NIMBY Stiff - a social game

[temnix]

In fulfillment of the Make Amends Make Haste initiative announced across the Imperial Democracy last year, the Townhall and the Planning Authority introduce Reburied Past, Refurbished Future – an ambitious project to expand the social conscience area. As the President-Chancellor Mutate has promised, all private residences will be invited to an opportunity to host a cadaver from our tragic past as it is remodeled into a promise for the future. Tax incentives so far undisclosed will be extended to all participants in this permanent program and certain construction regulations waived to speed up its implementation. “We start gently. Potentially, though, we expect every resident in our town to host a cadaver,” said the Mayor in his regular Bathrobe Address. “Putting one in your lawn is a powerful symbol of reckoning with a difficult past in this phase of our multination’s history. SGEEP, that is, Standard Ground Engagement Examination Process, will be adjusted and some phases dropped to make this possible. The Plank of Architecture is 100% for it, the environmental impact reviews are all in, and what some people quoted as the maggot concerns will, in fact, improve soil fertility. We will all appreciate that in kindaspring when the cadavers sprout young green palms all over town. I think that’s a beautiful forward-looking symbol.”

~ The Morning Zoomerang
 

Introduction

Spoiler

NIMBY Stiff is a game of allodial angst and mercurial integrity. The players represent the owners of private residences alarmed about a looming development project. The project is a cadaver the town administration wants to lay out over their land, offering tax incentives. These increase all the time, and the residents’ defiance frays. The cadaver is turning out to have more and more surprising properties than stated upfront, however, "discovered" (invented) by the players themselves. Every player needs to decide what to do: accept the cadaver when its incentives become lucrative enough and drop out with a lesser, Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY), victory or dig in and outlast all the others. The sole remaining player achieves the greater victory – Not In My Backyard (NIMBY).

Any number of people can play, so long as they arrange themselves in a circle, star or another figure such that each sits between two others, one to the left and one to the right, and faces a third. These three other players are considered one's neighbors. When the seating is irregular or the group very large and there are no players directly across, the third neighbor can be chosen by throwing a paper wad at someone in that direction. As players exit with lesser victories or become eliminated, those who remain close ranks. If an across neighbor is out, the player to his left substitutes. A free space should be left at the center, called ground zero or pit or hole. This were bets go in the beginning of the game, if it is played for money. The passport with all cadaver properties is also kept there.

An eight-player game:

A five-player game:
 

Betting 

Spoiler

The game can be played for live money to give players more of an incentive to seek a YIMBY victory. The bets put forward by the players, whether in equal amounts or not, as they decide beforehand, are divided in two (the sum of currency should be even). One half of the money in the hole is reserved for YIMBY victories. The first player to take the YIMBY road out takes half of this sum – one fourth of the entire bank. The next player to drop out as a YIMBY takes one half of the remaining YIMBY money, i.e. one eighth of the bank, and so on, with every next YIMBY player getting less and less. The last player to stay in the game rakes in the intact NIMBY half and any remaining money in the YIMBY section.

 Order of play 

Spoiler

The game consists of two stages: exposition and melee. In exposition the players' starting situations are determined by a combination of lottery and a sort of blind Dutch auction (explained in more detail below). The melee stage is the actual play, and it begins with the cadaver in one of the player's plots. The player considers whether to accept the cadaver for the incentives currently posted by the Planning Authority, which begin at 1 galactic credit at the end of the first turn and double every turn thereafter. For a YIMBY victory the incentives must be twice or more the player's estate value, a statistic discovered after exposition. At the beginning of the first turn there are yet no incentives on the cadaver. Whenever a player cannot have or does not want to accept the cadaver, he shoves it over the fence to one of his neighbors along with an emerging fact about this prize – a property he comes up with.

These properties can be positive or negative, apply briefly or for the rest of the game. The property is recorded in a note, kept face down at ground zero for two turns, at which time it will be flipped up, read and its effects apply. The upside of the note, visible to all, carries a brief description, which can be metaphorical, loose or intentionally misleading, although this is grounds for a dispute (see "Contesting notes"). It is almost completely up to the author of the note what rules and effects he can (try to) introduce. The cadaver may be Marxist, hobo-hosting, wind turbine, sewage-inadequate, investor-attracting, anti-Semitic, memetic, titanic, silver, noisy, traffic-increasing, for local businesses, radioactive, equal opportunity, fracking, neck-kneeling, woke, affordable, historical, ugly, expensive, crime-reducing, vaccine-mandated, partisan, pornographic, pedophile, injection-site, alt-right, Renaissance Fair, open-air, indigenous, roomy, 5G... Offense can be an important tool in manipulating and confusing the other players. As the cadaver tumbles over to a neighbor’s, other players may try to steal it for themselves, while the incentives continue to accrue and tempt. The next turn begins.

Which of the two victory paths will be more relevant and attractive is going to depend completely on the players, their strategies and interactions, and perhaps on butterflies flapping their wings over an ocean. Other than the starting sum of 1 galactic credit for incentives, the game does not use any concrete values for statistics, which are all worked out between the players. For the estate value lottery the starting conditions are written on anonymous notes, which are then drawn at random. It is possible for the group to toss about millions and billions of galactic credits, if those are the numbers someone risks submitting to the pot, in which case the YIMBY path to victory will be a remote possibility. 

