Kate Hackett
Indy Mellink realized that she believed that traditional playing cards were sexist and racist, she decided to create an entirely new deck of cards that would be remove “gender hierarchy and race differences”.
She then founded GSB Playing Cards. Instead of Kings, Queens, and Jacks, the cards are “Gold”, “Silver”, and “Bronze”. Due to Covid-19, Indy had plenty of time to develop the cards.
“I would really like to stress that I do not wish to polarize people and take away something. I was raised by my mom to always consider my choices and look for alternatives outside of the box. That is why I wanted to design something more inclusive for those who think like me and want that and offer more choice!” Indy said to Bored Panda.
She also added, “There are bigger problems and better ways to tackle this demon, and we should focus on those. I just happened to stumble on this subtle inequality problem and happened to think of a solution as well and decided to spread it to those who want it. I do not identify myself as a strong activist and try to tackle sexism and racism with my simple cards, I just wanted to provide an alternative, a small solution to a small problem.”
In her chat with Bored Panda, she explained that the idea began in June of 2020.
“We experienced another hard lockdown in the Netherlands so I had extra time on my hands. I always enjoy playing card games with my friends and family every summer so I was brainstorming a cardgame myself and as I was going through the standard explanation in my head I suddenly said, ‘Yeah, okay standard hierarchy, King above Queen above Jack.’ And then suddenly something clicked in my head like, woah, wait a minute why is the King worth more and the Queen worth more than the Jack?”
The revelation sparked a conversation with her parents.
“To keep it more inclusive for everyone and not have such strong inequalities. And that is when my dad said, ‘Why not make one yourself?’ That is when my creative juices started flowing,” she said.
She told Bored Panda that the first step was finding a hierarchy without gendered players.
“Then I also noticed that all the cards are white royalty, which is also an inequality, not including any people of color. So I decided to step away from people in general. So I came up with Gold, Silver, Bronze, a hierarchy everybody is already familiar with due to sports.”
“Then I started designing on the computer and ordered just 4 packs for myself to play with. My friends and family loved them so much they also wanted a pair so I ordered a new shipment of about 50 just to sell to them but it started spreading immensely, so I ordered a batch of 500 and then the rest started snowballing from there,” she said.
The other cards remained unchanged.
Not everyone has had a positive response to the cards, which Indy has a very open mind about.
“The truth is, I have nothing but understanding and empathy for these people. They get the notion that they are being blamed and that something is being taken from them, so of course you will lash out then. Next to that, people do not understand the effect of subtle inequalities on people’s lives as they reply with ‘we are going too far, it’s just a game’ or ‘I never thought about and no one did so why does it matter?’ I’d like to show them studies and case examples of how subtle inequalities do affect people and that is why I designed this alternative for those who do not wish to play with the traditional cards.”
She has other plans to help use the profits from the cards to help tackle other game-related inequalities.
Check out more info on the cards and Indy here: GSB-PlayingCards.com, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.
