idea for ace and null symbols

["Daniel Ajoy" <da.ajoy@...>]

Here is a crude design for ace and null symbols:

http://i.imgur.com/3YENs.jpg

Characteristics:

* Ace and Null are special (they are different from the numbers)
* Ace and Null have a similar look
* Ace is always associated with 1
* Null looks like 0 or 6


I still haven't seen a game where Ace has to be 6. What I've seen is three uses:

1. Null and Ace have to be special  (Evade, Four Blind Mice)
2. Games that need 0-5 values
3. Games that need 1-6 values

In type 3 games, Ace is usually used as 6 because the standard way of representing Ace is with a spiral, which looks similar to a 6:

http://www.bluepantherllc.com/images/PiecepackBirch1.JPG


But are there games which for some reason require the value 6 to be represented by the Ace (tile or coin)?

I know that originally, Ace was supposed to be the suit of the the suit symbol

http://www.piecepack.org/Anatomy.html
"Aces are represented by the appropriate suit symbol.
Nulls are represented by the absence of a numeral or symbol."

But that idea failed with coins, because we couldn't tell if they were suit-side-up or number-side-up. That's why the anatomy says:

"24 coins (round):
faces are marked with value in black (aces are spiral symbols)"

Am I right in believing that that is the reason why the Ace became the spiral (even on tiles and dice)?


Are there games that use Ace-as-suits tiles? or Ace-as-suits dice?

Daniel