# Eleusis — guess the dealer's secret rule

- From: Eleusis, a card game by Robert Abbott
- Players: 4–7 players
- Time: 10–15 min
- Made by: Robert Abbott, 1956
- This version: Close to Eleusis Express, John Golden's short version: 7 cards each, no Prophet, fewest cards wins

Made with boardgameBuilder 0.14.4. To design from it, open boardgameBuilder and choose Open game: its blocks go on the canvas, and the feelings are left for you to pick.

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.

## 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.

## 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

1. **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'.
2. **Deal.** Deal 7 cards to each other player. The Rulemaker turns one card face up to start the line.
3. **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.
4. **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.
5. **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?

## Where the rules are written down

- https://www.gathering4gardner.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/G4G14-EleusisExpress-Instructions.pdf
- https://nhn.ou.edu/~kieran/eleusis.pdf

## Its blocks

- Chance or skill: mostly skill
- Theme: abstract
- Information visibility: rules you discover
- Timing: take turns

## Saved state

boardgameBuilder reads this part back when the file is opened.

```json
{"mechanics": {"information": "rules-you-discover", "chance-skill": "mostly-skill", "theme": "abstract", "timing": ["take-turns"]}, "chosenFeelings": [], "previousMechanics": {}, "previousFeelings": [], "turnNumber": 0, "locked": false, "turnHistory": [], "answers": {}, "tests": {}}
```