A step up from Playing Cars and Coin Props would be to create custom cards and tokens for NDI. At this time in the early fledglings of beginning to document and design the game, the designer envisages providing these Props as PDFs that can be printed on paper or card stock and then cut into individual pieces to facilitate a default Prop set for the game to confine Paper & Pencil record keeping to only the character sheet for Players, and greatly improve gameplay speed and a more intuitive way to learn the game for new players.

To create custom cards, it is important that they are all one-sided and have identical backsides so that the Opponents in a DBC cannot easily guess how many points their opponent is stacking on an Action, or what kind of Stats are contributing, etc. The front-side of the cards that contain the actual play data, however, should have at least the types listed below that represent the most common Stats, Abilities, Actions, and Complications that are used in DBC's.

• Actions– there should be at least 2 duplicate cards for each Common Action, as well as several blank Action cards that game participants can write on the name rare Actions that they may use in addition to Common Actions that all Actors have access to.
• Stat Points – a collection of cards or tokens for each of the 7 Actor Stats in various denominations, like “1 Str,” “3 Str,” “5 Str,” or “1 INT,” “3 INT,” “5 INT,” so that the opposing player or GM cannot easily guess how much power their opponent is Bidding on an Action by just looking at the backside of a stack of tokens or cards on top of it.
• Abilities*– because Ability points can and should also be added to Actions to boost the Action Score or Action Difficulty, at least 2 duplicate cards of each common ability from the Abilities articles should be printed, as well as several blank Ability cards for participants to use for rare or unique abilities Actors in the game session may have.
• Complications*– in the same way as Action and Ability cards above are printed, cards for each common Complication should printed with at least 2 duplicates so the same Complication can be applied to both Goodness and Badness simultaneously if the game circumstance calls for that during a DBC.

* Equipment*– these should be printed in the same way as Action, Ability, and Complication cards described above for the Equipment that is likely to be used in DBC's by the Actors in the game session.

Once all of these card or token types have been printed and cut out into individual cards and tokens in sufficient quantity from PDF templates, you're ready to play ND1 with just these and Actor sheets left to keep track of with Pencil & Paper.

Example Combat Gameplay with Custom Cards & Tokens: the steps below attempt to describe an Action Sequence involving Double-Blind Contests for several action phases spanning a complete Combat Round.
Combat Round 1: Round Start

