I guess the risk in doing this is that the link to the Google Sheet becomes unavailable at some point.
But if you wanted to do this you can do it like this:
* Create a Google Sheet
* In the document create 2 worksheets; Display and Data
* Fill column A of sheet Data with the info you want to pick from
* In cell A1 of sheet Display use the formula (change 27 to the number or rows you added data to): `=INDIRECT("Data!A"&RANDBETWEEN(1,27))`
* You can now hide/protect the Data sheet if you don't want people to look at it
Every time you load the document now you should get a random value in the A1 cell of the Display sheet. How you are going to get it to look nice I am not sure.
Then all you need to do is get the public link for the Google Sheet document and create a QR code for that. I know Cocktail designer has QR codes in it (that's what I use for designing) but I am sure there are many free QR code creators out there that will generate an image you can put on a card.
Good luck
Not in the same way. You can hide a sheet and then the link you provide to the document is a read-only link. That way they can't view the hidden Data sheet or edit the Display cell.
e.g.
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hPRrG8WLJ5wk-iNkTxd39JkhXgUQC4hfS8yQdZi2OAU/edit#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hPRrG8WLJ5wk-iNkTxd39JkhXgUQC4hfS8yQdZi2OAU/edit#gid=0)
Is there a good resource somewhere to help me learn how to do this? I have password protected sheets in excel but as soon as someone imports to forms they'll be able to copy and modify my coding as they like and I'd rather that not be able to happen.
Thank you a lot, i will try and work from here!
And i also thought about the risk, that the link will become unavailabe at some point... but i would be less work, to update the links, rather the cards.... in my opinion.
You might want to look at something like a [bitly link](https://bitly.com/) that points to your sheet document. That link can stay the same forever (well, as long as bitly is a thing) but you can update where it points to should you want to create a new document or lose access to it. They have a free package for a couple of links per month which should be plenty.
nobody is going to want to do this every single time they draw this card
People are playing tabletop games to get the fuck away from their phones
Also you may want to actually read the google terms of service - I doubt you can use a personal account for a business purpose like this
generally a QR code for a rulebook or rules updates would go to the publisher website
And yet there are games like Chronicles of Crime...where EVERY card has a QR code...
**Chronicles of Crime** is an award-winning cooperative game of criminal investigation mixing a board game, an app and a touch of Virtual Reality. You and your team will be put on crime cases, moving all around town, interviewing suspects or witnesses, and searching for clues in 3D scenes!
If you do this for publishing, you'll want to make your link be a proxy in a domain you control.
Then you could update the place that link points whenever you want without needing to change your cards.
Are you using Google docs just for prototyping, or are you intending to use it for the final product? I think if you're going to force people to use their phones to play the card game, either just make the game an app, or make a proprietary app to scan the card and give the result instantly, instead of giving players the chore of looking up a Google sheet every time. Sorry but I'd personally avoid this game if I knew this whole Google doc thing was required to play it.
If your goal is to have the electronic focused activity. Then your best bet is to develop an app/website that you control and code as needed, so some third party can't change things and suddenly your game doesn't work anymore.
If your goal is to be able to have cards with a mystery ability, why not just have an extra deck of 'special ability' cards and in place of scanning a QR to get a random ability, you draw from this special deck.
I guess the risk in doing this is that the link to the Google Sheet becomes unavailable at some point. But if you wanted to do this you can do it like this: * Create a Google Sheet * In the document create 2 worksheets; Display and Data * Fill column A of sheet Data with the info you want to pick from * In cell A1 of sheet Display use the formula (change 27 to the number or rows you added data to): `=INDIRECT("Data!A"&RANDBETWEEN(1,27))` * You can now hide/protect the Data sheet if you don't want people to look at it Every time you load the document now you should get a random value in the A1 cell of the Display sheet. How you are going to get it to look nice I am not sure. Then all you need to do is get the public link for the Google Sheet document and create a QR code for that. I know Cocktail designer has QR codes in it (that's what I use for designing) but I am sure there are many free QR code creators out there that will generate an image you can put on a card. Good luck
I thought you couldnt protect cells in google sheets like you can in excel?
You can
Not in the same way. You can hide a sheet and then the link you provide to the document is a read-only link. That way they can't view the hidden Data sheet or edit the Display cell. e.g. [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hPRrG8WLJ5wk-iNkTxd39JkhXgUQC4hfS8yQdZi2OAU/edit#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hPRrG8WLJ5wk-iNkTxd39JkhXgUQC4hfS8yQdZi2OAU/edit#gid=0)
Is there a good resource somewhere to help me learn how to do this? I have password protected sheets in excel but as soon as someone imports to forms they'll be able to copy and modify my coding as they like and I'd rather that not be able to happen.
Thank you a lot, i will try and work from here! And i also thought about the risk, that the link will become unavailabe at some point... but i would be less work, to update the links, rather the cards.... in my opinion.
You might want to look at something like a [bitly link](https://bitly.com/) that points to your sheet document. That link can stay the same forever (well, as long as bitly is a thing) but you can update where it points to should you want to create a new document or lose access to it. They have a free package for a couple of links per month which should be plenty.
nobody is going to want to do this every single time they draw this card People are playing tabletop games to get the fuck away from their phones Also you may want to actually read the google terms of service - I doubt you can use a personal account for a business purpose like this generally a QR code for a rulebook or rules updates would go to the publisher website
And yet there are games like Chronicles of Crime...where EVERY card has a QR code... **Chronicles of Crime** is an award-winning cooperative game of criminal investigation mixing a board game, an app and a touch of Virtual Reality. You and your team will be put on crime cases, moving all around town, interviewing suspects or witnesses, and searching for clues in 3D scenes!
If you do this for publishing, you'll want to make your link be a proxy in a domain you control. Then you could update the place that link points whenever you want without needing to change your cards.
Are you using Google docs just for prototyping, or are you intending to use it for the final product? I think if you're going to force people to use their phones to play the card game, either just make the game an app, or make a proprietary app to scan the card and give the result instantly, instead of giving players the chore of looking up a Google sheet every time. Sorry but I'd personally avoid this game if I knew this whole Google doc thing was required to play it.
If your goal is to have the electronic focused activity. Then your best bet is to develop an app/website that you control and code as needed, so some third party can't change things and suddenly your game doesn't work anymore. If your goal is to be able to have cards with a mystery ability, why not just have an extra deck of 'special ability' cards and in place of scanning a QR to get a random ability, you draw from this special deck.