New Rule

Introduction: Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye, and if the person is wounded it’s a race against time to save their life. In this game, players cooperatively take custody of a dying deck — with only so much blood in the body, your team can afford few mistakes. By acting together, you might be able to staunch enough wounds to save it before your supplies run out!

Players: 4

Materials: One standard deck of playing cards.

Setting Up: Shuffle the deck and deal all cards into four hands of thirteen. Designate a first player; play proceeds to the left.

How to Play: Each turn, players collaborate to play cards that either open or close new “wounds.” Cards are played in a simultaneous reveal: each player selects a card from their hand and holds it face-down in front of them, and all played cards are revealed simultaneously. At the beginning of the turn, players may discuss play strategies for the turn. They are free to debate whatever terms they choose, so long as they do not name the specific cards in their hands.

Once a player has chosen a card and placed it down in front of them, they may not switch it for another. When all players are decided, the cards are revealed and tabulated:

• Hearts are wound cards. Each heart played constitutes a new wound, and remains in play in front of the player that played it, whether it is open or closed.
• The other three suits are bandage cards, and are used to close wound cards in the following manner: bandage cards are used to staunch wound cards of the same value. If at least two bandages are played on a wound, the wound is closed. Bandage cards remain in play to indicate the status of the wound to which they refer.

When bandage cards are played during the reveal, they are immediately applied to the relevant wound card. Any player may bandage any wound at any point during the game, as long as the wound is already in play. If a player plays a bandage when there is no corresponding wound in play, the bandage is discarded and may not be used again that game.

Watch the Arteries: If more than two hearts are played on the same turn, the player-paramedics have nicked the artery, and the blood flow increases suddenly. All hearts played that turn are set aside: they may not be closed at all that game.

Winning the Game: When all thirteen cards have been played, calculate the number of open and closed wounds. If the ratio of open to closed is at least 2-1, the players win.

Next: Designing “Bleeder”

This game grew out of a certain reminiscence of an earlier game of mine, Hominist, in which the suits define the value of the cards. I was considering the play flow of classic full-deck games like Hearts and Spades, and the challenges inherent in not having random draws. I thought about the process of “sloughing,” or strategic discarding based on position and timing. Sloughing is a tactic used to strengthen a hand by shedding cards that will cost the player tricks if they are forced to play them, or to shift the balance of the remaining suits in the hand to allow the player to take advantage of the follow-suit rule. Sloughed cards are forgotten, however: no longer in play, they matter only as variables in the calculation to determine which cards remain unseen.

I took this system and reversed it, requiring players to respond to these “sloughed” cards. By playing the hearts early, the players ensure they’ll have the time to respond and counter them. But if they play too many too fast, they can lose on the spot. A measured, steady stream of wounds is the safest strategy. Including the “nick the artery” rule is the linchpin of the system, in fact, because without it players could just agree to play all hearts at the outset, and then spend the rest of the rounds simply mopping up. However, without playtesting I can only assume the rule is balanced and will generate a dynamic that is challenging but still winnable.

I can probably assume I went with a health theme because I recently watched Michael Moore’s film, Sicko, and health matters are on my mind

Tags: Game Design //