1. Players and the GM simultaneously begin to secretly decide which Actions each Actor in the Combat will take this round given whatever circumstances their Actors find themselves in. To simplify and shorten this example, only one PC Actor and one NPC Actor are described, although in practice it will be far more common for the GM to be controlling several NPC Actors or monsters, and for several PC Actors to be participating, not just one.
2. Once either the Player or the GM have made their decision what their Actor will do to begin Phase 1, they can being the Phase by placing a FIT or SMA Stat card or token face down in front of them on the game table to represent their Actor's expenditure of exactly 1 FIT or SMA Stat Point to allow them to take an action in this Phase. FIT Points are used for any Physical Action the Actor intends, and SMA Points in the same way if mental Mental Actions are about to be attempted.
3. Once the FIT or SMA Point has been allocated to allow the Actor to take an Action in this Phase, and Action card representing either a Common Action all Actors have access to is going to be attempted, or a specific Ability the Actor possess that may be uncommon is about to be attempted. The Player or GM then chooses which Action they will take, and places that Action or Ability card face down on their stack for this phase, or maybe multiple one Ability Point cards or a Single card of a higher Ability Points. All cards and tokens that will be in the Actor's Bid for this Phase need to be in one stack. This is so that when there are multiple actors on each side of the conflict, the gaming table does not become disorganized and indecipherable. In this example, let's assume the GM Actor chose the Common Action “Quick Jab” which can be completed in only on Phase, his strategy being to stab his opponent before he can act. Because this is a Common Action, not an Ability the Actor is trained in, no Ability Points will later be applied to this Action to contribute to the Action Score or Action Difficulty, depending on who ends up going first. Meanwhile, the Player Actor has chosen the Chromatic Orb 1 Spell Ability as his Action for this Phase, and places that card face down on top of his SMA card placed in the prior step.
4. Now that the Player or GM has begun their Bid in this phase by buying the right to take an Action with a FIT or SMA Point, and chosen the Action they intend to take, it is time to decide how high they are willing to Bid the power level of this Action. This is a crucial step that will not only determine who wins the upcoming DBC in this Phase, but also who may win the Combat Round, and maybe even the whole Combat. This is because although too high of a Bid, reflecting the power level of the Action taken, might surely win the upcoming DBC in this Phase, it will also deplete the Actor's available power in not just this Phase, but the rest of this Combat Round, because Stat Point Pools refill at the end of the Combat Round, and this is just the first Phase of an unknown number of Phases to come in this Combat Round, depending on which Actor has the highest FIT or SMA stat, and how they choose to spend those Point Pools to buy subsequent Actions in upcoming Phases. What's more, if one Actor Bids high on their Action power level, and their opponent later reveals that they chose an Action that obviates the other's high bid action, all of those Stat Points are wasted! Conversely, too low a power level Bid and although the Actor may have chosen an Action in this Phase that had the potential to be very effective at overcoming their opponent, it was not powerful enough to beat the opponent's Action Difficulty, and so it failed. What's more, their opponent could have Bid high on their Action in this Phase, and not only will the Initiating Actor lose the upcoming DBC this Phase, but their opponent may simultaneously succeed on their Action big time! All just strategy for what is to come, so read on… To Bid on the power level of the face-down Action card in this Phase, token are placed on this card pile: STR or AGI in the case of Physical Actions, or INT or WIL in the case of Mental Actions. STR tokens represent the Influential Stat allocated toward the potential Damage Points the selected Physical Attack Action will do, or stated another way, how many points are contributed to the Action Score or Action Difficulty for the upcoming DBC in this Phase. AGI points are also added to the Bid on this Action now if desired. Each AGI Point increases the Actor's Bid on who goes first when resolving the upcoming DBC. An Actor may Bid high to try and assure that they go first, or they may focus on their STR/Damage Bid and just assume that they'll go last to save AGI points for other Actions in upcoming Phases, or any other combination in the middle of these two extremes. If the Action selected earlier was not a Physical, but instead Mental, as with a Spell, the Actor will have placed a SMA token earlier to buy the right to perform a Mental Action in this Phase, and will have chosen that Mental Action right before this step. For illustrative purposes in this example, let's say the Player got to this step first while the GM is still working on one of the earlier steps above, the Player has chosen a Chromatic Orb spell Action this Phase in the preceding step above, which is a Spell Ability they possess, because they wanted something that would target just one opponent, but be quick (one phase to result), and have the potential to do a lot of damage to their opponent Actor. That being the case, the Player allocates 4 Will Stat Point tokens to the Chromatic Orb spell Action to ensure it will likely have a high Outcome in the upcoming DBC, and 3 INT Points to give it a good chance to go before the Opposing Actor's Action in this Phase. To complete this step in the example, let's assume the GM has now caught up and is ready to bid on the power and speed of their Action in this Phase. The GM, who earlier placed a face-down FIT card to set in motion his decision that his Actor will take a Physical action in this Phase, not Mental, had followed up in the earlier step with a Quick Jab Attack Action, which is an Ability his Actor possesses. On top of that card, he also placed his Dagger Equipment card face down, as evidence in the upcoming DBC that his strategy will be to stick the Player spellcaster with his dagger more quickly than a spell can be cast in an attempt to foil it. In reality, he has no idea yet what Action his opponent intends to take in this Phase since all DBC's involve Unknown Actions, but since the Actor has a robe and pointy hat, a spell seems like a good guess… Finally, he had added 3 STR tokens to his card stack to indicate how much of his total STR stat this round he intends to expend on this Phase's Action.
5. Now that both Actors have anted in with FIT/SMA tokens, chosen the Action or Ability they will use in this Phase, and Bid on the power level and quickness of that Action or Ability by allocating STR/AGI or WIL/INT tokens, we are ready for the optional step of contributing any Complications to the upcoming DBC that may apply. Complications can be almost any condition that applies to either Actor in the Contest, such as Blindness, Fatigue, Berserk Rage, Higher Ground, whatever. This is also the step at which the Player should ask the GM if any Complications apply to his action in this Phase, if the GM hasn't already informed him. In the same way, the GM will secretly place any face down complications on his stack of cards for this phase that apply to the Actor he is controlling.
