Three Card Trick

In this Death Match, play your three cards right to gain more chips than your opponent.

Designer(s): e_is_cool	Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: Simply Genius
See Also: Five-Card Trick

DM6: Three Card Trick

(DM by e_is_cool, based on Five Card Trick by Zero)

-- Setup --

This game is played over 20 rounds, during which players will collect chips, with the goal of collecting more chips than their opponent!

-- Gameplay --

There are 3 possible actions: Grow, Claim and Steal.

Grow: Add 1 chip to the pot
Claim: Take all the chips from the pot, unless the opponent Steals
Steal: Take all the chips from the pot, but only if the opponent Claims. If the opponent does not Claim, lose 1 chip instead (it does not go into the pot).

✏️ Each round, players submit up to 2 actions to take. Players may not submit the exact same set of actions as their previous submission.

Players submit simultaneously, which means that they do not know what the opponent chooses until their own choice is made.

If a player chooses only 1 action, it cannot be blocked.

If a player chooses 2 actions, they can be blocked by the opponent selecting the same action (even if the opponent’s action is also blocked).

Blocked actions do nothing. They do not light lamps (explained below), and a Steal fails against a blocked Claim.

🔍 For example, if you choose Claim, while your opponent chooses Grow and Claim, then their Claim gets blocked and your Claim goes through.

Unblocked actions are processed in the order of Grow, Claim, then Steal.

As such, in the above example, the opponent will first add 1 chip to the pot, then you claim all the chips in the pot.

If both players submit an unblocked Claim, the chips are split evenly. If there is a chip leftover, it remains in the pot.

Unblocked actions also light up your lamp for that action.

If you have all 3 lamps lit up after the round, you get 1 chip and all your lamps become unlit.

At the beginning of each round, if the pot is empty, 1 chip is added to it. This means that Round 1 will start with 1 chip in the pot.

-- Game End --

The game ends after 20 rounds.

:ToL: The player with more chips wins the DM and gains 1 garnet.

In case of a tie, 5 more rounds are played.

In case of a further tie, DMO wins.

-- Time Controls & Administration –

⌛ Each player has 1 minute for their submission. A player who does not submit will make the default submission of 0 actions. Submissions will be accepted until the end of the 1 minute deadline. Only the most recent submission before the deadline will be taken.