Expert: Sherry Wallin - 9/20/2011

Question
Dear Prof Sherry

Can we manufacture/create another 13 Cards for say Lotus, 13 Cards for Daffodil, 13 Cards for Sunflower, 13 Cards for Daisy
and modify the existing card games or Create new Games with this pack ?

i.e Now addition to this 52 cards there will be 13 Cards of Lotus, 13 Cards for Daffodil, 13 Cards for Sunflower, 13 Cards for Daisy.

Note : With this Modification there will be Total 104 Cards.

Now if a Bridge Game is played with Four Players every player will get 26 cards instead of 13 cards.

Notes
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1. We cannot add only 13 cards of lotus to existing cards because it will lead to 65 i.e 52 + 13. Now 65 cannot be divided evenly by 4
2. We cannot add only 13 cards of lotus and 13 cards for Daffodil to existing cards because it will lead to 78 i.e 52 + 26. Now 78 cannot be divided evenly by 4
3. We cannot add only 13 cards of lotus and 13 cards for Daffodil and 13 cards of Sunflower to existing cards because it will lead to 78 i.e 52 + 39. Now 91 cannot be divided evenly by 4
4. But We can add 13 cards of lotus and 13 cards for Daffodil and 13 cards of Sunflower and 13 cards of Daisy to existing cards because it will lead to i.e 52 + 52. Now 104 can be divided evenly by 4. So each player gets 26 cards.

Thanks & Regards,
Prashant S Akerkar

Answer
Hi i can't discuss Bridge per say, I am not a bridge player. However think about what you say in #'s 1,2,3. Of course they are not divisible by 4 since in a standard 2 deck of cards you have 4 of every number and by adding 13 more or 26 more or 39 more you will not have another set of 4 of the same face value cards.
Have you considered increasing the size of the deck to include a 14 and a 15 or more and then adding these to each of the 4 suits? We play cut throat spades all the time with both jokers, one high and one low giving us 15 spades while maintaining 13 of all other suits. This makes the deck of 54 cards which is divisible by 3. I am not sure why you are so focused on the number 4??

Math Prof