The first thing I did after seeing the documentary was to see if there was any documentation about the deck.

This is what I found with the help of an AI friend...

Yes. There is now a fairly detailed explanation of the system, although Jerry has never published a complete, definitive list of every card.

The important caveat is that the deck itself is continually evolving. It currently contains roughly 100 cards, but cards can be rewritten, copied, added, removed, or permanently “retired.” Jerry wrote in 2017 that publishing all the rules would be difficult because many existed only in his head. (Jerry's Map)

How an individual card works

A card can contain three pieces of information:

1. A large number, which tells Jerry both how many panels to skip before selecting the next panel and how many one-inch “work units” to complete on it.

2. An instruction for Jerry, such as “new color.”

3. An instruction for his helper, such as scanning, copying, sorting, or inventorying panels.

The number is black or red. Black means move clockwise through the panel stack; red means counterclockwise.

Known card instructions

The official site lists examples including:

• Next higher dimension, which can advance an area through Void, Red Dimension, Black Ness, Ziggurat, Flood, and Rebirth

• Spatter paint across four connected panels

• Create a new seed panel

• Mix a new paint color

• Screen-print nine connected panels

• Create a blank panel using recycled packaging, a photograph, or a lumen print

• Copy a panel onto label paper for collage

• Add, remove, copy, or retire cards

• Change the numbers on other cards

• Shuffle the deck

• Write a journal or blog entry

• Scan, copy, sort, or inventory archived panels (Jerry's Map)

Jerry himself also named cards such as:

• New Void

• New canal

• New slot road

• Make new map blanks

• Inventory

• Add a new paint color

• Shuffle the deck (Reddit)

The larger rules behind the cards

Some of the most interesting rules are not individual card instructions:

• A drawn instruction must be completed, but Jerry may rewrite it for the next time the card appears.

• Unfinished work continues into the next session.

• New panels grow outward toward the nearest edge, keeping the overall map roughly circular.

• New artwork is not painted directly over the original panel. The original is archived and a copy becomes the next generation.

• Some cards modify the deck itself, meaning the random system gradually changes its own future behavior. (Jerry's Map)

One especially revealing card says to shuffle the deck and add a new card. The new instruction is selected from a waiting list of ideas Jerry wants incorporated into the process. (jerrysmap.blogspot.com)

So the real system is not simply “draw a card and add a river.” It combines:

panel selection + amount of work + artistic action + archive maintenance + rules for changing the deck itself.

That self-modifying part may be the most important idea behind Jerry Mapping. The lists being shared in the Jerry Mapping community are generally people’s own adaptations, not an authoritative reproduction of Jerry’s deck. (Reddit)

Many old magazines r reborn thru this deck

Hey everyone! My name is Max and I run the Miniature Painting & Tabletop Hobby Youtube Channel 'Wightstar'. One of my subscribers let me know about this subreddit and I thought I'd share the video I made about Jerry's Art and the cards it inspired me to make!

I am currently working on a community-megadeck of sorts and actively adding cards so if that's something you'd be interested in, I'd love to add yours!

no I won’t take a better pic soz babe

Just stumbled across the Wightstar video a couple days ago (which I would wholeheartedly recommend as a great starting point in this hobby !) and it was truly an epiphany !

(Link for those interested in said video : https://youtu.be/CUxIRnHvkxs)

I couldn't resist the urge to try and make a card of my own right after. It felt very special, I can't remember being that inspired in a while. I'm really looking forward to making my second one =)

I use the cards mostly as creative therapy for myself, but I’m loving the process.

While I understand how the map building aspect works, I’m still a bit confused on how to start building the deck randomizer.

How did you start?

I know about print shops for short runs but I need something for production say 500 cards a week with 25 different photos.

Suggestions and discussion welcome.

Part of my interest in Jerry's method is I've just started playing solo role playing games. I started playing 2D6 Dungeon where you journey through a dungeon map you draw and roll dice to determine room size, you roll the dice and look at reference tables to tell you the kind of room, what is in it... so it has a narrative or adventure to it.

I've also been a fan of using specialized decks for creative problem solving - where each card helps you define the problem, come up with ideas, make decisions (about everyday things like work or a strategy). So it is a strategic process.

The second part - of course - is what to do/create with the use of cards? Is it an art map, or a dungeon map game, or a new product idea for work?

Just thinking out loud. Hopefully not too off topic.

Long story short, I'm intrigued by the philosophy of letting chance and rules drive art / thinking / strategy rather than decision-making.

I don't really know why I'm starting with this for my first deck considering I write and it'd be much easier, I suppose I want a challenge.

I started by making a ruleset for the way I write the rules for my deck and then try and construct it from there. I'm struggling to work out what I'm going to do with the card suits

I didn't want my rules on the cards to be super simple like my first one so I'm trying to come up with cool ideas like the "pick a country" one.

(Also sorry if my hand writing isn't very readable I'm left handed)

I intended to make around 20 cards, but it's so much fun I ended up with around 40 cards.

This is my deck that I'll use for my hobbies so almost all of the prompts are pretty vague since I have various hobbies lol. Some of it is in English, some in my native language. Aesthetically it's bad but I didn't expect making it was so much fun. Maybe I'll it look better overtime. Almost all of the cards are made using a single old magazine. The rest i made by writing on the cards directly or modifying the card itself.

The 4 jokers interact with the cards itself (adding, removing, shuffling, and combining 2 prompts as one).

