5"x7.5" is updated three times a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. There are game updates on all three days.

Monday is the main game update day; Wednesday is when most new card sets are released; Friday is when all donation & contest entries are answered.

As a general rule, all join, hiatus, level, master, otaku, coupon & contact emails will be answered before the next update. All other emails are answered before the next Friday update. I usually check the 5"x7.5" email account daily, so if you desperately need to ask me something sending in a Contact Cate form is the best way to get my attention.

If you send me a form or email and all three (Monday, Wednesday & Friday) updates pass without me replying, there's a good chance I've not got it. So, in general, please wait a week before resending and make sure to check your postbox first.

To make things simple, every card is worth one. Always. However, this doesn't mean that there aren't different kinds of cards at 5"x7.5" - the cards here are modelled closely on real trading cards, and so each set is made up of several kinds of cards. Instead of measuring a card's value by worth though, every card has a rarity. This literally means that certain cards are rarer than others: you won't win them as easily or get as many of them in prizes and games.

At present, there are five different kinds of cards:

Rarity One - Base Cards     The most common cards.     20 cards per set.     eg. fairypark001		Rarity Two - Rare Cards     ~6x as rare as Rarity One cards.     10 cards per set.     eg. trialsr09		Rarity Three - Scene Cards     ~9x as rare as Rarity One cards.     5 cards per set.     eg. mafiasc01, shibusensc04		Rarity Three - Swatch Cards     ~9x as rare as Rarity One cards.     5 cards per set (+1-3 variants).     eg. saiyans01, iscariots02
Swatch Variants Every card set has between 1 and 3 swatch variant cards. These cards have the same image as the normal swatch card, but a different swatch. These variant cards are much rarer than the normal versions.             eg. platinums01, platinums01_var, astales05, astales05_var, wishess03, wishess03_var For mastering, the variant and the normal swatch card are the same - you only need one of them						Promo Cards     The rarest kind of cards.     5 cards per set.     eg. promo_destiny001

Every time you win a choice card you will have the option to save it as a coupon or to take it at that time.

If you want to take your choice card and you win it through a game or contest, you can save it from the site at that time: if you gain it from mastering, levelling up etc. - anything that requires you send me a form - it will be emailed to you or sent to your postbox.

If you want to save it as a coupon, just let me know and it will be added to your member profile and redeemed at a later date.

When you trade cards you can only trade them if they have the same number rarity
eg. a base card (1) for another base card (1); a promo card for another promo card; a scene card (3) for a swatch card (3)
Every card you trade counts as one trade.

You cannot ever trade one card for more than one other card - two base cards do not equal one rare card & etc.

Now it's time for the bad news...
To master a card set at 5"x7.5" you have to collect all the cards of all the different types in the set. So, that's 45 cards.
To help you keep track of your progress, you should pick up the checklists found on the individual card set pages in the card directory.

          For example:

Every time you collect all the cards of one type in a set you tick off one of the boxes on the checklist -- this is called Partial Mastery.
When you partially master a set, you can send in a form to gain a reward & update your member profile.

If you collect all the swatch cards in the set (the normal ones + the variants) you can tick off the +var. box -- this is called Variant Mastery
Every time you do this you can send in a form to gain a reward & update your member profile.

When you've partially mastered all 5 card types for one card set, you've mastered it! Variant mastery is not required to master.
By then, your checklists should look something like this:

When you collect real trading cards, chances are that you buy them in packs or boxes.
In every pack, there's a certain number of cards; in every box there's a certain number of packs. The same is true at 5"x7.5"!

← this is a pack

Open it			or	Save it
	Click on it You'll gain three random cards Possible cards include Rarity One, Two & Three The lower the rarity, the more likely they are There is no guarantee which rarities you'll get You may also find an Otaku Sticker Promo cards do not come from packs				Save it to your tradepost Saved packs can be used as a semi-currency to: • enter certain games • play Otaku Army • buy better things

← this is a box

Open it
	Click on it You'll gain three packs (which you can open or save) But, open all three and: You are guaranteed to get a Rarity Three card You are guaranteed to get at least one Rarity Two card Promo cards do not come from boxes

The rarity of a card type is measured by how many cards of that type you should get if you open a certain number of packs.

Rarity One : You should find at least one card of this rarity in every pack you open

Rarity Two : You should find one card of this rarity in every two packs you open

Rarity Three : You should find one card of this rarity in every three packs you open

As a member, you go up levels as you collect more cards. At 5"x7.5", there are ten different levels - called Pages.

One difference from most TCGs is that, at 5"x7.5", in addition to having a 'level' you also have a 'rank'. This depends on how many card sets you master.
There are ten ranks - called Volumes.

For example, all members start out on the First Page of Volume 1.
A member with 650 cards and 3 mastered sets is on the Third Page of Volume 2.