Statistics

Spoiler

There are four statistics each player needs to keep track of and update: estate value, acreage, current stress and stress ceiling. The players record these values and their changes on the sheets in front of them, viewable by all. The stress ceiling never changes.

Estate value is individual and determined by a drawing of lots. Acreage is a common value and arrived at through bidding. Once both are known, the players can move any number of points between these statistics for a starting combination they prefer, but in the game's main, melee stage they have to trade with neighbors to buy one and sell the other. A player whose estate value or acreage descend to nil is eliminated. Players with high estate values stand the best chance of outlasting others around the table, yet it may be advantageous for YIMBY-aiming players to keep a low estate value. Ample acreage is necessary to keep down current stress (simply "stress" for brevity), which always begins at nil but may increase after certain actions. If it reaches the stress ceiling, a common value also determined through bidding at the start of the game, the player goes insane, kills his neighbor with the highest estate value (the across neighbor in a tie) and commits suicide. Both players are eliminated.

 Trading with neighbors 

Spoiler

Every turn a player is allowed to carry out one trade with each of his neighbors. The neighbor must agree to deal. The player may increase his estate value at the expense of some acreage, in the process the player's stress increases by the same amount. The opposite operation, selling estate value for acreage, reduces stress by the number of acreage points gained. Neighbors are entitled to setting their own terms. Stress changes on both sides are always equal to the amount of acreage lost or gained, but otherwise neighbors are not obliged to exchange estate value and acreage at the one-to-one rate or in the amounts offered. No trade may be so big as to deprive either party of all estate value or acreage or raise stress to the ceiling. Purchase of such acreage as would reduce stress below nil is permitted, but stress is still only reduced to nil.

The original, independent distribution of points between estate value and acreage does not change stress.

 Exposition. Lottery and bidding 

Spoiler

1. Every player writes an estate value number and drops the note face-down into ground zero. The tallest and oldest player is chosen to shuffle and deal the notes, clockwise and ending with himself. The players put the notes, still face down, next to themselves.

2. Starting from the player across from the dealer and going clockwise, the players propose a stress ceiling. The lowest value called is adopted.

3. Starting from the player across from the caller and going clockwise, the players propose standard acreage. Again, the lowest value called is adopted. The players then turn their notes with estate value face up. They can immediately convert any amount of estate value for acreage and vice versa – the only time in the game this can be done without trading with neighbors.

 Melee. Phases of a turn

Spoiler

1. Protocol: the cadaver arrives at a player. The whistleblow note from two turns ago is flipped face up. Debates and votes on the meaning of the note are held. If the note is uncontested or its original text stands after the vote, it comes into force. Its effects and description are copied onto the cadaver's passport. The cadaver's accumulated effects apply in reverse order (starting from the latest). The right neighbor of the author of last turn's note folds it, without looking on the bottom side, to show half of the contents.

2. YIMBY: the player with the cadaver considers a YIMBY victory, if the incentives are twice or more his estate value. On a YIMBY exit the cadaver passes on to the left neighbor, the incentives remain unchanged and the next turn begins. The cadaver may be stolen as usual (see below).

3. Agenda: if a YIMBY victory is impossible or not wanted, the player writes a whistleblow note (or uses one prepared in advance) with an emerging property of the cadaver. The note will come into force two turns later. The following limitations apply:

a) Whatever its other prescriptions, the note must alter the estate value, stress or acreage of a player or players once and instantly, at a delay, for every turn until the end of this game or for some definite number of turns;

b) It must not refer or target a specific player or a definite estate value, stress or acreage, although it can quote amounts higher than or lower than a certain number, nor may it move the stress ceiling or touch upon the incentives of the cadaver in any way;

c) It may not dictate a change of statistics such as will instantly eliminate any player (by raising stress to or above the ceiling, setting estate value or acreage to or below nil), although it can dictate a change of these statistics that may lead to elimination even the next turn after the note is read, unless some action is taken. However, the written adjustments in no event can exceed the highest estate value or acreage currently in the game or half of the stress ceiling value. If greater, they are reduced accordingly. All fractions are rounded down;

d) The note must also include a stress price. If the note is contested on account of some alleged violation, the players can all vote on any number of alternative readings. The interpretation with the highest number of votes is accepted, with the player currently in possession of the cadaver enjoying two votes (from support of the Authority). The note stands on a tie. A defeated interpretation costs this much stress to the player who advanced it, including the writer of the note, if he was challenged and lost the vote. The stress price must be lower than the stress ceiling;

e) The effects may not preclude the players from any of the actions allowed under the rules, such as trading with neighbors, stealing the cadaver, turning up notes etc.

On the reverse of the note the player writes an adjective or another short description of the nature of the effects. The description does not have to be accurate and may, in fact, be made equivocal or misleading. In practice, however, the less relevant a description to the contents of the note, the more likely it is to be contested. As the note is being prepared and before the description is shown, the other players may trade estate value and acreage with their neighbors. (Even if the player uses a ready note, the others must be allowed reasonable time for these trades.)

