Holotable Numbers
Holotable Numbers is the free typeface family for the numbers on Players Committee virtual cards remastered by the swccg-cardmaker program: destiny, stat values (power, ability and the like), parsec and slip numbers in the Extended style, and the bottom-strip card number in Bold Italic.[1] It is a modified version of TeX Gyre Heros, distributed under the GUST Font License.[2] It replaced the commercial Akzidenz-Grotesk Medium Extended and a digit subset of Akzidenz-Grotesk BE Bold Italic in swccg-cardmaker revision 65 on 3 November 2026.[3]
How it was made
- Base. TeX Gyre Heros Bold and Bold Italic. Of the free fonts compared (Archivo, Encode Sans, Barlow, Montserrat and TeX Gyre Heros), Heros' digits came closest in shape to the faces the Players Committee used. Heros is a Helvetica-style grotesque.[4][5]
- Proportions. The Extended style is Heros Bold widened by 47 percent. Both styles are scaled so the flat-topped digits (1, 4 and 7) have the height the card templates assume and sit on the baseline, with the same digit spacing as before.[4]
- Tried and not used. The Extended digits were also redrawn from the Players Committee's own destiny numbers. Each was averaged from every virtual card with that single-digit destiny, between 6 and 240 copies per digit, and traced. Those digits matched the card images somewhat better, but at the program's 600 DPI drawing size their outlines were lumpy, or rounded when smoothed. Heros' crisp drawn digits were kept.[4]
- Build. The TeX Gyre Heros sources and the build script are published beside the fonts and rebuild them byte for byte.[1]
How close it is
On 24 reference cards rebuilt by swccg-cardmaker, destiny numbers and stat values land where they did with Akzidenz-Grotesk Medium Extended. The destiny number's pixel difference from the Players Committee's card image averages 21.1 (median 20.0), against 18.9 with Akzidenz-Grotesk. Stat values are unchanged (40.1 against 40.2).[4] On ten Players Committee system cards, one for each parsec from 0 to 9, the parsec number matches in position, width and height to the pixel.[6]
Where it falls short
- The digits are Heros' Helvetica-style design, not Akzidenz-Grotesk's. The 2, 4 and 7 differ most.[4]
- The widened Extended strokes are about 6 percent heavier than Akzidenz-Grotesk Medium Extended's.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Holotable Numbers, swccg-cardmaker on GitHub (revision 67): the fonts, licence, FONTLOG, sources and build script. Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
- ↑ Holotable Numbers licence, swccg-cardmaker on GitHub: GUST Font License (LaTeX Project Public License 1.3c). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
- ↑ Fonts, swccg-cardmaker on GitHub (revision 67, 3 November 2026). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 FONTLOG for Holotable Numbers, swccg-cardmaker on GitHub (3 November 2026). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
- ↑ TeX Gyre, GUST e-foundry. Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
- ↑ Original Virtual card remaster standard, swccg-cardmaker on GitHub, revision 67 (3 November 2026). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.