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From mirk@warwick.UUCP Tue Apr 18 17:45:56 1989
From: mirk@warwick.UUCP (Mike Taylor)
Subject: A brilliant new card game (long but fabulous)
Disclaimer: This game invented by Carver/Hodge/Lessacher/Taylor
Rules for "Enid" - A card game for 2 to 5 players
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The game of Enid developed over a number of late nights towards the
end of last term and start of this; it is based on the classic
card-game "Blackjack", but we hold it to be more educational, since it
has strong influences from the fields of computer science, piscatorial
zoology and english literature.
For the benefit of those readers not acquainted with the relatively
pedestrian game of Blackjack, a summary follows. Those who already
know this game can skip straight to the section detailing the ways in
which Enid differs from Blackjack, after the dashed line.
In Blackjack, each player is dealt a hand of seven cards, and the
remainder of the deck is placed face down on the table, except for one
card which is turned face up. The first player to get rid of all his
(or her; throughout this article, masculine pronouns are used in a
non-gender-specific sense) cards is the winner. A player loses a card
by placing it face up on top of the current face-up card; it must
follow either suit or rank except in special circumstances mentioned
below.
Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer, and passes to
the left until one player has one. Any player unable to take his turn
must instead draw the top card from the face-down deck. When this
deck is exhausted, it is replenished from the stock of face-up cards.
This is "natural" Blackjack. As it stands it is a rather dull game;
thus it is enhanced by the addition of "magic" cards. That is, cards
of certain rank have special effects. These are:
Ace: The player playing an ace nominates a new suit, which
the next play must follow.
Two: The next player is forced to pick up two cards unless
he is able to lay another two, in which case the
player after must pick up four cards. If he is able
to play another two, he may do this instead, in which
case the next player picks up six, etc.
Seven: The direction of play is reversed.
Eight: The player who laid the eight MUST immediately follow
it with ANY OTHER CARD in his hand; the second card
need not follow suit or rank as in the usual case.
It the player is unable to follow an eight (ie. it was
his last card) he must draw from the deck.
Ten: The player may lay any or all cards from his hand which
are of the same suit as the Ten just laid.
Jack: A black Jack causes he next player to pick up seven
cards, unless he can follow with a red jack (which
neutralises the blackjack) or another black jack, in
which case the next player must draw fourteen cards,
unless able to lay a red jack.
Queen: The next player is skipped.
King: The next two players are skipped.
One last rule is that a player with only a single card left must say
"Last card" as soon as he has laid his last-but-one; otherwise he must
pick up seven, in an astonishingly witty way.
This, then, is the usual game of Blackjack. Some regional variations
exist in the exact powers of the magic cards, but those listed above
are typical, and make a balanced and witty game.
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
In a different league altogether, however, is Enid. This builds on
the usual rules in a number of ways. Firstly, the suits are renamed;
no longer are they Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds, but Carp,
Sturgeon, Halibut and Dalmations. (The dalmation is, of course, not a
fish, but is included for historical reasons). Secondly the card
ranks are renamed after eminent computer scientists:
Black Ace: Rob McMahon (Warwick computer Unit's SuperGuru)
Red Ace: Jeff Smith (Warwick computer Department's Guru)
Two: Marvin Minsky (AI pioneer and researcher)
Three: Denis M Richie (Co-inventor of C and UNIX)
Four: Brian W Kernighan (Co-inventor of C)
Five: Tarski (aka. "The Boring One")
Six: Alan Turing (Pioneer of computational theory)
Seven: Alonzo Church (as in the Church-Turing thesis)
Eight: Aho/Sethi/Hopcroft/Ullman (Authors who only ever
work together)
Nine: Terry Wogan (Not really a computer scientist)
Ten: Terry Winograd (Natural language researcher)
Black Jack: Mark Rafter (Warwick C++ guru)
Red Jack: John Buckle (Warwick frisbee guru)
Queen: Julia Dain (Warwick compiler-design guru)
King: Ken Thompson (The inventor of UNIX)
Obviously, people form other establishments may wish to rename the
Aces, Jacks and Queen after local people. For historical reasons, the
red aces are always referred to as "Jeffy-pheasant(sic) without
/cs/res", the King as "Kendall Mint Thompson", and the Queen EITHER as
"Julia Dain", "Julia Ordain", "Julia Hors d'Ouvre" or "Julia Hors
d'Ouvre which must be obeyed as all times". The Ten may be referred
to as the "Terry Winograd", "Terry who Mage can't pronounce", or "The
block who wrote SHRDLU". Mage can't pronounce "Winograd".
To encourage the use of these new names, each card played must be
named by the player as it is laid, without reading it off a list.
This is difficult at first, and tends to discourage the over-use of
the eight, but in time becomes second nature. Any player unable to
name his card is forced to draw from the pack, and the card's "magic"
effect, if any, is nullified.
Whenever a Denis Richie or a Brian Kernighan is played, the player
must make up a middle name, beginning with the appropriate initial,
which may not be re-used later in the same session of play, on pain of
being forced, once again, to draw from the deck. The middle names may
not be proper nouns unless they are really good ones.
Whenever an Alonzo Church is played, reversing the direction of play,
the player laying the card must shout triumphantly at the player who