So Long, Sucker--Blind Ally variant (game)

So Long, Sucker is a game by Mel Hausner, John Nash, Lloyd Shapley and Martin Shubik.  It was first published as a one-page paper in 1964.  It may be the only existing game designed by two Nobel prize winners (Nash and Shapley)  ( ftp://ftp.kanga.nu/users/claw/odd/games/Contrib/SoLongSucker.pdf)

The essence of the game is that it requires both strategic cooperation and defection in order to win.  It can be played recreationally in its original form.  I have added two additional mechanics, 'blind ally' and 'blackmail', and expanded the player count to include five or six players.  

So Long, Sucker:  Blind Ally Variant with Blackmail Mechanic

 

0)     Equipment

42 playing chips, seven each of six colors, 36 cards, six each of six colors, 36 blackmail chips, six each of six colors, six blackmail cards, two each of three types, and these rules.

1)       Setup:

i)      Each player takes chips of one color (7, 6 or 5 chips for 4, 5 or 6 players, respectively).

ii)     Each player takes one card of each color in the game.  Place the card corresponding to your chip color face up in front of you. Shuffle the other cards and arrange them face down in front of you in a row.  Look at these cards but don’t reveal them.  The card on the right is the color of your ally; if that player wins and you are the last to be eliminated, you also win.  The card on the left is the color of your enemy; if that player is the last to be eliminated, you lose.  The other colors are neutral with respect to you.

iii)   Select someone to be the first player.

iv)    Shuffle the Blackmail cards ( 2 each of 3 kinds) and place them in the playing area, along with the blackmail tokens (6 each in the 6 colors).

2)       Playing the game:

i)      On your turn, place a chip onto the playing area (starting a new pile), or on top of any existing pile.

ii)     If no chips are captured (rule iv), give the next move to any player whose color is not in the pile you just played on.

iii)   If chips of the colors of all of the players are in the pile just played on and there is no capture, the next player must be the person whose most-recently played chip (by color) is furthest down in the pile.

iv)    A pile is captured when a chip is played directly on top of a chip of the same color.  Play immediately passes to the player whose color was matched (except when a capture blackmail card is used).  That player must kill one chip of their choice out of the captured pile, and takes control of the other chips in the pile.  Then that player gets the next move. Killed chips are taken out of the game.

v)     A chip is a prisoner when held by a player other than its original owner.  Any prisoner in a player's possession may be killed or transferred to another player at any time. Transfers cannot be retracted.   A player may not transfer or kill chips of their own color, except when choosing a chip to kill during a capture.

vi)    A player is defeated when they are given the move, but have no chips to play. 

(1)   Defeat is not final until every player holding prisoners has refused to rescue the defeated player by transferring prisoners.

(2)   After defeat, the next move rebounds to the player who gave the defeated player the move.

vii)  The defeated player's chips remain in play as prisoners, but are ignored in determining the order of play.  If a pile is captured using the chips of a defeated player, the entire pile is killed, and the move rebounds to the capturing player.

3)     Blackmail

After a chip is played on a pile in which all active players’ colors are represented, and there is no capture or defeat (rule 2.iii), the player who placed the chip takes a blackmail card if one is available, shows it to the player who will take the next turn, and places a blackmail token (not a playing chip) of the next player’s color on the card.  The player who received the card may play it on any of their subsequent turns.  Played cards are discarded.  There are six Blackmail cards, two of each of three types:

i) The owner of the card captures using a playing chip of the blackmailed player’s color.  The owner retains control of the turn

            ii) All players return all prisoners of the blackmailed player’s color to the blackmailed player.  Kill one returned chip.

iii)            The blackmailed player transfers all prisoners of one color (chosen by the owner of the card) to the owner of the card.

4)       Order of play (restated):

i)      If a capture occurs, the player whose color made the capture completes the capture and takes the next move (unless a capture blackmail card was played, in which case the initiating player retains control).

ii)     If a player is defeated, the player who gave the defeated player the turn goes again.

iii)   If no capture was made and all players are represented in the pile that was just added to, the player whose most-recently played chip (by color) is furthest down in the pile takes the next turn.

iv)    Otherwise, the player who just played selects the next player from among those whose color is not represented in the pile that was just played on.

5)       Winning the game:

i)      The winner is the last surviving player, except as follows:

ii)     If the last eliminated player was the surviving player’s enemy, the surviving player also loses. 

iii)   If the surviving player is the last eliminated player’s ally, the last eliminated player also wins. 

iv)    If both of the above conditions are met, the last eliminated player is the sole winner.

6)      Strategy:

i)      Coalitions, or agreements to cooperate, are permitted if they are openly negotiated.  (Players may confer only at the table during the game—no secret agreements are allowed.)

ii)     There is no penalty for failure to live up to an agreement.

iii)   Letting other players hold chips of your color as prisoners gives you opportunities for capture.

iv)    It is possible to win even though all of your chips have been killed.

v)     Remember that blind alliances and antagonisms are not necessarily reciprocal.

7)     Multiple Round Games:

i)      After each round, for each player, subtract the number of players whose ally they were from the number of players whose enemy they were, and adjust the number of chips they receive at the start of the following round by that amount.  (For instance, a player who was an ally to one player and enemy to two others gets one extra chip, while a player who was an ally to two players and an enemy to one player gets one less chip.)