Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

RE: [Icehouse] Four-house Zendo

  • FromAndrew Plotkin <erkyrath@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateFri, 16 Jun 2006 15:46:02 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 16 Jun 2006, Christopher Hickman wrote:

"Contains at least one vertical piece in your favorite color" is OK
if everyone is OK with player-specific metarules, and the favorite
colors of all players are well-known.

No.  Spock doesn't know players' favorite colors.  You can only base rules
on objectively observable characteristics of koans.

That's not a clear diagnosis. The actual problem is that "*your*" favorite color is illegal; Spock doesn't know who is the guesser at any given moment! A rule has to come out the same for everybody.

If the favorite colors of the four players are red, green, green, and chartreuse -- and the Master knows this -- it would be valid for him to formulate a rule as "Contains a piece in the favorite color of one of these four people." Of course the players will wind up guessing "Contains a red piece or green piece", which is equivalent (lacking chartreuse pyramids). And it would be illegal for the Master to add "blue" to the valid list, if I happened to sit down at the table in mid-game.

--Z

--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Bush's biggest lie is his claim that it's okay to disagree with him. As soon as
you *actually* disagree with him, he sadly explains that you're undermining
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