Set (card game) Set (card game) Set is a real-time card game designed by Marsha Falco in 1974 and published by Set Enterprises in 1991. The deck consists of 81 cards varying in four features: number (one, two, or three); symbol (diamond, squiggle, oval); shading (solid, striped, or open); and color (red, green, or purple). Each possible combination of features (e.g., a card with three striped green diamonds) appears precisely once in the deck. The game evolved out of a coding system that the designer used in her job as a geneticist. "Set" won American Mensa's "Mensa Select" award in 1991 and placed
Real-time card game Real-time card game A real-time card game is a card game in which all players may act simultaneously (that is, in real-time). The card game Set has a real-time element; in Set, the players are racing to identify patterns in the cards on the table. The concept was also used by James Ernest in his game Falling, and was later expanded in the games Brawl and Fightball. There are also real-time card games that use a standard deck of 52 playing cards. A large number of real-time card games are in the Slapjack family: players take turns playing cards and