The successes and failures of computer survival

This week in class I successfully created a prototype of my game and play-tested it at home with my family. My prototype includes four boards; one for each player, eighteen squares on my board, and a whole deck of cards that are needed to move across the board. Each board has the same goal: get to the memory so the character can be free of the computer, collect the right cards to do so. Each board is nearly identical, each with circuits, a south bridge, north bridge, processor and a memory.

The most successful part of my game at this point would have to be the theme; everyone has loved the idea of travelling through a computer, racing against each other to survive, getting a limited amount of chances to get there. Though this theme is enjoyed by people I have asked about it, I still need to develop the game mechanics a little further, as my family and I struggled with where and how to play the cards into the game.

I knew how I wanted the cards to be played, though the part in which I could not decide, was how the players get the cards. Do they draw them from the deck each turn and hope for the best? Do they get given 3 cards each at the start of the game and use what is necessary? If so, then do they trade cards with each other if that is the best option for them? This is what I need to work on. I need to know the best option for players of my game to gather and apply their playing cards.