1,000 Blank White Cards

Starting Conditions

Alana — Chaoflux, 50 3186 YOLD

This game consists of whatever the players define it as by creating and playing cards. This document contains the initial ruleset, but everything in this document is potentially subject to change. Creating new cards dealing with previous cards’ effects is allowed, and rule modification is encouraged as an integral part of gameplay.

The game is not inherently limited in length or scope, and is radically self-modifying. The game can encode algorithms, store real-world data, and hold or refer to non-card objects. It is best played with 3–6 players. To play, you’ll need writing implements and blank white cards.

Pre-Game

Put a stack of 30 (or 20 if <5 players) blank cards in the middle of the table. Add the same number of cards from prior games, chosen at random, or that many blank cards if none exist.
Pass 6 (or 5 if an even number of players) blanks out to each player. Everyone will now take a few minutes to turn their blanks into actual cards. When everyone’s finished, gather their cards and add them to the deck.
Shuffle the deck thoroughly. Deal out 5 cards to each player. Game on!

Playing the Game

Play begins with the player to the dealer’s left, and goes clockwise.

Your Turn

On your turn, draw a card from the deck, then play a card from your hand (or pass). You can play a card on yourself, on another player, or to the center of the table (where it affects all players, including yourself).

If the card has a point value or other lasting effect, it stays in front of the player it was played on (or in the middle of the table) until it is somehow nullified, discarded, or removed by another card. Otherwise, it is placed in the discard pile. If you can’t play a card (you have no blanks, and none of the cards in your hand can be played in the current situation), or chose to pass, then draw a second card from the deck and pass your turn.

Any Time

If you have a blank card in your hand, grasp your pen firmly and turn the blank into a playable card. It’s best to do this during the other players’ turns, so as to hold up the game as little as possible. You can’t rewrite or add to existing cards. (Unless they say you can.)

Ending the Game

The game is over when a player is supposed to draw but can’t. Total up the point value of the cards in front of you, and add the point values of any cards in the center of the table. This is your score (and yes, it can be negative). The player with the highest score wins! Woo!

Q: Is winning important in this game?

A: Not at all. The whole thing is pretty random;
it’s almost impossible to win intentionally. Sure, you could make a card that says “+ 1 Hojillion Points”, but how long do you think it’ll take another player to make a card that forces you to eat it? Aggressive play simply doesn’t work well. The real object of the game is to draw silly pictures and have fun.

Epilogue

After the game is over, you’ll have a large pile of cards. The next time you play, you’ll be using some of them, so you’ll want to whittle it down so only the best cards get re-used.

Take all the cards from the game you just finished, and spread them all out on the table, face-up. Each player then examines the cards and selects their favorite 6. (Select favorite 12 if this is the third game or beyond.) You now have a stockpile consisting of the best cards that the players have made so far. Store these for next time. The remaining cards can be thrown away, carefully archived in a huge library of three-ring binders, or baked into a tasty casserole - your choice.

If winning is important to you, try this: after the Epilogue is over, look through the stockpile. If there are more of your cards in there than anyone else’s, then you really did win.

Anatomy of a Card

At its simplest, a card is just that: a physical card. Its role in the game is both as itself and as whatever information it carries, which can be changed, erased or amended. Cards may be created with any marking medium and need not conform to any conventions of size or content unless specified within the scope of the game. Modifying the shape or composition of a card is entirely acceptable. They can be eaten, burned, and cut and folded into other shapes. Cards may demand their own modification, destruction or duplication, or display nothing but a picture or text bearing no explicit significance whatsoever.

Cards generally follow a 3-part format:

A title. This is what the card is called. Yep.
A picture of some sort. Artistic ability is not required.
A description of what the card does. This can be a point value, some sort of instruction, both, or neither.

Point values normally range from 100 to 1000, in 100-point increments, and can be either positive or negative. Other instructions can be pretty much anything: normal card game instructions (Lose a Turn, Draw Another Card, etc.), unusual instructions (Dance Like a Chicken On Fire), or something totally bizarre (Eat

This Card For Absolutely No Psychedelic Effect). Cards may arbitrarily alter game rules during play.

Fairness Conventions

It is of paramount importance to uphold the Spirit of the Game. This game works based off of creativity and trust. Don’t let winning get in the way of having a good time. Be a good sport, respect the other players, and play fair.

While not binding, it is suggested players follow these conventions to keep the game fun to play.

Players should not create cards that. . .

say one player “wins” or “loses”
give players extra turns
skip more than one turn
take more than one card from a player
do more than one thing
affect who can create cards or how players create cards
target a specific, named person (e.g. Mark gets 5000p)