1000 blank white cards
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1000 blank white cards is a party game played with cards in which the deck is created as part of the game. Since the bulk of the rules are contained on the cards (rather than existing as all-encompassing rules or in a rule book), 1000 blank white cards can be considered a sort of nomic. It is usually played with 3-6 players. The cards used are usually unlined index cards or simply sheets of A7 sized paper.
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Game
The game can be split into three logical parts: the deck creation, the play itself, and the epilogue.
Deck creation
- Though cards are created at all times throughout the game (except the epilogue), it is necessary to start with at least some cards pre-made. Depending on the desired duration of the game a deck of 80 to 150 cards is usual, and of these approximately half will be created before the start of play. If a group doesn't already possess a partial deck they may choose to start with fewer cards and to create most of the deck during play.
- Whether or not the group possesses a deck already (from previous games), they will usually want to add a few more cards, so the first phase of the game involves each player creating six or seven new cards to add to the deck. See structure of a card below.
- When the deck is ready, all of the cards (including blanks) are shuffled together and each player is dealt five cards. The remainder of the deck is placed in the centre of the table.
Play
- Play proceeds clockwise beginning with the player on the dealer's left. On each player's turn, he draws a card from the central deck and then plays a card from his hand. Cards can be played to any player (including the person playing the card), or to the table (so that it affects everyone). Cards with lasting effects, such as awarding points or changing the game's rules, are kept on the table to remind players of those effects. Cards with no lasting effects, or cards that have been nullified, are placed in a discard pile.
- Blank cards can be made into playable cards at any time simply by drawing on them (see structure of a card).
- Play continues until there are no cards left in the central deck and no-one can play (for example because they have no cards that can be played in the current situation). The winner is the player with the highest total points score at the end of the game.
Epilogue
- Since the cards created in any game may be used as the beginning of a deck for a future game, many players like to reduce the deck to a collection of their favourites. The epilogue is simply an opportunity for the players to collectively decide which cards to keep and which to discard.
- Many players believe that having their own cards favoured during the epilogue is the true 'victory' of 1000 blank white cards.
Structure of a card
At its simplest, a card consists (usually) of a title, a picture and a description of its effect. The title should uniquely identify the card. The picture can be as simple as a stick figure, or as complex as the player likes. The description, or rule, is the part that affects the game. It can award or deny points, cause a player to miss a turn, change the direction of play, or do anything the player can think of. The rules written on cards in play make up the majority of the game's total ruleset.
Suggested Rules
- There are many rule suggestions, but these seem to be the two most popular house rules:
- 1) Everyone draws up to 5 cards at the end of his/her turn. Whenever anyone gets a card, they always want to read it and this slows the game down. Also, this lets people who play a lot of cards (for whatever reason) get back up to 5 instead of having to stay with less than 5 for the rest of the game
- 2) Cards must target a specific player, unless it says so on the card. This keeps cards that weren't meant to be played on everyone from being put down in the middle. It also makes the game much easier to understand.
History
The game was originally created by Nathan McQuillan of Madison, Wisconsin.
External links
- The Discordian Intelligence Agency Edition (http://www.geocities.com/nconner23/bwcards.html) - comprehensive introduction and example cards
- The original 1000 Blank White Cards web page (http://web.archive.org/web/20000919070208/userpages.chorus.net/mcquill/cards.html) by the creator as archived by the Internet Archive. The original page is no longer online.