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Nomic
by Bruce Hill
Nomic is a game about self-modifying rules.
History
"nomos" (Greek: νόμος) = Law
Invented in 1982 by philosopher Peter Suber, originally meant to be played asynchronously by email list.
Nomic is a game in which changing the rules is a move.
In that respect it differs from almost every other game.
The primary activity of Nomic is proposing changes in the rules, debating the wisdom of changing them in that way, voting on the changes, deciding what can and cannot be done afterwards, and doing it.
Even this core of the game, of course, can be changed.
Related Games
- Calvinball
- Fluxx
- 21
- King's Cup
- 1000 Blank White Cards
- Baba Is You
Legal Paradoxes
Nomic was originally invented to investigate the paradox of self-amendment:
If a constitution has an amendment clause then can that clause be used to amend itself? Is self-amendment paradoxical? If so, can it be lawful? If so, can the logic of law be logical?
Some legal rules govern the change of other legal rules. But even these "rules of change" are changeable, usually by higher level rules of change. When a rule of change is supreme within its own system, then it is changeable, if at all, only under its very own authority. The paradox of self-amendment arises when a rule is used as the authority for its own amendment. It is sharper when the rule of change is supreme, sharper still when it is changed into a form that is inconsistent with its original form, and sharpest of all when the change purports to be irrevocable.
Rules
Suber's original ruleset is too complicated!
- Meant for playing asynchronously over email
- Takes a long time to play
- Lots of rules
- Very legalistic
Slack Game
Played with some friends on Slack in 2016:
Slack Game
After a month of playing, things got complicated:
In-Person Variant
- The game ends after 30 minutes or if a paradox arises.
- All players write a proposed rule change on a notecard.
- After all proposals are in, the most popular proposal(s) are added to the rules and another round of proposals begins.
- Popularity is determined by approval voting with thumbs up/down (ties are allowed).
- If your rule is added, you get +1 point.
- The player(s) with the most points at the end wins!
Materials
Post-its or notecards, pens/pencils, tokens/coins for scorekeeping (not necessary, but helpful)
The End
You should play Nomic some time!