Setup

1. An open space.
2. Two or more players.

Rules

1. Start on the edge of the space.
2. Choose a direction and walk backwards in that direction.
3. When you hit the edge of the space, repeat.

Documentation

1. Videotape the game.
2. Reverse it.

Performers: Monica, Nisma, Peter, Scott Wayne Indiana

Here’s a fun 3-player, trick-based card game I designed for my Games and Art class. Try it out next time you want to play a trick-based game but can’t find a fourth player.

Love Triangle is three simultaneous games of two-versus-one. At the end, two players win and one player loses.

Take the 4 aces out of the deck, shuffle them and place one ace face-down between each pair of players. Discard the one remaining ace but don’t look at it. The suit of the ace between a pair of players determines the suit that that partnership is trying to get, between the two of them. So each player can see two of the aces but can’t see the ace of the opposite partnership.

The remaining 48 cards are shuffled and dealt as hands to the 3 players. Play proceeds as in a normal, trick-based game (like Spades or Hearts); there are no trump suits. The goal of a partnership is to get as many cards of their suit as possible. When all the hands are exhausted, count how many cards of the target suit each partnership got. Two players win, one player loses.

Some technicalities: In the event of a tie, cards in the 4th, unused target suit (the discarded ace) count against you, so whichever partnership has the least of this suit wins the game. The losing player leads (plays first) in the next game.

Update: Here is the soundtrack if you’d like to perform this piece yourself.

rps soundtrack.mp3

For my ITP class Games and Art, we were assigned to create a variation on the classic game Rock Paper Scissors.

I’m always fascinated how players of this game can lock into each other’s mind state. I remember one time I was playing my friend Roger (to determine who would go first in another game) and we tied 12 rounds in a row because we intuitively knew each other so well.

I wanted to amplify or at least explore this aspect of the game. I created a dance piece where dancers play Rock Paper Scissors synchronized to a metronome. For excitement, the metronome speeds up as the piece progresses.

Here are two performances of the piece: