Eleusis — guess the dealer's secret rule
One player writes a secret rule about which card may follow which. Everyone else plays cards and is told only right or wrong. The game is working out the rule from the line of cards that grows on the table.
From Eleusis, a card game by Robert Abbott.
What it shows a designer
The rules themselves are what you discover. Players learn by testing guesses against right and wrong, which is how a designer learns what a rule does. The Rulemaker also feels the balance: a rule nobody finds is as dull as one everyone finds at once.
Credits
- Made by
- Robert Abbott, 1956
- This version
- Close to Eleusis Express, John Golden's short version: 7 cards each, no Prophet, fewest cards wins
- Sources
- www.gathering4gardner.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/G4G14-EleusisExpress-Instructions.pdf
nhn.ou.edu/~kieran/eleusis.pdf
What you need
- one standard deck of cards (two if more than five play)
- paper and a pen for the secret rule
How to play
- The rule. One player is the Rulemaker. They write a secret rule that says whether a card may follow the last correct card, using only suit, number or colour: 'play a card of a different colour', 'alternate odd and even'.
- Deal. Deal 7 cards to each other player. The Rulemaker turns one card face up to start the line.
- Play. Going clockwise, each player plays one card next to the last correct card. The Rulemaker says right or wrong. A right card stays in the line; a wrong card goes just below the last right card, and the player draws one card.
- Guess. After a right play, a player may say what they think the rule is. If it is right, discovery is over; if wrong, they draw a card.
- End. The first player to run out of cards ends the round. Fewest cards in hand wins. Then someone else writes a rule.
After playing, talk about
- Which wrong card taught you the most?
- Was the rule too easy, too hard, or about right? What made it so?
- As Rulemaker, how did you choose a rule people could find?
Its blocks
How its blocks were checked against BoardGameGeek
- Eleusis: partly checkable, nothing against it. rules you discover: not checkable. mostly skill: not checkable. abstract: not checkable. take turns: not checkable.
In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.