Ever thought about how a deck can be engineered like a machine, each card a gear that moves the play forward?

Sounds like a solid plan for a mechanical deck—let’s keep it tight. Start by mapping each card to a gear size that reflects its cost and power. The high‑cost cards get larger gears to give them a bigger pull, while low‑cost cards stay small for quick movement. For the suits, give hearts a slightly wider tooth profile so they click together more smoothly, and spades a tighter spacing to reduce slippage. When you prototype with foam, run a few shuffles to catch any binding—if the gear set gets stuck, tweak the spacing or add a light lubricant on the edges. Once the foam runs without wobble, move to 3D‑print with a flexible filament for the gears so they keep turning even under the weight of the deck. We’ll also slot a small chip to record the play order so you can see how the sequence affects the torque. Let me know if you want a detailed gear chart or help calculating the torque for each card type.