Patch Products introduces see-through card technology

Patch Product's UNO-like card game SWAP received its Major Fun award almost six months ago, so it'd take some doing for them to get yet another review for basically the same game. Well, some doing has definitely been done.

Patch has updated the game with a new deck of see-through cards. Though the game remains virtually unchanged, the experience of the game is most definitely and delightfully enhanced by this new card technology. It's the feel. The wonderful shufflability. The welcome washability. And the slight, but welcome advantage of being able to hold more cards in your hand and still see them all. Because the cards are transparent, you can make a more narrow fan and still see all the cards in your hand.

Though the cards are transparent, the markings on the cards are not. That also is key to making this new technology so attractive. Your opponent still can not see what's on your cards.

Swap is the perfect game for this technology. Because the action is often very fast (especially when a "slap" card is played), paper cards all too easily get bent. Because a hand can get quite large (sometimes you find yourself holding as many as 20 cards), the thinness of the cards, and the ability to see through to the next card in a tightly arranged fan makes it all the more playable. Finally, SWAP is the kind of family game that merits sitting around a table full of snacks. Hence, card washability becomes a most welcome attribute.

It is unusual for a game company to improve on an already successful game. It is even more unusual for that improvement to be noteworthy. Hence, the kudos.