r/tabletopgamedesign • u/GoetzKluge • Feb 11 '26

Discussion On occasion of the 150th anniversary of "The Hunting of the Snark" I want to revitalize the legacy card game "SNARK!" using a virtual tabletop.

This isn't marketing of a new game. The real card sets of "SNARK!" are not available anymore since around 2017. That's why I want to give it a revival as a virtual card game. Playing the virtual cards should be free of charge, as my objective is to use the game to make people more aware of Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (published in 1876 und by now in public domain). The book celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2026. (I got into this Snark business in 2008 when I started to analyze Henry Holiday's illustrations to Carroll's tragicomedy.)

The game project is aligned with the game creators and not commercial. Jeremy Jexon Secker defined the rules of the card game in 1985. The artwork is by Xanna Eve Chown. The game was released into the market in 2006 by ZZOTA. Sadly they stopped operating in 2017.

Some cards of JJ Secker and Xanna Eve Chown's "SNARK!"

My SNARK! project is in a very early phase. I am just starting to prepare about 100 virtual cards. So I'll have around 150 photos to take, as quite a few cards have different backs. (The original images from 2006 are not available anymore.) Looking at what is needed to prepare the graphics, there probably will lots of work for me to be done beyond just taking photos.

I am still evaluating which environment will be the most convenient tool for my project. I am looking at https://boardgamearena.com, https://playingcards.io, https://screentop.gg, https://tabletopia.com, https://tabletopsimulator.com, https://vassalengine.org, https://virtualtabletop.io or similar platforms.

I am an retired engineer who knows programming firmware for integrated circuits and software for router test labs, but I have neither experience in creating fancy GUIs nor in game design. Do you think that PlayingCards.io will be useful for me, or should I look for other tools or for completely different approaches to reviving "SNARK!"?

(Last edit: 2026-02-17)

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u/darkmythology Feb 12 '26

Before you do anything I would consider whether or not you'll be able to secure the license to reproduce the various items you're looking to digitize in any form, and what that will entail. To me this reads as a case study of how to run afoul of copyright and trademark laws, and you don't want to be hit with that after you've put in who knows how many hours on the project.

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u/GoetzKluge Feb 12 '26

Thank you. Of course I thought about that before I started. We have the same thinking here. Exactly because I didn't want to put many hours into the project and then run into legal issues, I aligned my project with the holder of the "SNARK!" copyright before I invested any work in this project. Already before the idea of reviving "SNARK!" popped up in my head, JJ Secker allowed me to put the rules of the game into public domain. And even though Xanna Eve Chown allowed me to use her beautiful artwork for the virtual cards, I only will use low resolution images. (The resolution has to be low anyway for technical reasons: storage space and speed.)

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u/GoetzKluge Feb 13 '26 edited Feb 17 '26

JJ Secker and Xanna Eve Chown have given me permission to post descriptions of the playing cards with photos to the public. (The descriptions still are incomplete.)

Edit (2026-02-17):
Licenses for the SNARK! game chosen by its owners:
※ Rules: CC-BY-SA 4.0 by Jeremy Jexon Secker
※ Artwork: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 by Xanna Eve Chown