Cool game: Nomic

[bradm]

I don't know if anyone here has ever heard of it, but there's a game called Nomic that was cooked up by a philosophy professor.

Nomic is a game in which changing the rules is a move. In that respect it differs from almost every other game. The primary activity of Nomic is proposing changes in the rules, debating the wisdom of changing them in that way, voting on the changes, deciding what can and cannot be done afterwards, and doing it. Even this core of the game, of course, can be changed.

I first heard about it in Metamagical Themas, a collection of articles by Douglas Hofstadter, the same guy who wrote Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

...and this week on "When Geeks Retire"...

[d_rawk]

Cool. I know of a game called '1000 Blank White Cards' which is pretty similar. (And crazy fun with enough drinks and the right crowd)

[phishtaper]

... by Douglas Hofstadter, the same guy who wrote Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.

ive tried but i have to admit that ive given up on this book. have started it a few times but its just too dense for me. felt like homework.

[bradm]

If you can find it (try your local public library), "Metamagical Themas" is a really good read, especially as an intro to Hofstadter's writing. As well, because it's a collection of monthly columns (written mostly for Scientific American magazine, when Hofstadter took over Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column, anagramming it to "Metamagical Themas" in the process), they're more self-contained and bite-sized.

Aloha,

Brad