Hand size
The number of cards a player may hold, usually capped, forcing discards when exceeded. Hand size is a quiet but crucial constraint: it limits how much a player can bank for later, forces use-it-or-lose-it decisions, and prevents hoarding into a single overwhelming turn. Hearthstone's ten-card cap and burn-on-overdraw, Slay the Spire's per-turn hand, both shape tempo. Designers use hand-size limits to keep games moving, to make card draw a double-edged resource (over-drawing wastes cards), and to create tension between spending now and holding. Key decisions: the cap value, overdraw penalty (discard versus mill versus burn), whether hand size is buildable as a resource, and end-of-turn discard rules (Slay the Spire's discard-your-hand each turn fundamentally changes deck design toward using everything now). Pitfall: caps that rarely bind are invisible non-mechanics; the limit only creates interesting decisions when players regularly bump against it and must choose what to let go.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: card-game, deckbuilder