1000 Blank White Cards - We broke the game in 7 rounds

So first off, who's heard of this wonderful little game? It's basically Calvinball made into a card game. And it's ridiculus.

You just take a bunch of index cards, have each player write and draw on a few of them, then shuffle the blanks and non-blanks into a deck. Once hands have been dealt out, each player takes turns drawing one card and playing one card. If the card says something, you do what it says. If you have a blank card, you can write on it, adding a new element to the game. When the deck runs out, the player with the best score wins. But winning is essentially a formality. The "scores" might end up being irratioinal numbers, in scientific notation, or nonsense( in one game I played, the winner beat everyone by pi + a piece of string points). The real object of the game is to make the game as fun as possible, as silly as possible, and as insane as possible. At the end, players decide which cards were the best ideas, and keep those cards in the deck for next time( some might say making the most good-enough-to-keep cards is the true victory).

I bring this up because there's a version of 1KBWC that people play over forums like TVTropes. One person acts as a GM, collecting cards from everybody, sending people their new cards, generally keeping track of what's going on, etc. The others play the game by posting their actions to the thread. It's no substitute for the real, face-to-face game, but I think it looks like fun and I'm willing to try starting a game here. I'll need at least three or (preferably )four other people to make this game work.

Here's how this is gonna go down:
SETUP

The first thing we need is cards for our deck! 1:2 is a good ratio of blanks to nonblanks. As for deck size... I wanna say 12 cards per player. So each player needs to contribute 8 cards to the deck.

To join, just respond to this saying you're interested. Then, send me your cards in a PM(Tinypic is your friend) and I'll add them to a deck! You don't need to make all 8 of them if you don't feel like it, since I'll be adding some cards in, too. Just send me at least 5.

A card needs a title, a picture, and a description of what it does. Each card should be a PNG that's either 300x400 or 400x300. Artistic talent not required; you're allowed to just use images from the internet if you prefer.

I'll PM everybody their starting hands once enough people have joined and submitted cards.

What am I allowed to make into a card? ANYTHING. Anything you want! There's cards that give or take away points from whoever they're played on (generally in increments of 100, no higher than 1000 points), cards that can add new rules or win conditions, and cards that do completely absurd stuff that isn't even useful but it's funny. Really, as long as the cards are fun, your'e doing it right. If your cards are just for making you win faster in the most straightforward way possible, you're doing it wrong. Let's make this crazy! Let's make this hilarious! Let's make this game AWESOME!

Who's with me?

GM'S NOTE: For those reading through this for the first time now, please keep in mind that some cards had their text altered after the game ended, and others might have been removed from the deck completely to save memory on my DropBox account. A second game is currently in the works, and watching that one will probably be less confusing. Not a whole lot has changed since this game ended( so far), so you ought to still get the general jist of what's happening, just don't be surprised if players don't always seem to be following exactly what the cards say.

 

I'M WITH YOU, GOOD SIR!

Seriously, I love this game; me and my friends have a deck several hundred cards high. I shall PM you my eight shortly :D

Yeah, it's a blast! Great game. :-)

Cards sent! :D

Ooo! Join us! Join us!

I honestly would love to, Alex, but right now I don't even have time to do much on the forums. (Which is quite frustrating. :confused: )

Aw. Well, we're still waiting for at least two more volunteers, so it won't be starting super soon.

Card Creation Guidelines:

No instant "I win" cards.

No cards that add or subtract more than 1000 points.

Entertaining cards are just as good as useful ones.

It is impossible for a card to be "too silly." In the past, people have made cards that allow people to eat other cards, make the target talk like a pirate, and even re-created cards from other games with no explanation for how they work within this game.

Each card should be a 400x300 or 300x400 png with a title, a picture, and a description of what it does.

Most cards can be played on a single player( including yourself). Some might be played on multilple people or the game as a whole. If the card has an ongoing effect( like giving someone a special ability or adding a new rule to the game), it stays in play and it's effect ends when the card goes away. If it's just a one-time thing( like drawing a card or losing some points) the card is discarded after use. Usually.

This game sounds like some weird kind of alternate, do-it-yourself version of Munchkin, lol.

I was once in a situation where I could almost have won a game by taking my trousers off. True story. Also hugging, arm wrestling, dancing, rapping... Obviously that kind of thing can't happen when you're playing via a forum, but still, join us Ameena!

I did think about it, but there are two things I'm not entirely sure of.

Firstly is that I may not have time. Well, I might do. I'm away this weekend and back on Sunday evening (this is a regular thing - my partner and I spend weekends at one of our houses, so we're both busy until the person staying has gone home).

Secondly is that I'm not entirely sure I fully understand the game - it's probably something I'd have to actually play to get the hang of. seeing a load more example cards would probably help. It does sound a bit like it could have components of those "dare" games that I can't stand, where a player "has to" do some kind of humiliating action or they're considered "rubbish" or "a wimp" or similar. I'm sure this isn't like that but the fact that the rules say "You can put on your card instructions for a player to do anything weird that you can think of" would seem to allow for it.

A lot of that depends on who you play with. I'm not really fond of humiliation games, so I've always played it with an unspoken rule that you can make players do silly things, but nothing they're actually uncomfortable with. The object of the game is to make an enjoyable game, after all. As GM I reserve the right to leave out cards I feel are going too far.

I'd recomend taking a look at some of the game people had on TVTropes. That's what inspired me to try it myself.

I can definitely understand people not having time. I'm doing this now only because I'm on break next week.

Well, I'm normally online in the evenings (I usually check my forums and stuff, and then when my partner comes online we log into our current game of whatever we're in the progress of working our way through, which atm is Diablo III), and (more or less) all day on Mondays and Thursdays 'cause I'm off work on those days. This week was an exception 'cause I had the week off (hence my being online now when I'd normally be at work). I'm going out shortly, though.

Not having time is an understandable reason, but you really don't have to worry about having to do things you're uncomfortable with. Personally, my games are more about silliness and having fun than embarrassing people (the taking off my trousers example wasn't someone making a 'remove your trousers' card, but because the card in question gave more negative points to anybody wearing lilac trousers [one of my friends dislikes my fashion sense]). As Alex says, he'll be moderating, and even apart from all that there's very little embarrassing stuff you can do via the medium of text...

As for example cards, there are hundreds of scans on my deviantART (http://blue-hair.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps), and there's also this lot from another group: http://ducttape.pbworks.com/f/1kbwcposter.png

Gameplay

(I should really be putting all these rules down at once, shouldn't I?)

On your turn, I send you a card and you play a card. Post the card you want to play. If you don't take your turn within 24 hours of recieving your card, you lose your chance and the next person may go.

At the end of each round, I give a recap of everybody's status in the game so far.

Endgame

When we use up all the cards or successfully break the game, the game ends. Player with the most points probably wins. Then we decide which cards were the best and which cards to leave out of the deck for next time.

I'll probably have a look at those example cards when I get home at some point - I'm at my partner's house now, just checking my forums while I wait for him to get home from work. It does sound like it could be kind of fun - like I said, it sounds a bit like a sort of DIY version of Munchkin, but with points instead of levels.

Depending on what people create, it can end up similar to Munchkin( I sometimes create "monster" cards that reward anyone who defeats them. I just give them HP and allow negative-point cards to be used as attacks). Of course, BEING a munchkin is something to avoid in 1KBWC.

I've always seen it as a bit like Fluxx or We Didn't Playtest This At All.

I don't suppose there's any more interest around for this now? I'm a student, it's summer and I'm bored :P

I'm interested! Been meaning to play this for a while.

This sounds amazing. I'll see what I can do. I need to contribute 8 cards? Can I contribute more?