Rules: Create an Experience, Not Mere Obedience
Technical terms: Rule
You can use a rule to establish what players may do and what follows when they do it. A rule may be written, enforced by software, upheld by a group, interpreted by a judge, or made unavoidable by the physical materials.
The wording is not the game itself. Different groups can use slightly different procedures and still reproduce recognizably similar play. The real test is what pattern of decisions and experiences the rules create.
See it in Scrabble
Scrabble needs rules for placing tiles, connecting words, scoring, drawing, challenging, and ending. Tournament clocks and dictionary policies may vary, yet the game remains recognizable because its central relationships survive.
What you can do with it
Before adding a rule, name the experience it protects or creates. A prohibition with a predictable penalty may function as a priced option rather than a true prohibition. A rule players routinely ignore may indicate that the written procedure and the desired play have separated.
Remove one rule from your puzzle temporarily. If the desired behavior continues naturally, the rule may have been unnecessary. If the experience collapses, you have learned what the rule was carrying.
Ask a player
Which rule helped you understand what kind of puzzle this was, and which rule felt like administration?
Nearby ideas
- First-order and second-order rules — decide what players must learn before beginning.
- Explicit and implicit mechanics — distinguish declared procedures from behavior that emerges.
- Standards — borrow familiar rules players already understand.
- Enabling constraints — use limits to create choices and expression.
Elias, Garfield, and Gutschera, Characteristics of Games (2012), Chapter 3, section 3.1, pp. 71–76. ---