6. The Bid on this Phase is now complete by both the Player and GM for their corresponding Actors, and so we move on to the DBC finally! In this step, both the GM and the Player simultaneously flip over their card stacks so the other can see. The cards need to be jointly evaluated to determine the Outcome of the DBC for this Phase in a specific Order:
   1. Confirm Each Actor Can Act in this Phase: both participants check that the other paid a FIT or SMA Point to buy an Action in this Phase. If they forgot, or didn't have any to spend to begin with, perhaps because they were injured, and a mistake has been made for that to have happened at this point, but if so, whichever Actor committed the error forfeits their Action in his Phase, because they cannot legally take one anyway. Normally the FIT or SMA card will have been placed though, just confirming that the Actor intends to do something this Phase.
   2. Determine Who Goes First: both participants compare the AGI or INT tokens, if there are any in either Bid, that are piled on top of the card stack for this Phase. Whichever Actor in the DBC has more tokens goes first. Remember that the Action Initiator always wins ties and the Opposing Actor always loses ties in a DBC. But wait a minute, just who is the Initiating Actor and the Opposing Actor at this point, the GM or the Player? The answer is being determined now in this step: whoever has the most AGI or INT token Points piled on their card stack! For sake of illustration in this example, lets recall that earlier we said that the Player Actor put 3 INT Points/tokens toward casting his Chromatic Orb Action first, while the GM allocated 3 AGI toward ensuring his Dagger Jab went first to fool the Player Actor's spell. Uh oh, a tie on the step to determine who wins ties! What to do? Compare which Actor has the highest total AGI or INT, regardless of how many points they allocated. For example, let's assume the Player Actor has 5 INT of which they allocated 3, and the GM dagger stabbar rogue had 6 AGI which breaks the tie: from this point forward until the end of this DBC, the GM Actor is the Action Initiator who goes first and hopes he has the the highest Action Point Bid to win the DBC, and the Player is the Opposing Actor who hopes he has the highest Action Difficulty Score to prevent the GM's Actor from successfully stabbing him with his dagger.
   3. Resolve the Initiating Actor's Action: remember, this stage we know that the GM's Actor is the Initiating Actor, since he goes first, and the Player controls the Opposing Actor in this DBC, because he went second and is now trying to stop the GM's Action from succeeding. Both participants declare their Action Score or Action Difficulty to resolve this DBC by totaling the STR token value plus the Ability card values, as well as any Complication card values that are in place to determine their final Action Score or Action Difficulty. Remember, if the Initiating Actor won this DBC, whatever the difference is between AS & AD becomes his Outcome Score that is added to his Damage with his dagger attack, otherwise he missed. Coming back to our example values above, the Player Opposing Actor 's Action was a Spell in this Phase, not a Defensive Action, like Dodge or Shield, so his Chromatic Orb Action Difficulty is moot and only his Armor Resistance can now save him from the Initiating Actor's dagger Damage, which now has the full 3 STR Points allocated to convert directly to the DBC Outcome. Assuming a dagger has a Base Damage of 1, adding the 3 Outcome Points, he will do 4 Points of Damage to the Player Actor. This Damage is opposed by the AD of the Chromatic Orb spell, to determine if the spell is foiled. Recalling that the Player Actor Bid 4 WIL and 1 Ability Point (Chromatic Orb 1) toward his Bid for this Action, his Action Difficulty Score totals 5 which opposes GM Actor's 3 Action Score (3 STR Point tokens on his Dagger item with the Quick Jab Common Action card which contributes 0 Ability Points). 5 > 3 and therefore the dagger attack fails to foil the Chromatic Orb spell. The Initiating Actor's turn in this Phase is now complete, and it is time for the Opposing Actor to complete his Action in this Phase.
7. Resolve the Opposing Actor's Action:– since the Player Actor who is the Opposing Actor in this case is now going to resolve the Outcome of his Chromatic Orb Spell Ability, we come back to calculating what is his Action Difficulty. In this case, he allocated 4 WIL tokens to the spell, and 1 Spell Ability Point card, for a total of 5. Since the GM Actor did not take an Action that can oppose a spell this Phase, the Player Actor's Action Score of 5 for the spell is immediately converted to become his Action Outcome for this DBC. The GM Actor will take 5 Fire Damage Points from the spell and unless he has some Fire Resistance, that will convert directly to Damage Points that he must allocate to his HP and one or more of his STR/AGI/FIT Stats. Meanwhile, don't forget, although the GM Actor's dagger attack failed to foil the Player Actor's spell, he still did stab him, and that 3 Action Score from STR converted in the prior step to 3 Damage Points to the Player Actor. Unless he has Armor Resistance to oppose that, he will also nave to allocate 3 Damage to his Hit Points and one or more of his STR/AGI/FIT Stats.
8. The First Phase of Combat Round 1 is Now Concluded: the DBC for this Phase has been resolved. We now move on to Phase 2 and subsequent phases up to the limit of whichever Actor Bids the most FIT or SMA Stat Points to continue being able to act in this Combat Round. Not that, depending on how many Stat and Ability Points the Actors in this combat have contributed to their Action in Phase 1 compared to their Actor Sheet total, they may have plenty of Points to spend on Actions for several more Phases, but few actual STR or WIL tokens left to win a DBC for those future Actions. Converseley, they may have held back on Phase 1 so they could outlast the opponent Actor in later phases after he had run out of tokens to power any Actions. It all depends on the Player and GM strategies…
9. Phase 2…
10. Phase 3…
11. Phase N+ (assume the Actor with the highest FIT or SMA ran out of Stat Points to initiate Actions, or chose not to bid anymore because he had no more STR or WIL tokens or Ability Points with which to mount effective Actions. Round 1 has ended because neither Actor participant can do anything more.)

Combat Round 1: Round End

Below are template images of card backs and faces intended to be printed double-sided and then cut out into individual cards to facilitate game test play:

• Cards back dark (for physical printing)
• Cards back dark & transparent (for display on computer software)
• Card faces - blank
• Card faces - body locations
• Card faces - Agility Stat
• Card faces - Fitness Stat
• Card faces - Intuition Stat
• Card faces - Smarts Stat
• Card faces - Strength Stat
• Card faces - Willpower Stat