Bartok card game

[Sam]

> Surely there are some restrictions on the rules that can be added;
> otherwise, the first person to win a round could add a rule saying "I
> win" and win the game immediately; or a rule saying "The next person to
> play a card must bark like a dog and give me their house keys".
> 
> Can you give a reference to the restrictions on rules that can be added?
> That would allow a better understanding of the problem to be solved.
> 

Obviously a rule like "I win" would make the game pointless. The idea is 
to have fun in this game, rather than win money, so people wouldn't 
really be motivated to end the game with a crappy rule like "I win". 
"The next person to play a card must bark like a dog (snip the rest)" is 
a pretty good rule though :-P Basically, the best rules are ones that 
will confuse people. If you play out of turn, or ask a question about 
the game (eg "who's turn is it?", "is it my turn?", "What does that card 
mean?" you have to draw a penalty card).

Basically, anything "reasonable" is a valid rule. "Reasonable" isn't 
something the computer will understand very well though. Other than 
that, you can do whatever you want. Certain rules won't apply to a 
version of the game on computer. For instance, there's no point in 
saying "when the 5 of hearts is played, the next player must do the 
hokey pokey", because unless you're playing with a video conference or 
something no one else will be able to see it. So you can safely 
eliminate rules that involve physical actions (like handing over house 
keys etc).

I'm not aware of much documentation on Bartok, but as I said, there 
really isn't much of a limit on the rules. That's what makes it 
interesting to play.

Cheers,
Sam.