If you’re planning a return to the snow this season, but find planning and research a chore, this ski-themed reimagination of SuperCards (Top Trumps) might be the best way to pick your next holiday destination.
SuperCards, the card game where players battle statistics to steal cards was first published in 1978 and is now sold and played in over 30 countries and 10 languages. However, despite several travel-related decks being released over the years, SuperCards has never created an edition for snow enthusiasts.
- Related: The 13 Largest Ski Resorts on Earth
Inspired by the iconic game, online ski resort resource website Snow Season Central has created a full 30 card edition for “ski resorts of the world” to get people excited for winter.
The team analyzed statistics from ski destinations across the globe to choose the 30 resorts that would make up the pack, each with varying strengths against a number of criteria considered in holiday planning.
The pack includes many of the world’s most famous resorts such as Whistler Blackcomb, Vail, and Zermatt. As well as lesser-known resorts in Slovenia, Spain, Japan and New Zealand with underrated attributes. In total, resorts from 13 different countries feature in the deck.
The 3 Vallées in France, known as the world’s largest interconnected ski area, tops all other cards for the largest skiable terrain, with 600km available for piste lovers. However, Cardrona in New Zealand scored highest on things to do. As expected, many of the more famous resorts scored poorly on affordability compared to Bulgarian, Argentinian or Slovenian resorts. In fact, you can ski for 5 full days at Vogel (Slovenia) for the same price as a single day at Vail (Colorado, USA).
Each card was custom designed to include a descriptive resort bio, a visual of the piste map, and 5 statistics covering:
- Skiable terrain – the total skiable terrain in kilometers
- Snowfall – the average snowfall in a given week in the season
- Instagrammable – the total hashtag uses for the resort
- Things to do – a count of different activities to do in the local resort area
- Affordability – The affordability of a one-day lift pass converted as a percentage
“Top Trumps has always been a popular game in our house, but despite the range of topics they’ve covered, we’ve never found a ski resorts edition. The game is not just great fun to play, but an interactive way to research – every resort has strengths and weaknesses and this approach makes them easy to compare when planning a trip.’
– Ed Raine
For those eager to give the game a go, sadly it is not available for purchase, but there is a downloadable pack with all 30 cards that can be printed at home. This, and instructions on how to play can be found on Snow Season Central.
Over the coming weeks, more ski resorts in Europe and Northern Hemisphere begin opening, some of them welcoming tourists for the first time since March 2020.
