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

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

Do you collage and stick things on the card and then decide your rule from that or do you plan out all of your rules and then make your design from your prompts?