On Apr 7, 5:13 pm, Guy Macon http://www.guymacon.com/ wrote:
(Who snuck sci.math into the newsgroups line? *WAY* off-topic there!)

I was looking for a group that would deal with the mathematical
theoretical issues regarding the idea that a set of rules to a game
could have an infinite varieties. Perhaps there is a better "game
theory" newsgroup.

wrote:
Hey, as long as I am in the "thanks to" section when CalvinChess
makes you rich (don't laugh; do you have any idea how much they
made off of Smess? It was a huge hit!) I will be happy.

Well, you will be made mention if Calvinball Chess (by whatever its
name) will get discussed, in regards to its history (and you will be
referred to as Guy :-) ).

BTW, here is a place to get some interesting ideas:
[http://www.sjgames.com/knightmare/] and at the "specific
cards" section he
[http://www.sjgames.com/knightmare/kc_faq.html].

Drops and gating, shuffles (FRC/960), and the ideas in Knighmare Chess
are what I was actually thinking of regarding Calvinball. With
Nightmare Chess, I believe you deal out a bunch of cards, and players
alternate turns taking one. Players know what can come into play, but
players decide when they come into play. You need to balance the
scoring somehow so it is fair, and have players both have the same
choice picking which cards to use. So long as you can keep spawning
more and more rules, Calvinball is in effect.

The idea you see in Knightmare Chess has been discussed as
"mutators". These are rules that change the rules of the game as you
play. They can be applied to the start, or possibly throughout the
game.

- Rich