4. Rumor: the player makes trades himself before showing the description of the note.

5. NIMBY: the player adds the description to the passport, moves the cadaver to one of his neighbors and the whistleblow note to ground zero. The note may not be touched until the next turn, when it will be folded to display half of the contents. If a note is turned up accidentally during these two turns, it is discarded; if this happens still during the turn when the note was made, its author prepares a new note. No extra trades are allowed. Also at any moment during the two turns any player may turn up a note intentionally and pay half the stress price, rounded down. The player may do this in the knowledge of the stress price on the second turn, if the folded note happens to display this number (but only if the price would not take him to the stress ceiling), or take a blind risk, in which case it is possible to reach the stress ceiling from the discovery, fly berserk and be eliminated along with the neighbor across. No trades or underwriting are allowed for turning up notes, players must pay their own stress. Turning up a note for stress does not cause it to come into force earlier. The note is set to the side until it triggers in due course. The author of a note is permitted to declare his intent to submit it face up, if he desires the contents to be known from the beginning, and do so, but turning it up later would cost him stress the same as the others.

6. Honeydew: the cadaver's incentives double.

7. Campaign: any player other than the sender and the addressee may steal the cadaver in transfer. This is done by bidding any number of points of stress short of reaching the stress ceiling. If no one tops the bid, the stealing player gains that much stress and becomes the one to receive the cadaver on the next turn. Other players are allowed to join the bidding, including the addressee, but not the sender. A participating player may make one trade with each of his neighbors to exchange real estate for acreage and thus lower his stress, but only after making a bid. If the bid would take the player into the stress ceiling, stress points from the neighbors work as underwriting by them. The winning bid must be paid, however, even if it results in the player's insanity and elimination (along with that of the across neighbor). The cadaver then passes to the left neighbor of the vanished bidder. The next turn begins.

 Contesting notes

Spoiler

There is no exhaustive list of reasons for which a note may be contested. Any reason is an excuse, and any excuse can be a reason if it is convincing or useful enough. For instance, ambiguity of phrasing is only a problem if the other players don’t like the effects of the note. Then they might extend the excuse of vagueness to the others, inviting them to jump on this chance to vote down the text, or become upset and agitated themselves – or pretend to be upset and agitated, or engage in doublethink and sort of really become that. Outrage works well. Any of this is likely to happen only when it is advantageous to the player, although some people might be as idealistic as protest notes on actual flaws. In practice even what seems like a clear violation of the basic rules, expressly forbidden, may be allowed through if no one objects. The part that makes the difference is the vote and having enough support to defend a text or replace it.

 Against conspiracies

Spoiler

The players may not communicate explicitly over game decisions and strategies or pass any notes to each other. There are no special punishments for those who violate this rule or use a code or sign language developed before, but such behavior is likely to create trouble for them from the others when votes on notes are counted or quid-pro-quos considered.  

Example game. Exposition

Spoiler

Five people have come together for what is likely to be a fast and furious game; games with more players take longer and allow more leisurely and elaborate strategies. Leopoldus (A), Filip (B), Rabindranath (C), Moishe (D) and Carinthia (E) have arranged themselves in a loose garland so that everyone has someone more or less in front and to the sides. The cadaver, yet without properties, lies between them.

 

The players all write a note with an estate value for someone to establish the scale of the game. They could discuss this in front and arrive at some kind of consensus, but this would put at a disadvantage Filip and Rabindranath, both of whom want a free hand with their turns. Filip likes taking risks and thinks he can kick the others out of the competition with big changes, ending it in a few turns, so he wants to write a relatively small number and certainly does not care for the others to know his method. Rabindranath's plan is to last just a few turns until the incentives on the cadaver get into the double figures and accept it for a YIMBY victory. For this his own real estate value should be low. The plan could not work, of course, if it was known to the rest of the players, and Rabindranath's grandfather has been shot by Maoists-Taoists, so to his mind the idea of setting a common scale smacks of a downshifted Communism. Besides, somebody is going to end up with the cadaver, and how is cooperation going to address that fact of life? For all these reasons he plans on a low number as well, with a small buffer for security. As it happens, though, his idea of a low number is 120, and Filip's is 10.

Among the others Leopoldus believes absolutely in his good luck and gambling wit. He reasons that whatever the others give him, he can make the best of, but for his part he can start on the road to YIMBY even so early on by screwing over one of the players. He does not want to make a ridiculous note with 1, but 5 is going to be a nasty surprise for someone... YIMBY is Leopoldus’ aim, because he is kind of short of time just now.

Carinthia is in for the long haul. She enjoys the game process, the hairdresser's appointment is still hours away, and she is curious about the properties the others make up for the cadaver. Small numbers annoy her, and she writes 1,300 on the note.

Moishe puts 1 million on his. "Hopefully I'll draw that one," he thinks, "and if it's somebody else, G-d bless him! I always was a Wagner fan, even if he hated us kikes."

The notes are stacked at ground zero. It does not matter who shuffles the notes and deals them, but the men telepathically agree a girl would look hot at that operation, and someone delegates Carinthia. She obliges. The notes slide along the table, but they players may not look at them yet. The player to Carinthia's left will get to propose a stress ceiling now. Leopoldus occupies that place, and he thinks of stress as a weapon, not as a danger, and would like a nice abstract stockpile of it for his use. At the same time, going too high will just end up in a flop. What will the others think reasonable that he still can use? He shrugs and proposes 150. Filip sits next. His thoughts run more or less along the same lines, but to be original he wiggles his eyebrows and intones "149."

