Whose Faulty Vision

Backwards Card Game Design

I have been wanting, for years now, to create a card game where you hold the cards backwards–that is, you can see everyone’s cards but your own. It’s been bouncing around my head for a while now, and it finally came out yesterday, in a form that I think may actually be playable. (I’d had a bunch of ideas for it before, but I don’t think any of them would actually work as games.) So I figure I’ll blog it here, in case there are any obvious flaws that my devoted readers can see, and if not, I’ll print up a copy and see how it plays.

You have a hand of five cards, facing away from you. Your goal is to end up with a set of three cards that has a higher point value than a set of three that any other player could create. To do that, you have to a) figure out what cards you have, and b) get better cards from other players.

The game plays rather like “Rock, Paper Scissors,” except that you don’t necessarily know what you’re throwing, but you know what the other person’s throwing. There are 5 card faces, which I’m temporarily calling Rock, Paper, Scissors, Bug and Nuke. Rock, Paper and Scissors behave normally towards each other; all of them beat Bug, and all of them are beaten by Nuke. Bug beats Nuke. The cards also have different point values–I haven’t figured out exactly what values to assign yet, or how to assign them: should it be based on the face, or independent of it?

On your turn, you select one of your cards, and “attack” a card an opponent has. The other players (who can see both cards) tell you which card wins, and the winner gets both cards. Note that this means that if you win, you now have a known card in your hand (although you still have to keep it facing away from you), and at least a hint of what the card you attacked with was. (You might even know what both cards are–if you attacked a Nuke and won it, then the card you attacked with is a Bug.)

Play continues until one player thinks she can form a set of three cards with a higher point value than anyone else can form. She selects the three cards and shows them to the other players, who look around at everyone else’s hand. If there are no higher trios, she wins; otherwise she loses and is out of the game.

So that’s the idea. It seems to me like it would work for a quick game with some luck and some strategy. But I might be missing an obvious flaw. Anyone?

Update: Alternatively, instead of mucking around with points, you could be trying to build a set of one card type–4 Rocks, or whatever. That might be a better goal, and it simplifies things a little.

Also, I’d been assuming that you’d want the same number of each card type in play. But that doesn’t make sense: you’d be able to figure out what was in your hand just by looking at the other players’ hands. So there needs to be a bigger deck, so that you can’t determine what’s in your hand without playing the cards.

Anarchist at the DMV

There are people out there–a surprising number of them, actually–who believe this country would be in better shape if more of it were run by the government.

I have to wonder if any of them have ever been to the DMV.

I won’t bore you with the details of what I have had to go through and will still have to go through to get my driver’s license renewed, but suffice it to say it’s enough to make an anarchist out of anyone.

Quote of the Whenever

Quote of the Whenever:

Buffy: Does it ever get easy?
Giles: You mean life?
Buffy: Yeah. Does it get easy?
Giles: What do you want me to say?
Buffy: Lie to me.
Giles: Yes, it’s terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.
Buffy: Liar.

-Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Otherworld Party

Another happy weekend with Christmas, by the way. We went out to Boston for an Otherworld party. I won’t bore you with the details, but there were lots of her friends there, and some of my old college friends, and we all had a very good time.

Today’s Bill of Rights

Just for the fun of it, I’ve put together a version of the Bill of Rights as it’s actually interpreted by the courts today. I’m trying to be pretty nonpartisan with this; there should be something in here to piss everyone off.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, unless that religion wants to use drugs, or keep people in compounds where the government can’t keep an eye on them; or abridging the freedom of speech, except where kids might see it, or political speech too close to an election, or libel, or anything that pisses off a minority group, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, as long as they do it in “free speech zones” and don’t disrupt anything, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed, unless it’s big scary-looking arms, or you want to keep them hidden–and be sure to register them.

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized, unless the words “drugs” or “terrorism” can be invoked, in which case any searches and seizures are just fine.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, unless the accusers can find another jurisdiction or venue for the trial; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, unless the accusation is drug-related (in which case depriving them of property is just fine) or terrorism-related (in which case depriving them of liberty is just fine); nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation, but we get to decide what “just compensation” is, and it doesn’t have to resemble market value.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. None of this applies to foreigners or Americans with dark skin, if they’re accused of anything terrorism-related.

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, within the boundaries of the United States. Sending people abroad to have cruel and unusual punishments inflicted by other countries is okay.

Amendment IX

(deleted)

Amendment X

(deleted)

Quote of the Whenever

Quote of the Whenever:

“Therefore a wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.”

-Niccolo Machiavelli

Idea File: Trivial Pursuit Story

Idea file: A story written in the form of a pack of Trivial Pursuit-style cards. You’d have to piece together what the world was like and what happened in it by reading the questions and answers, which would be in no particular order.