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Text File | 1999-05-25 | 13KB | 269 lines

New Eleusis (4 to 8+ players) Summary copyright ⌐ 1995 by David Matuszek This just gives the rules; the notes and a brief introduction are on a separate page. THE DEAL 1. Make up and write down a rule that tells which cards may be played when. The rule must depend only on the cards already correctly played. 2. Shuffle two decks and deal 14 cards to every player except yourself. 3. If you like, give a hint about the rule. 4. Turn up one card for a starter. 5. Choose player to start (count clockwise the number of the starter card). Dealer may, if required by the rule, choose another card to start the sequence. THE PLAY Player (Scientist): 1. Play a card from your hand. (Usually it's best to play a card you think is right.) If you feel confident, you may play a sequence of 2, 3, or 4 cards. If you think you have no ``right'' card, you may declare ``no play'' and show your hand to everyone. 2. Just after you play (any play, regardless of consequences), if you think you know the rule, you may declare yourself Prophet, provided: (1) there isn't already a prophet, (2) you haven't already been prophet this round, and (3) there are still two or more players besides yourself and the dealer. Dealer (God): 1. If there is no prophet, call each play ``right'' or ``wrong,'' and give two penalty cards for each ``wrong'' card. A sequence of 2 to 4 cards is right only if each card played sequentially would be right. Give two penalty cards for each card in a wrong sequence. Don't tell which card or cards made the sequence wrong. 2. If there is a prophet, s/he makes the calls, and you ``approve'' or ``disapprove'' each call. If you disapprove a call, overthrow the prophet and give him/her 5 penalty cards; the player (scientist) who just played gets no penalty for a wrong play. 3. Put a white marker on each 10th card played, and call a ``sudden death'' period after 40 cards played. During sudden death, any player who makes a wrong play is expelled. (When there is a prophet, sudden death is based only on the black markers.) Prophet: 1. When you first become Prophet, put a black marker on the last card you just played. Put the rest of your cards aside (you may need them again). 2. Take over the job of calling plays ``right'' or ``wrong''--carefully! 3. Put a black marker on every 10th card played after you became prophet, and call a ``sudden death'' period after 30 cards played. 4. If overthrown, pick up your cards and resume your role as a player. Special Rule: A player who correctly claims ``no play'' puts his cards on the table and is dealt a new hand with 4 fewer cards (this may put the player out and end the round). If the player is wrong, Prophet or Dealer plays a correct card from the hand and deals the player a 5 card penalty. [But if prophet calls incorrectly, the card is returned to the player's hand without penalty, and Prophet is overthrown.] ENDING A round ends when either (1) some player runs out of cards, or (2) all players have been expelled for wrong plays during ``sudden death'' period. The game ends when everyone has been dealer once (but you can end earlier). SCORING 1. Find the high count: the largest number of cards held by any player (including the prophet). Everyone except the dealer gets points equal to the high count minus the number of cards in his/her hand. 2. Anyone (except the dealer) with no cards at all gets a 4 point bonus. 3. A True Prophet also gets 1 point for each right card and 2 points for each wrong card played after s/he became prophet. 4. Dealer's score is the smaller of (a) the highest player's score, or (b) twice the number of cards played before the True Prophet started. 5. If you end the game early, anyone who has never been dealer gets 10 extra points. 6. The person with the largest number of points wins. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes for New Eleusis Notes copyright ⌐ 1995 by David Matuszek New Eleusis is a simulation of scientific research. The general idea is that the dealer (in the role of ``God'' or ``Nature'') thinks up a rule that governs the correct play of the cards. The other players (``Scientists'') take turns playing cards (``performing experiments'') and race one another to see who can come up with a good theory about the rule. The first player with a theory can declare himself/herself to be a ``prophet'' who can predict the results of the other player's experiments. Other players then try to bring about the overthrow of the prophet by trying to find experiments whose results cannot be predicted (thus gaining a chance to become prophet themselves). [Image] General: * You need lots of room and at least two decks of cards. It helps if you can find miniature cards. * The game doesn't work well for four or fewer people. More than eight can play, but the game gets too long and individual players don't get enough chances to experiment. Hints for the dealer: * Really write down the rule. It helps settle arguments. * Unless you specify otherwise, a numeric rule uses Ace=1, Jack=11, Queen=12, King=13; but you might specify, for example, that all face cards are worth 10. * If you give a hint, make sure it isn't misleading. For example, don't say ``suits don't matter'' if your rule depends on the color of the card. * For the best score, find a rule that is hard for some players and easy for others. * Remember that rules are always much harder than you expect them to be. * If a rule makes almost all plays correct, or almost all plays incorrect, it's too hard. * A good rule should make it easy for you to determine if a card is correct. When God makes a mistake, there is no graceful way to recover. Hints for players: * Generally, of course, you want to play ``correct'' cards. But if you have a theory, often you can best test it by playing cards that you think are incorrect. * If you have a theory, but there is already a Prophet, look for special cases that you