To his left Rabindranath tries to figure out what figure would help him in his plan to accept the cadaver quickly. He would have liked a higher ceiling, in fact, so he could steal the cadaver from anyone when the time was right, but now he begins to think of a backup plan – make the others burn themselves up with excess stress spending while he sits calmly on the sidelines. They may tug that cadaver back and forth, his own estate value, he is certain, will be low enough to snatch the prize the first time the thing comes along. "Let's lower the ceiling on them, hah," he thinks and says "50." Other faces turn a little glum. This number still does not mean much, any player can always get rid of stress by trading for acreage, but everybody will have to be careful now. The cadaver will have to be made useful for stress relief, hmm! Moishe has no opinion on this, so he maintains 50, and Carinthia, the last, regretfully affirms it. She would not want anyone to go berserk and kill her, but if the two of them do it to each other, it might be entertaining...

The standing figure for the stress ceiling has been proposed first by Rabindranath, so it is Carinthia on her bean bag chair across from him who must start on acreage. She thinks she has set the scale of the game with her estate value submission of 1,300, whether for herself or another, so it seems logical to her to keep acreage in the same range. The two numbers should be convertible into each other with comfort, she thinks. But the depression of the stress ceiling by Rabindranath has soured her somewhat on the others. "Hmm, that one is planning something, for sure," she is thinking. "And I don't know about the others. Why can't they just play and enjoy themselves? Schemers! The lowest number declared wins, and they are just bound to bring down anything I start with. So let's go high. Not crazy high, but – 5,000." Which is what she says. Leopoldus has also felt a squeeze in the last round of bidding, especially given the tiny scale he had tried to give the game for estate value. Now he wants to have at least abundant acreage, or there will be no flexibility at all. He lowers the proposal to what, he hopes, the others will support – 1,000.

Rabindranath is beginning to feel himself the party pooper. If he crushes this bid like the last, the others are bound to hate him. "That's what being under a glass dome is like," he mutters to himself. "No one's said anything, and yet they are all against me. Equalize! That's how Communism spreads. Well, I'm bound to give them an inch, or they'll take a mile out of my hide with cadaver fallout." He lowers the proposal to 500. The others have no reason to object, and Rabindranath's acreage stands. The player across from him, Moishe, will be the first to play, but first they all must find out what their estate value is, and if they are unhappy, borrow from acreage or add to it. Some quicker, some slower, they turn over the notes next to them.

Filip opens an accurate, notepad-born origami of periwinkle and his eyes bulge at the figure of 1,000,000. Moishe has even signed the note, for some reason. What is Filip to do with this? On one hand, this kind of wealth makes him invulnerable pretty much to everything the others will dare to hang on, that is, discover in the cadaver, because its properties may not target particular players. On the other hand, now he is public enemy number one and only, and everyone around the table will rack their brains to take away this advantage, so obviously unjust because they don't share in it. "I can see it in their eyes," he thinks. "Sure, if they don't invent something clever, I'm gonna outlast them all a thousand times. Why the hell did Moishe go so high? Well, maybe he thought we'd all write something huge... Man, I gotta get to know the people I play with better!" To bring his two main statistics into better synch, he channels half of the value into acreage.

Carinthia sees 120 on her note and is disappointed that others did not support her idea of a well-paced game punctuated by spectacular adventures. "Someone is in for a quickie, for sure," she ponders. "But we'll see." She turns 300 of her acreage into estate value.

Leopoldus grits his teeth when his own 5 stares back at him. "Don't panic, Leo!" he tells himself quickly. "What do I have now? The ceiling is pretty bad, but I've got some acreage. I should turn a lot of it into estate value now, because if I do it during the game, that'll increase stress. The important thing is to keep any effects that lower estate value from happening. And work out some kind of deal with one of these two jerks, in case I absolutely need estate value... Wait, wait. I'm forgetting! So focused on NIMBY, I forgot the other road to winning. Keep the estate value low! I have the best shot at a YIMBY victory now. If I only leave a point of estate value now, the cadaver only has to be worth 2 galactic credits when it comes my way in two turns: Moishe's, then Carinthia. It's a huge risk, but I'll take the cadaver and win this game right away. They'll try to stop me, for sure, but I'll contest any note like crazy. That's what the stress will pay for. Give me my two turns, and the cadaver goes in my backyard!" He keeps a single point of estate value.

Rabindranath draws 1,300 and waits to see what Leopoldus will get. Noticing a 5 there, he decides to give up on his original plan. "I can't beat that," he thinks. "Sure, I could swap almost all of this estate value for acreage, but Leopoldus here still gets to turn first. I don't dare risk staying with such a low estate value, who knows what might happen... But I'll cut up Leopoldus, I will! He thinks he'll just wait for three turns and the cadaver will land right into his lap. If I sat closer to Moishe, or if I got Carinthia to go first and skip Leo... Oh, he'd just lower his estate even more to be ready on the second turn. He is bold like that. I wish I was so bold... A nice ass on him, too... Well, I'll stop him anyway. I'll steal that cadaver on the way if it's the last thing I do." He has no definite plans for what is to happen after that, so he decides to prepare for a drawn-out competition and converts 300 estate value into acreage.

