Duel Monsters and Other Card Games

Duel Monsters Compass Board
A few years ago I built a deck with Elemental Mistress Doriado and her four elemental Charmers. After being told it wasn't practical for actual gameplay (Pokemon this is not), I decided to put it to better use in fan fiction (because the rules change all the time on the show anyway, so wtf?). Better still, I used a posterboard to make a compass with slots for the cards. With Doriado in the center providing the directional light, I placed water in the north position, wind in the east, fire in the south, and earth in the west. The SSW, WNW, etc. directions are taken up by the related cards - the familiar-possessed and trap cards ascribed to the four charmers. The four corners represent SW, NE, NW, and SE by default. On the back, true to the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, I drew the kanji for "heart" (as in heart of the cards). I also drew slots in the bottom (a total of six fit across) for additional magic or trap cards as needed for actual fighting. That's how the device is used in my fan fiction, after all.

Card Games on Anime
Specifically, the shows about magical card games (sadly, Digimon Tamers doesn't count but you should go check out JesuOtaku's review of said show already in progress). What I'm talking about involves CardCaptor Sakura and Yu-Gi-Oh!, but only a specific episode of each. Why? Because in these instances the cards were used for something a little different than usual - Tarot readings.
I'm not going to blather on about Tarot, having only read one book about it and not being that heavily into it. However, I do find the cultural value interesting to note as it does crop up from time to time as it does here, except like with everything else on these shows they are apt to change the rules to suit their own needs. Take, for example, the episode of CardCaptor Sakura when she has to figure out the new card that she's encountered. As she has ten cards in her possession already, Kero tells her to shuffle them and lay them out to do a simple divination. The first card at the top, The Windy, stands for information, meaning that the card in question knows about her. The middle three are clues to what it is - The Shadow, The Watery, and The Illusion. The card left in her hand is what it's up to, which is The Flower, and Sakura's instincts tell her it's after her brother. How much of this is completely made up is beyond my understanding, but I do know that the three in the middle are probably close to reality.
While that scene had a purpose, the one that happened in Yu-Gi-Oh! season one was kind of just...there. Yami Bakura corners Pegasus in his sanctuary, takes out a deck of dueling cards (assuming it's Pegasus' deck but who knows?) and begins to tell Pegasus' fortune with it. Why? I don't really know, he just really enjoyed taunting people and being evil at that point. Again, nine cards were laid out in a diamond-shape for a reading, and the three in the middle were the important ones. The first, he said, told us something about his past - Happy Lover turned upside down. The second represented the present - Mask of Darkness. The third represented the future - Doma the Angel of Silence. And with that, they have a B.S. Millennium Item laser battle fight that doesn't last very long, and Yami Bakura rips the Millennium Eye out of Pegasus' eye socket and hightails it. WTF??
Anyway, as a final note I wanted to discuss something non-Tarot-related that I think is a lot of fun. First I must ask a few questions: Have you ever played clock solitaire? Do you like Fruits Basket? Do you like Organization XIII? If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, then I have the perfect game for you! Usually the cards are laid out to the twelve positions of a clock with one in the middle (jokers out). However, you can leave the jokers in and create a fourteenth spot - a second one in the middle (this may come in handy depending on your view of the following character sets). The Fruits Basket version, as I like to call it, is a fun way to learn the order of the Chinese Zodiac with the Rat (Yuki) at the one o'clock position and the Cat (Kyo) at the thirteenth position in the middle. If you choose to play with jokers, the fourteenth position can be assigned to God (Akito) or Rice Ball (Tohru). The Organization XIII version is a bit easier as you only have the numbers to go by (the fourteenth position you can reserve for Xion or give to Namine depending on how you want to call that one). If you don't know how to play, it's fairly easy. Take the deck of cards and shuffle it well. Lay the cards out in a circle of twelve with one (jokers out) or two (jokers in) cards in the center. Each position should have four cards stacked on it. The last card in the thirteenth (jokers out) or fourteenth (jokers in) is the one you start with. Place that card underneath the stack of cards at that numbered position and turn over the first card on that stack, and so on until all the cards in the thirteenth (jokers out) or fourteenth (jokers in) position are flipped over. When that happens, you're out of cards to flip and the game is over. Like in regular solitaire, you only win if all the cards are flipped over in their proper position, but it's the fun that counts, right?