Cards
An ordinary pack of cards can be very simply adapted to the use of the blind.
Fig. 1.—Pin pricks showing value and suit of card.
Fig. 2.—Distinguishing marks for suits and color respectively.
By means of a large pin, the designation and value of a card can be pricked on the back, so that the upraised holes are perceptible to touch. These values and denominations should be pricked in the corner where the small designation of the value of a card is always to be found, as in [Fig. 1].
In [Figs. 2] and [3] are shown the marks which should be pricked. These are in the Braille alphabet, now universally understood by the blind, and read by them with the same ease as we read printing.
Fig. 3.—Values to precede the signs for suits.
Fig. 4.—Cards prepared for Patience.
In Whist or Bridge, each person, as he plays his card, states what it is, King of Hearts, and so on, as this saves feeling the cards after they have been laid on the table.
A very suitable game, calculated to amuse the player for hours, is Patience, under all its forms. For this the cards must be prepared somewhat differently, as in many games the first thing to be distinguished is the color.
The handiest plan is to mark a B or an R for Black or Red, in Braille characters immediately before, or underneath the denomination. A glance at [Fig. 4] will serve to show what is meant.
With the cards thus marked, any game of Patience can be played as easily by a blind person as by an ordinary player.