Moishe looks at the 10 given to him and sighs. "What can I do with this?" he reflects. "I'm making the first turn, so I can't accept the cadaver, even if I swap these scraps for acreage. Maybe on the second round, when it comes back this way... as I hope it will... the incentives will have swollen up to a couple of hundred by then... my estate value will be low enough, for sure. And they will all be fighting against Leopoldus the first few turns. That gives Filip a break. The cadaver will be getting nicer and nicer meanwhile... Can't sit on this ten, though, until then. One of the effects is bound to drop people's estate value, and when that happens, I'm out. No, the YIMBY choice is too risky. I need a cushion." So surmising, he turns half of the acreage into estate value.

 The final statistics of the players before melee:
 

 Leopoldus: estate value 1, acreage 504

Filip: estate value 500,000, acreage 500,500

Rabindranath: estate value 1,000, acreage 800

Moishe: estate value 260, acreage 250

Carinthia: estate value 420, acreage 200
 

 Everyone's stress is at nil. The stress ceiling is 50.
 

 Moishe begins his turn.

Example game. Melee. Turn 1

Spoiler

Moishe proceeds with his strategy of waiting out the others. He would rather they be eliminated than leave with YIMBY cash, so to negate what has to be Leopoldus' design he draws up a cadaver note that says "All players' estate value increases by 10," then considers what would be an incontestable description. He writes "hydrant-repainted" on the back of the note and pushes the cadaver over to his neighbor on the left, the same player whose turn to play it will be – Carinthia. To keep the others from contesting the note Moishe puts the highest possible stress price on it, 49. Then he ends his turn. The cadaver's incentives are now at 1.

Carinthia reads the description on the note and knows, more or less, what to expect. She folds the note, but, against Moishe's hope, the stress price is not on the revealed half to spook all of the others. Leopoldus is worrying Carinthia as well. To be on the safe side, she decides to bypass him and send the hydrant-repainted cadaver over to her across neighbor – Rabindranath. His high estate value means that he is not likely to seek a YIMBY victory any time soon. She is not without a nasty streak, however, and decides to screw with the players on that side of the table as well. Rabindranath and especially his neighbor Filip have too much estate value. How about a social leveling surprise? She writes "heavily-taxed" on the top side of the note and on the reverse the following: "The highest estate value is made equal to the next-highest every turn." That sounds nice and vaguely just. The meaning is also nice and clear, and she thinks she could get the votes in support, if push came to shove. To prevent any quibbling from the two "gentry" players, she writes 49 as the stress price. Then she ends her turn. The cadaver's incentives increase to 2.

The first conflict takes place. The cadaver would go to Rabindranath, but Leopoldus bridles at being bypassed. Moishe's note he can contest, but he must have the cadaver – now! His confidence in his ability to outbluff the others is infinite. He declares that he steals the cadaver for 49 stress. Now, who is going to top that, break the ceiling and lose the game? Unfortunately for Leopoldus, this confrontation was predictable from a mile away, and the others quickly rally. Filip does not want the cadaver on his immense estate with that "heavily-taxed" tag, although waiting on this occasion might cost him the game. He thinks the others will do something, though, and Rabindranath, in fact, cuts in. He wants the cadaver just so he can throw the present over the fence to Filip's on his turn. He bets 50 stress and turns to his left neighbor, Moishe, for a trade: 50 acreage for 50 estate value. He can afford these numbers, and the trade would leave Rabindranath's stress at nil.

As expected, Moishe declines to give quite so much, because for him this exchange would mean a 50-point increase in his own stress, a game-over. But he understands that Leopoldus must be stopped and knows that, beside himself, Rabindranath can only make trades with his other two neighbors – Filip, who may or may not help, and Leopoldus, an enemy at this junction. And why should Rabindranath have such an easy time with this cadaver theft? There is also the fact that Rabindranath is gay, and Moishe quietly dislikes faggots. All this leads Moishe to turn to Carinthia to spread the risks. Moishe asks her, and she agrees, to buy 20 estate value from him. This expands his acreage by the same amount and redeems 20 points of the stress – all Moishe wants to take on for Rabindranath. Hopefully Filip will be good for the other 30 stress Rabindranath wants to bid for the cadaver with, or the guy can invest his own stress, indeed!

Filip still does not know quite what to do with all the estate value and acreage that have been thrust upon him. He had thought of himself as a ballsy and fast attacker, like Leopoldus, but chance put him a position where his interests are in long-term, slow play. Now the "heavily-taxed" property coming up worries him much more than taking on a little stress, although the ceiling is as near for him as for the others. This is his only vulnerability. When Rabindranath turns to him with a request to sell 30 estate value, he agrees to provide 10. Rabindranath now has a 30-stress reduction backed up by his neighbors and grudgingly adds 20 of his own. Leopoldus looks around, but the neighbors won't sell him anything at this point, of course, and his estate value is already at 1. He could not swap any for acreage, even if the others were open to dealing with him. Leopoldus cannot match Rabindranath's bid of 50 stress and withdraws from the competition over the cadaver.

 The current statistics of the players are:
 

Leopoldus: estate value 1, acreage 504. Stress nil.

Filip: estate value 500,510, acreage 499,490. Stress 10.

Rabindranath: estate value 1,030, acreage 770. Stress 20.

Moishe: estate value 240, acreage 270. Stress nil.

Carinthia: estate value 440, acreage 180. Stress 20.

Turn 2

Spoiler

The cadaver is waiting in Rabindranath's backyard. Before everything else, the "hydrant-repainted" note is flipped up and comes into force as a permanent property. Everyone's estate value goes up 10 points.
 

