Michigan Fencers Create Card Game to Share Their Passion With Friends

Between bouts at a fencing tournament, the scene is often familiar: young athletes hunched over phones and tablets, scrolling through videos or playing games to pass the time. But at an international fencing camp last summer, three young fencers from Renaissance Fencing Club found a more creative way to spend their breaks.

Eleven-year-old Yuna Kim, along with teammates Selina and Emma, created a custom fencing card game from scratch — complete with hand-drawn illustrations, strategic gameplay and rules rooted in the sport they love.

The hand-cut cards feature charming stick-figure fencers in full gear, each illustrating a different action or situation from the sport. Attack cards let players choose an opponent to strike. Lunge cards deliver a hit but warn "If they parried, you're in trouble!" Defense cards can only be played when attacked. Recovery cards help players avoid an opponent's parry-riposte. There's even a Coach card that lets players ask another participant for advice throughout the game.

The penalty cards add authentic referee flavor. Yellow cards warn opponents to "Stay warned! Be legal!" Red cards can be given to other players for illegal actions. And the dreaded Black card? "You are eliminated!" complete with a sad face emoji.

The project began during downtime at camp, where RFC fencers trained alongside coach Anna Katkova. Rather than reaching for screens, the trio started brainstorming card concepts, combining their individual strengths to bring the game to life.

"My daughter is good at art, so she illustrated the cards," says Jia Kim, Yuna's mother, who accompanied the group to camp. "Everyone did what they are best at, and the collaboration was so harmonious it made me feel so touched."

The girls worked on the cards during every spare moment, taking several days to complete the deck. Once finished, they shared it with their RFC teammates. The response was immediate — and the feedback loop began.

"They played together and listened to their feedback, eventually made changes and made more cards," Kim said. "Through playing, they talked about fencing rules, referee rules and fencing strategies. They had a blast every time they got these cards out to play."

For Kim, the project demonstrated how her daughter's passion for fencing extends far beyond the strip.

"I hope this can inspire more fencers, fencing families and clubs that fencing is not just a sport to young children," she said. "The passion and love they have for this sport will transfer and show in every way and everything they do."

Yuna started fencing at age 7 at Renaissance Fencing Club, which hosts an annual art competition to encourage creativity among its young athletes.

"How they manage to be so serious on the strip but work so well together off the strip is so amazing for me to watch," Kim said.