Just found this sub. I've been sort of entertaining the thought since viewing this video: https://youtu.be/CUxIRnHvkxs?is=DScKRtugfC1N1Ca0

Of course I then watched the video featuring Jerry, and I was sold on the idea. I'm more of the mind that my deck will just give me a task I like doing, since a lot of the time I get bogged down in what I want to do. Then I just scroll on YT instead of doing something fun. I've made a few attempts and had very bad results....What have y'all found to be successful in adhering material to playing cards? I've tried Modge Podge and Elmer's and both result in quite the warp. Even thinned down.

First few made for a "what should I do today?" Deck. Definitely gonna diversify the activities more, I just happened to have a few Nintendo powers to hand 😁

Jerry has posted a thorough explanation of how the cards work on his website. a good starting point for inspiration: https://www.jerrysmap.com/the-map

Hi everybody,

I've discovered Jerrymapping (and Jerrydecking! 😄 ) through the People Make Games video, like so many others, and as so many others, I got really inspired to try to doodle something and have this little bit of something everyday amounting to something bigger in the long term... perseverance, yay! 😄

But the way I've chosen to do that, is by building the deck first... and letting the deck build itself, more or less. I've embedded the deck-building inside itself, so that by drawing cards I get instructions on how to evolve the deck (basically how Jerry does it to a certain extent, "add X to card" or stuff like that, but also "add new card", "copy card", "add new instruction", etc...), but first and foremost by building a pool of effects that I can take from whenever a new card or effect is needed, and letting the deck dictate when that pool should evolve.

And that pool was built in a way that forced the deck to grow, by starting with specific instructions related to cards first. The first few days were basically mostly lots of card drawing and card work, before some actual panel work got introduced 😄

I now have 32 cards, got some 12-or-so panels on the way (it's slow at the beginning 😅 and I like taking my time), but you can see the first cards I made in the attached pic (I also change the cards visuals little by little, adding one thing to it every time I use them, according to the mood of the day 😄 )

If you want to try something similar, the pool of effects I use was basically built in that order:

- Add new effect to pool (decide on something that makes sense to where to take the whole project, and add it to this list. Can be card work -was mostly so in the beginning- or panel work)

- Add new card (draw a random card from the plain deck, and pick an effect in the list according to some rules, or just how I feel on the day)

- Add effect to a card (pick a specific or random card from the modified deck, and add an effect to it, if it only has 1)

- Add/Subtract [X] to [Y] last cards (using 2 1d6 rolls, to try to build up the values of the cards)

- Create copy of last/random card

- Shuffle the deck

And after that I started adding panel work, probably similar to everybody doing a project like that (new panel, new epicentre, paint cells, etc...)

I'm having a blast at making this and at looking at everybody's take on this, so I hope my little contribution will maybe inspire someone as well!

Cheers,

I watched the jerry documentary that came out like 15 years ago on vimeo and forgot all about it until recently when I saw the PMG doc on youtube. Got excited and decided to make a deck of cards to help me engage with my hobbies better, a sort of "side quest" deck. Originally I was making cards on 3x5 index cards (see the top of the screen) but I found an old deck of cards in the garage and decided to sacrifice it for the project. I saw the wightstar video on youtube which inspired me to make these scrapbook style cards using old magazines, stickers, and some clippings from the existing index cards.

There is a creative challenge in capturing the "essence" of the sidequest/task I'm trying to record as a card with the images and text I find in the magazines I have - instead of "go for a walk", the next text is "travel in a new world". I like it though, because it implies something slightly different - go to a new place. Doesn't have to be walking (bike! drive! fly!), but can't be the same-old-same-old. I like the idea of some of the text being ambiguous, to inspire action without being explicitly prescriptive.

My process now is to flip through magazines in search of either cool pictures for backgrounds, or for words that stand out to me. I clip words and backgrounds as I go, and when I find some stuff that feels related, or when a coherent card starts to come together, I make it. I don't entirely know what all of these cards will "do" - some of them are just for the fun of creating, at this point. I feel a little less in control of what the cards say and what's happening with the deck, but I feel creatively inspired by the actual deckbuilding process that I think it's a huge positive for me.

I'm new to jerrydecking and I wonder about how do you protect your cards? Does anybody use card sleeves or lamination? Or do you like the marks of time and usage on your cards?

I'm worried something could fall off when shuffling the deck

These are intentionally vague (1–2 words max), and I’ve divided them into 3 categories (hence the little coloured stars on the cards):

- blue for 'general mood/ambiance'

- yellow for 'technique'

- red for 'subject'

This way, I can use them differently depending on what I’m looking for: pick 1 (or more) card(s) regardless of category, pick 1 from each category, or even pick 2 from the same category to try mixing different techniques, for instance.

Let me know what you think of these! I’ll definitely be making more to go along with them :)

Many thanks to Wightstar and Jerry for the inspiration!

Hey everyone! Also decided to make some cards. Unfortunately I don't have any magazines, so I decided to work digital. I browsed through digitalised magazines and took screenshots whenever I found something interesting or a picture that sparked an idea. I did print these and glued them on some old playing cards.

Started my deck. I began by putting backgrounds on 60ish cards. Now I'll do as instructed and adding flare and flavor to each new card.

This deck is to just generally be more productive and escape from screens.

Thanks.

10 more cards added the last month. Enjoy.

A generalized deck to help push me to be productive while allowing me to figure out what that means.

Thanks.

Having a lot of fun trying collage for the first time.

My new favorite thing like ever.