Leopoldus: estate value 11, acreage 504. Stress nil.

Filip: estate value 500,520, acreage 499,490. Stress 10.

Rabindranath: estate value 1,040, acreage 770. Stress 20.

Moishe: estate value 250, acreage 270. Stress nil.

Carinthia: estate value 450, acreage 180. Stress 20.

 

The YIMBY ambitions of Leopoldus have been thwarted, but only for the moment. It will not be long before the hydrant-repainted cadaver's incentives grow to twice his estate value, which is the lowest on the table. Leopoldus is only concerned about getting the hydrant-repainted cadaver, a bit later... To protect himself a little from surprises (what does "heavily-taxed" mean?), he trades 20 acreage for estate value from Carinthia. She sees no harm in this now, and it eliminates the stress she took on while banding against Leopoldus. To her mind, he has been disarmed by the time being, the hydrant-repainted cadaver is far away, and the alliance with the others was only temporary. His willing acquisition of estate value must mean he wants to play like the others, with higher numbers there. It does not occur to her that Leopoldus can never play in the same style because of his very different starting conditions. Leopoldus puts on a nice face, swearing black revenge on the others in his heart.

The others are more concerned about what Rabindranath is going to do with the hydrant-repainted cadaver. The meaning of "heavily-taxed" interests everyone, and they would not mind an early look, but the folded note, now on its second turn, is flashing a menacing stress price. Still, there a lot of expectation that someone is going to risk contesting it next turn. Probably the richer players. Will it be Rabindranath, who is hosting the hydrant-repainted cadaver now, or Filip with even more to lose? Rabindranath himself has no doubt that the note will shatter somebody's estate value, but how will it work? Will it be an one-time event or some new rule? Who will be the target? He recalls that the main, fixed rules forbid referring to any specific player... If there is going to be a general change, he will gain nothing by dumping the hydrant-repainted cadaver over Filip's fence. But the main problem on his mind is devising a winning strategy. All these back-and-forth exchanges and rallies against outlaws like Leopoldus are well and good, but what does he need to do to eliminate the others? Keep bringing down their estate value, he decides. This will make YIMBY invitations sing their siren song to the smaller players, and he will only have Filip to contend with on the NIMBY path.

In the end Rabindranath prepares a note that says: "All players' estate value decreases by 100 every turn." Muttering "Devil's advocate!", he calls this "planned-economy," jots 49 as the stress price and will push the note to ground zero. First, though, he asks Filip to sell him some acreage to reduce stress, but Filip likes to keep this low himself and declines. He asks for the same from her neighbor across, Carinthia, who also refuses, because stress is a more obvious weakness of the two richer players. In something like desperation Rabindranath turns to the last source, Moishe, who displays sudden business acumen: he will sell 20 acreage, but for the price of 90 estate value. Rabindranath resigns to this but chucks the hydrant-repainted cadaver over to Moishe's to lure him on the first chance to drop out when the tax thing hits next turn. The players' statistics are:

Leopoldus: estate value 31, acreage 484. Stress 20.

Filip: estate value 500,520, acreage 499,490. Stress 10.

Rabindranath: estate value 950, acreage 790. Stress nil.

Moishe: estate value 340, acreage 270. Stress 20.

Carinthia: estate value 450, acreage 180. Stress 20.

The hydrant-repainted cadaver's incentives increase to 4.

Turn 3

Spoiler

The hydrant-repainted cadaver at Moishe's becomes heavily-taxed. The contents of the note are read and Filip's immense advantage evaporates on the spot. He would really like to contest the note on the grounds such as... why is only one player taxed, for example? But he is rather sure that the others want him brought down this big peg, whatever their differences. His great wealth is simply too inconvenient for them. And if the vote goes against him, gaining 49 stress on top of his current 10 will be the end. So he says nothing and glumly submits to the logic of leveling down.

Leopoldus: estate value 31, acreage 484. Stress 20.

Filip: estate value 950, acreage 499,490. Stress 10.

Rabindranath: estate value 950, acreage 790. Stress nil.

Moishe: estate value 340, acreage 270. Stress 20.

Carinthia: estate value 450, acreage 180. Stress 20.
 

 Filip allows himself a little chuckle: Carinthia did not think to cover acreage in her rule, which means he can still sell some of that and bring his estate value up again, though the stress ceiling would stop him from going too high there. The annoying part is that Carinthia's rule is permanent, and it will cut his estate value again the next turn and forever. Filip resolves to introduce a different note with an opposite effect, favoring big estate value. He will contest the coming "planned-economy" from Rabindranath, and probably get help from others, because that will probably be too strenuous for them.

Moishe looks at his notepad. "They know that I know that they know that I know that they know that I can get away with anything on a Holocaust note, and nobody will dare to speak up against it. But are any of us smart enough to follow that to the end? Hopefully they also recognize that I have standards. Let's see what I can do now... A storm of contesting is coming up, and Carinthia will want to get rid of her stress. Let her do the arguing. I can redeem her stress at a profit and just sit back for a while as this note floats along..." He wants to make a note entitled "psychoanalyzed" and reading "All players' stress decreases by 10," but sticks out his tongue and adds "...but 3 turns later increases by 30." He dubs this "CBT-treated." He puts the stress price at 1, not minding if the others find out sooner.

