Eleusis

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The layout
3. Setup
4. Playing
5. Rules for the dealer
6. End of a round and scoring
7. Ending the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Eleusis is a card game about discovering a hidden rule. One player – the dealer – secretly invents a rule for which card may follow which. The others, one by one, put a card into a growing row. The dealer only says "right" or "wrong", and a wrong card goes below the row and is replaced from the stock. From these answers everyone tries to work out the rule, because whoever guesses it first earns the most points. The game was invented as a model of how scientists work: form a theory, test it, and throw it away when a test fails.

This page describes the streamlined version Eleusis Express, which is easier to learn and much quicker than the original (see Variants for that).

• Players: 3–8, best with 4 or 5. In every round one player is the dealer and does not play.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks shuffled together (no jokers), and pencil and paper to keep the score. The dealer also needs a piece of paper for the secret rule.

The layout

All plays go into a layout in the middle of the table:

• The main line is a row of correct cards, each one following the secret rule. It grows to the right.
• Side lines hang below the main line: each wrong card goes below the last card of the main line, so you can see what has already failed. Wrong cards may overlap to save space.

Setup

1. Choose the dealer: the first dealer is chosen at random. Each new round has a different dealer.
2. The secret rule: the dealer thinks of a rule and writes it down, so they cannot change it during the game. Good beginner rules are listed below.
3. Deal: the dealer shuffles the two decks together and deals 12 cards to each other player. The rest is the stock.
4. Starter card: the dealer turns over the top card of the stock and puts it on the table as the first card of the main line.
5. Hint (optional): before play starts, the dealer may give a hint about the rule, for example "it has to do with colours".

The player to the dealer's left goes first, then play continues to the left.

Playing

On your turn you put one card from your hand on the table, at the end of the main line. The dealer says whether it is correct.

• Correct: the card stays at the right end of the main line. You do not draw – your hand is smaller by one card.
• Wrong: the card goes below the last card of the main line (starting a side line, or added to an existing one). You draw one card from the stock, so your hand stays the same size.

A rule always refers to the last card of the main line – or to the starter card, as long as nothing else has been placed. Wrong cards never count as "the last card".

Example: The starter card is a 7♥. Dan's secret rule is "colours alternate". Anna plays the 4♦ – wrong, because it is red on red. It goes below the 7♥ and Anna draws a card. Ben plays Q♠ – correct, black on red. It joins the main line. Carla now needs a red card.

Saying "no play"

If you think you have no card at all that can be played, you may say so and show your hand to everyone.

• You are wrong (you could have played): the dealer picks one correct card from your hand and puts it on the main line. You keep the other cards and draw one card from the stock.
• You are right: you put your whole hand under the stock and get a new hand with one card fewer. If you had only one card left, that card goes to the stock and the round is over.

Guessing the rule

Every time you make a correct play – or a correct "no play" – you may guess the rule. Say it aloud so that everyone hears it. The dealer says whether you are right. The words don't matter as long as your rule gives the same answer as the secret one in every situation.

• Right: the round is over at once.
• Wrong: play goes on. You may not guess again until your next correct play.

You may always keep quiet and let others guess – but watch out, the round ends as soon as someone is right.

Rules for the dealer

• Answer honestly and quickly with "right" or "wrong" only.
• Do not change the rule during the round.
• A good rule allows several cards at any moment, but not too many. "One higher than the last" is far too strict; "a different suit from the last card" is far too easy.
• Avoid exceptions and wild cards ("face cards always work"). The rule will be harder than you think.
• The first time you play Eleusis, take one of the beginner rules below.

Beginner rules

Each of these applies to the last card of the main line. Aces count as 1, Jacks as 11, Queens as 12 and Kings as 13.

• If the last card was red, play black. If it was black, play red.
• Suits in turn: ♠, then ♥, then ♦, then ♣, then ♠ again.
• Three red cards, then three black, then three red, and so on (the starter card is the first of its three).
• After an odd card play an even one; after an even card, an odd one.
• After a card from Ace to 7 play a card from 8 to King; after 8 to King play Ace to 7.
• Play a card that is 1, 2 or 3 higher than the last, counting on from the King back to the Ace (after a Queen, a King, Ace or 2 is right).

Harder ones for later: "after an odd card play a red one, after an even card a black one"; "same suit or same rank as the last card"; "after a black card, the same or a lower rank; after a red card, the same or a higher rank".

End of a round and scoring

The round ends when a player guesses the rule or plays their last card. Each player scores:

• 12 points minus the number of cards left in their hand,
• +6 for having guessed the rule,
• +3 for having emptied their hand.

The dealer scores as many points as the best player of this round. So the dealer does best with a rule that lets players play several cards correctly before someone cracks it.

Example: Anna guesses the rule with 8 cards left: 12 − 8 + 6 = 10 points. Ben has 5 cards left (7 points), Carla 9 cards (3 points). The dealer scores like Anna: 10 points.

Keep a running total over several rounds. Then the next player becomes dealer and thinks of a new rule.

Ending the game

The game ends after everyone has been dealer once – or earlier, when time runs out. The player with the most points wins. If you do not want to bother about scoring, simply play for fun: if nobody gets anywhere, the dealer should give hints. That is technically cheating, but it makes for a better game.

If the stock runs out during a round, shuffle in a third deck, or end the round there.

Tips for beginners

• Test, don't guess. Choose cards that would prove your theory wrong. A card that fits your theory only tells you little; a card that would be wrong if the theory is right tells you a lot.
• Look at the wrong cards as carefully as the right ones – they show what the rule does not allow.
• Try one variable at a time: colour, suit, rank, odd or even, high or low, and combinations of two.
• Do not guess too early: a wrong guess costs nothing directly, but it tells the others what you are thinking.
• As dealer, write the rule so precisely that you can decide quickly on any card. Test it yourself on a few cards before you deal.
• Rules can refer to more than the last card – for example the last two cards – but that is a lot harder.

Variants

All of these are optional – agree on them before the game.

• Full Eleusis (Robert Abbott's standard version): the dealer is called "God". Each player gets 14 cards. On a turn a player plays one or more cards in order; the dealer judges the whole play. If any of it is wrong, all the cards come off and the player draws twice as many cards as they played.
• Prophet: a player who thinks they know the rule may declare themselves the prophet by marking their card. The prophet puts their cards down, stops playing and judges the others' plays instead. If the dealer catches them in a mistake, they get five penalty cards.
• No play (full game): a wrong "no play" costs five penalty cards; a correct one lets you swap your hand for one that is four cards smaller.
• Markers and elimination: in the full game, every tenth card gets a marker; after the fourth marker any wrong play eliminates the player from the round.