is why I also plan on having at least 4 LEDs to maintain symmetry and to match the suits.

From there, I started to brainstorm some more about the design, adding comments about how I wanted the card to look like.

I wanted to maintain a hardcore-cyberpunk aesthetic, but also incorporate some poker table or casino vibes with it, maybe using art-deco themes due to their similarity with cyberpunk of having sharp and defined lines.

but anyways i should work on the actual pcb

I'll be using EasyEDA for this project, since KiCad doesn't have many of the symbols/footprints of the components in the guide. I followed the guide, but I swapped out the yellow 2V LEDs with red ones, as well as adding 3 extra LEDs in parallel, resulting in 4 LEDs.

I read on the NFC's datasheet that it can ideally output 2V and 5mA of current. The datasheets for the red LEDs were all in Chinese, but I read online that LEDs this size also work at about 1-2mA, so by Kirchhoff's Current Law it should be good (?? still unsure)

hours spent: 2 hours planning and making schematic

7/11/25 - Importing to KiCad and drawing!!!!!!!

seven eleven day woohoo

Today I moved the PCB to KiCad since I'm more experienced in it (easyeda was also tweaking out on my browser). I imported all of the symbols and footprints to KiCad, so everything should also be the same.

I then asked whether or not my idea of having the 4 LEDs in parallel would work in #electronics, and was told that the LEDs would draw way too much current from the NFC chip, which would either leave me with very dim LEDs or damaging the NFC chip, so I just changed it to one LED

very sad i know

Once I had the footprints imported, I moved into the PCB editor and routed the components.

After that, it was time to actuall design the card in Figma.
I took a screenshot of the PCB in orthographic mode and ported it to Figma, making a frame around the outline of the screenshot to hold the drawings in. I used the common card motif of having the rank and suit of the card in the corners, but instead of using a rank and suit, I used the Highway star and Hack Club's H logo, modified to fit the aesthetic of Undercity.

i spent a lot of time undercity-ifying the logo lol

Once I was happy with the corner, I worked on the center and suits. Using Figma's Stroke features, I made the checkered pattern found on poker chips with a couple circles and drew the suits with the Pen tool. I also made a small little square cutout to show the NFC chip that was going to be soldered on, which was specifically placed in the middle of the PCB.

The other corners of the face of the card looked a bit empty compared to the rest of the board, so I made a trim around the card, as well as adding cyberpunk-ish details to fill up the space and to add to the theme of the PCB.
To add variety, I made one side filled with white and the other an outline, which also nods at the corresponding suits they are near

the white fill is next to the red/light suits (hearts and diamonds), the black fill is next to the dark/black suits (clubs and spades)

Once I was happy with the face, I quickly imported it into KiCad, exporting the suits as a separate file to make them shiny by making them exposed copper instead of just silkscreen.
After that, I started work on the back. I kept the cyberpunk theming with the trims, making two tower shapes with white and black fills, as well as adding extra details like stars or triangles to fill up the space.
I also added a small little via to serve as a possible lanyard hole for the extras :>

anyways im tired

time spent: 4 hours in KiCad and drawing