As the note is being written, Filip prepares for a contest. He invites either Rabindranath or Leopoldus to take some of his real estate, even at a double rate. Not that Filip needs acreage, but he wants no stress restricting him in any challenges ahead. Rabindranath refuses: even a simple sale, let alone an acquisition of a double amount of estate value, would be cut off and nullified by the taxation Carinthia has introduced right next turn. He sees how Leopoldus would jump at the opportunity, however, because he then would stand a better chance of a YIMBY victory again. Rabindranath is unaware that Leopoldus has decided to play it a little slower and wait for the incentives to grow a bit, but he is the only one who knows what "planned-economy" is going to mean on the next turn, nor is anyone else eager to take on any stress and turn that note up prematurely. The others are gearing up for a dispute. Leopoldus makes a simple transaction with Filip – sells him 10 acreage for 10 real estate.

Moishe finishes the note. Before slipping it into the hole, he offers Carinthia a trade: take 20 acreage from him, resetting stress, but give him 50 estate. She hesitates, but he offers her the hydrant-repainted, heavily-taxed cadaver to do with as she pleases. She agrees but thinks this will be the last time she lowers estate value so. Moishe throws the prize over without worrying that anyone might try to steal it. The incentives have yet to look serious even for Leopoldus' minimum.

Leopoldus: estate value 41, acreage 474. Stress 30.

Filip: estate value 940, acreage 499,500. Stress nil.

Rabindranath: estate value 950, acreage 790. Stress nil.

Moishe: estate value 390, acreage 250. Stress 40.

Carinthia: estate value 400, acreage 200. Stress nil.
 

The incentives on the hydrant-repainted, heavily-taxed cadaver equal 8. 

Turn 4

Spoiler

The "planned-economy" property from Rabindranath is revealed and would apply. Everybody's estate value would now drop by 100 and continue to drop every turn, but Filip objects. Had he not, Carinthia would, and if not her, Leopoldus. The first two players do not want to lose so much of their estate value and hope to outlast the others, but Leopoldus' motivation is exactly opposite. He remembers that the basic rules prohibit notes that cause anyone's elimination on the same turn they come into effect, so his estate value would drop only to 1 now. On the next turn, however, the deduction would expel him from the game.

Filip needs to make a case against the note, offer an alternative interpretation, and then a vote will be held. The loser will pay the stress price. Filip, Carinthia and Rabindranath have prepared by disposing of all stress. Leopoldus is worse off, but he would still call for a vote, as it is a life-and-death situation for him. Moishe just observes. "It's, like, misleading language!" declares Filip. "I don't think "planned-economy" can mean we all lose estate value. More like, it would be a redistribution of value." This is, in fact, the inverse of what he believes, but it is enough to vote on. Filip's proposal is that the player with the highest estate value distribute up to 100 points of this statistic between players other than himself, any way he chooses, every turn. That player is likely to be Filip himself, since he still has any amount of acreage he could swap. Unsurprisingly, this interpretation fails, as everyone votes against it. 49 stress is lobbed at Filip like so much rotten fruit.

Now another rival of Rabindranath's has to make a different suggestion, otherwise the original reading will stand. Carinthia does not care to endure the same kind of backlash, so she proposes a compromise: "Every turn every player donates as much estate value as he likes into a special reserve. This starts from the player who has the smallest estate value. In the end, 100 estate value must be collected. The remaining points short of 100 are all donated by the player with the most estate value. The reserve is then divided between all players equally, fractions rounded down." This proposal is a jab at Filip and Rabindranath, the two richer players, but inadvertently it messes with the YIMBY resolve of Leopoldus, who does not care at all to receive these freebie estate value points turn after turn. His own estate value is not so high as to contribute much, which means the others will be keeping him in the game exactly when he wants to leave it on a lesser victory! "Screw this charity!" says Leopoldus out loud and votes against the proposal. Filip and Rabindranath support him in the opposition, but Carinthia has two votes because of the Authority behind her.

Now it is up to Moishe to decide how this vote will go. Ties are wins. If he votes against this reading, Carinthia will not only take on 49 stress but become his enemy. He will then have two options: either let Rabindranath's reading stand, in which case he will himself be eliminated in a few turns along with Carinthia and Leopoldus and leave the whole of bet money to the winner of the Rabindranath-Filip duel, or propose his own version. He has nothing ready in mind, however, and the angry Carinthia will, no doubt, vote against it unless she is sure his idea will save her – and perhaps even then (who can tell what a woman will do?). If Moishe supports her reading, Leopoldus will lose, break the stress ceiling and fly out of the game, but that changes nothing much for Moishe. He does not know Leopoldus intimately to regret this either. His careless stress-reducing-but-then-boosting note, on the other hand, is something to attend to, it may be dangerous even to himself. Moishe votes in Carinthia's favor, her reading stands, Leopoldus' is defeated.

30 + 49 = 79 stress: Leopoldus is eliminated.

Moishe also kept in mind, while the others somehow neglected, that another player would go out with the crazed Leopoldus – the neighbor with the highest estate value. Filip on the left from Leopoldus had 940, Carinthia on the right 400, Rabindranath 950. A short axe murderer scene is permitted to play in everyone's mind, and Rabindranath is also finished. Had the players besides Moishe remembered the inevitability of somebody else's demise, they might have voted differently from the start. 