aren't quite sure about. If the Prophet has the same theory, you may be able to overthrow him/her. * Your best ``think time'' is when it is someone else's turn, so you don't feel hurried. * Don't spend too much time thinking when only a few cards have been played. Rule Modifications: * You may announce at the end of someone else's turn that you wish to become prophet. Then, beginning with the player who just played and proceeding clockwise, each player in turn has the opportunity to become Prophet. If no one else elects to do so, you become Prophet immediately. * If you have just gone out and you think you know the rule, you may forego the bonus for going out and become Prophet instead. Play proceeds. If you are overthrown, you will be dealt 8 penalty cards and will again have a hand. If you are not, add your prophet bonus to high count for your score. There is a separate page with the rules. Comments and suggestions may be directed to: Marc Drexler 209 Florida Avenue NW #1 Washington, D.C. 20001-1801 or David Matuszek dave@paoli.atm.lmco.com Credits: Eleusis was invented by Robert Abbott in 1956, and improved to New Eleusis by 1976. These rules were adapted from Martin Gardner's column, "Mathematical Games," in the October 1977 issue of Scientific American magazine. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some Advanced Rules for New Eleusis (This is an email response to an email message...) > Okay, suppose I announce `no play'. Prophet says No, chooses a card from > my hand, and attempts to play it. God disagrees, because that card is > not a legal play after all. Prophet is overthrown. > > Your description suggests that my turn ends with no change at all to the > card layout on the table. Is that right? Putting the card back into my > hand seems wrong, because the illegal card is useful information; I > think that the card should go onto the sideline, just as if I'd tried > it and failed. Your turn does not end with the overthrow of the prophet. God now takes her job back. In this case, you have called no play incorrectly, or the prophet would have been overthrown without selecting a card. So god now selects a card from your hand and plays it. We place god-given (or prophet-given) cards like this sideways in the layout, since after the initial clue they are the only way for god to give the players hints. As such, the card chosen and all the cards god did not choose are relevant information. I can see no good way to make this information avvailable, however, but everyone should get a good look at your hand at the time. In the situation of the overthrown prophet, you are receiving no penalty cards for your incorrect play. And your hand size is actually being reduced by one. If the card incorrectly chosen by the prophet remained in the layout as well, you would be down two cards on an incorrect call. I would say it would be completely reasonable, however, to put this card in the layout (I would do it sideways, to indicate an incorrect prophet's call.) If you make the other risk-four play incorrectly and overthrow the prophet (a sequence of four cards) you are down four on an incorrect play. I will suggest this modification to my informal rules committee of friends here. Other rules we play by, which are non standard, most of which I have talked about with Robert Abbott. 1) If a player goes out, he may forgo the bonus for going out and become prophet instead. If he is successful, he is counted as having zero cards at the end of the hand. If he fails, he will have a normal hand when he receives his penalty cards. This is useful when a player has one card left, and needs it to test the last thing about the rule. If his play were incorrect, he could become prophet, or if he had one more card. Why should he be penalized for going out? 2) A player may declare a desire to be prophet at any time. If he was the last person to play, he is prophet. Otherwise, beginning with the person who just played, and continuing clockwise through all the people who would play before the one who wishes to be prophet, each player in turn has a chance to assume the prophetship. This decision must be made immediately, i.e., without a long study of the board. If anyone else decides to become prophet, it is just as if they had declared normally. If no one else is ready, the player who made the declaration becomes prophet. This allows the person who first figures out the rule to become prophet, rather than be beaten out by someone who requires further information but who's turn come earlier. Of course, there is the risk that by declaring you may prompt someone else to take a guess earlier than they would otherwise, and deprive you. (I have declared my desire to be a prophet several times on the same hand, only to have false prophets step in and delay my eventual ascension.) But you can always wait until your turn, as normal. 3) Our rules incorporate one of Robert Abbott's own suggestions, delaying sudden death to 40 cards, or thirty after a prophet. The Scientific American article had sudden death after 30 or 20 cards, respectively. This works much better in games involving experienced players, who can actually figure out rules which take too long to develop by the earlier system. 4) Scoring for the prophet-- 1 pt. for each card played correctly 2 pts. for each card played incorrectly 4 pts. for a correct no play, or 1 pt. for each card in the hand if it is the final play. 8 pts. for an incorrectly called no play (where the prophet chooses a card) (this is the same score a prophet would get for an incorrect sequence of four cards.) Turning the card so played sideways also helps in scoring this way. Happy Eleusis playing. --marc p.s. If you want a fun time, play the following rule, and see who gets it. A very non-mathematical friend of mine came up with it. Alternate between cards which have little loopy things you can fill in in their number or letter designations (like a 4 or a Q does), and cards which don't (like a 2 or a K).