Calvin Ball: Difference between revisions

 

== Board Games ==

** Another, much less absurd game of Nomic, [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/406032/nomic/play-by-forum Here]. Current rules are [http://bggnomic.wikispaces.com/Current+Rules#Immutable%20Rules-----116 here]. New players can still join(Rules 305.3, 305.7.1) as long as they don't cheat(Rule 101). You can always quit if you decide you hate it(Rule 305.7.2), and there's no penalty for quitting(Rule 113), so it can't hurt to take a look(Rule 116).(The winner is the first player to get to 200 points(Rules 112, 208. For scoring, see also Rules 305.3.1, 305.4, 206, 307, and 309.2)

*** There's [http://parl.gc.ca/ another name] for this sort of thing.

* The rules of the card game ''[[Fluxx]]'' start simply, but constantly shift in unexpected ways with each new card, such that the players aren't even sure what will make a winning hand next turn. It's been described as "Calvinball with a deck"—an obvious exaggeration, because you can't "make up whatever you like", you can only "do what the cards say", making it more like a simplified [[Magic: The Gathering]] than like Calvinball.

* The card game ''[[wikipedia:1000 Blank White Cards|1000 Blank White Cards]]'' has far fewer rules than Fluxx. The game ends when someone cannot play or draw a card, and the person with the highest score wins. Other than that, players can mess with the score, the rules, and really just do whatever the heck they want by creating a card with that effect. ''This'' is Nomic with cards.

** As, indeed, is the aforementioned [http://www.dvorakgame.co.uk/index.php/Main_Page Dvorak]. Which is superior seems to depend on if you prefer your Nomics with democracy or without.

* The most important rule of the card game [[Mao]] is that you can't tell anyone else the rules. The point of the game is to guess them. New players are introduced to the game with the phrase, "The only rule I you can tell people is this one." In some gaming groups additional rules are stated to new players. Typically {{Spoiler|when it is your turn you either draw or play a single card}} and/or {{Spoiler|If you win, you can make a new rule}}.

 

== Comics ==

* [[The Sandman]]'s ''A Game of You'' and, perhaps, this trope in general may be summarized by the quotation prefacing the book:

{{quote|The distinguishing characteristic of a traditional folk game is that although it has rules they are not written. Nobody knows exactly what they are. The players have a tradition to guide them, but must settle among themselves the details of how to play a particular game.|From One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children, by Mary and Herbert Knapp}}

** Strong Bad later mentions a dice-and-cards-and-board game called "Three-to-One Marny".

** Also used prominently in the Strong Bad Email "the show", in which Homestar hosts a talk-/game-show hybrid. Homestar offers 500 points to the Poopsmith to share his "polictical" views. He then turns to Pom Pom, asking him, "For the block: do you agree?" turning it into a bizarre version of Hollywood Squares. After they both leave without answering, he awards each contestant 162 points.

** "I play the 9 in [[Yu-Gi-Oh!|Defense Mode]]!"

 

* ''[[Ozy and Millie]]'' occasionally partake in House Rules Parcheesi. We never see much of the game itself, but we do see its aftermath: the room tends to look like a tornado hit it. [http://ozyandmillie.org/2000/07/13/ozy-and-millie-430/ Shout-out] and [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]].

** House Rules Parcheesi isn't just Calvin Ball, it's ''Zen'' Calvin Ball

* In ''[[Dork Tower]]'', Igor insists on inventing '"house rules" for almost every game played, including rules for landmines in Candyland and a variation of Licence Plate Bingo that was so arcane the road trip was over by the time he'd finished explaining.

** And in ''SnapDragons'', "[http://www.dorktower.com/2002/08/21/comics-archive-331/ Could we stick to ''one'' game at a time, ''please?'']"