The cadaver is now hydrant-repainted, heavily-taxed, planned-economy in the Carinthia-suggested sense. The new property applies. The remaining players are gathering 100 estate value. Moishe gives 20, Carinthia 40, Filip the remaining 40. It is all the same to him, because the next rule to apply will be: "The highest estate value is made equal to the next-highest every turn." After the "planned-economy" redistribution the statistics become:

Filip: estate value 933, acreage 499,500. Stress 49.

Moishe: estate value 403, acreage 250. Stress 40.

Carinthia: estate value 353, acreage 200. Stress nil.

The "heavily-taxed" property applies:

Filip: estate value 403, acreage 499,500. Stress 49.

Moishe: estate value 403, acreage 250. Stress 40.

Carinthia: estate value 353, acreage 200. Stress nil.

The players move closer to fill the gap left by Leopoldus and Rabindranath. With just three participants left, everybody is now a neighbor to the others. Next turn the meaning of the note "CBT-treated" will be revealed, the players' considerable stress will be lowered but send them scrambling for solutions down the line. Estate value will have to be sold, no doubt, to Carinthia, who can demand just about any ratio from the others, but even she will have to think how to deal with the stress. Though in possession of the hydrant-repainted, heavily-taxed, planned-economy cadaver, she is not considering a stress-lowering note at the moment, because she has always thought CBT a good, solid approach to psychological problems. Therefore, Moishe could not have implied any negatives. His note must simply be for reducing stress, nothing more. His first note was all-positive, after all.

Relieved that this is taken care of, Carinthia switches to selfish villain mode and considers whether she may not produce a note that would bump up the others' stress a little. The stress ceiling cannot be moved, the rules forbid it, but current stress can. If she could just knock the others into the abyss in two turns... But she has enough foresight to understand that they will contest any such note from her. Two votes against one, the only way to push through her proposal would be to have the hydrant-repainted, heavily-taxed, planned-economy (soon to be CBT-treated) cadaver in time. Then she could benefit from a veto, supportive of interpretations by default. But she must send it over now, and later those two will just be tossing it to each other.

What is she to do? Carinthia will try to drive a wedge between Filip and Moishe, who end up in an unwilling alliance, brothers in stress. She will speculate on the sole importance difference in their situations – Filip's huge remaining acreage. Now is her chance to write a note that will benefit Filip and convince him that she is his ally against Moishe. She is worried about Moishe rather more than about Filip. She considers writing a note that will say "Any player may swap 100 000 acreage for 10 fewer stress, in increments, and in the end take on 15 stress." This could property could be called, eh, "gardens of Hemiramis" from that book she read. Was it Hemiramis or Demiramis? Anyway, it will be mysterious enough, and if she bends over like this in this blouse and shows some cleavage, the guys will probably stay short-circuited until the note comes up. Filip should snatch up this opportunity. He'll pay for it a little stress, and that will be enough to knock off Moishe!

Carinthia also remembers that she has one trick left the others would be too afraid to use: stealing the cadaver. For the next couple of turns she can command more stress than both of them combined. The note is prepared and dispatched. Carinthia passes the hydrant-repainted, heavily-taxed, planned-economy cadaver to Moishe to keep him pacified. The incentives rise to 16. The next turn begins, and the game continues…
 

Questions to consider

Spoiler

• Should Carinthia try to bump off Moishe, given that his murder-suicide would also eliminate Filip across and that both of them are keenly aware of this danger? 
• At what number of players does the game become unwinnable? Three? Two?
• Is it more rational for the players to agree to reduce stress and award a lesser victory to someone or begin scheming again as soon as their situation improves?
• Can more be expected from a player than to act on the basis of his ability, information and view of the world?
• Why shouldn't have Moishe indulged in his homophobia against Rabindranath, even knowing this for a bias, if that delight was a source of satisfaction for him not covered by the rules? What if there had been another homophobe at the table and they formed an effective alliance of tastes?
• Should players be outraged at others' suggestions, given that they know the recipe for outrage and can cook some up themselves? Will they all the same?
• What cup size in Carinthia's cleavage matches the performance of a sound strategy? Isn't it a sound strategy already?
• Is there a rule that forbids a change of rules? Can that rule be changed? If not, can *that* one?
• Would there be a strategic or tactical difference if the players competed against an inhuman and implacable force rather than each other? Would such a struggle still count as a game? If the rules were codified, abstracted and copyrighted against alteration, would that recreate the situation of an inhuman and implacable adversary?
• Is a sufficient and adequate, let alone complete, description of a situation even possible? If it is not possible, what is gained by proclaiming that it is possible – and by whom? Would this game be better with personalities and considerations omitted? Who would it be better for?
• Who, or what, is it that wants the game to be mathematically describable?
• At what point does the game become too complicated to disentangle? May it then be easier won by a) pushing through with a definite strategy or character; b) savagery towards other players; c) invention of new rules the player can better own?
• Should a bonus be given to players who defy the inertial tendencies of gameplay, or should they be punished as disruptive mavericks? Can this be voted on? Do they get a vote? Does support of the Authority give extra votes? What is the ultimate purpose of the game – enjoy the process of playing or proceed to winning to take away the money, if any?
• If a common scale of statistics was agreed on beforehand, what is the sense in which that would make playing easier? Who would be more interested in this kind of ease?

Edited December 8, 2021 by temnix