Nomic

A game in which changing the rules is a move. These are the rules at the start of play.

Immutable rules

101
Every player must obey the rules that are in effect at that time. The rules on this page are the rules at the start of the game.
102
At the start, rules 101 to 116 are immutable and rules 201 to 213 are mutable. A rule that the players enact or transmute later is mutable, unless the rule-change says otherwise.
103
A rule-change is one of these:
(a) to enact, repeal or amend a mutable rule;
(b) to enact, repeal or amend an amendment of a mutable rule;
(c) to transmute a rule, that is, to make an immutable rule mutable or a mutable rule immutable.
104
The players vote on each rule-change that is correctly proposed. A rule-change is adopted only if it gets the number of votes that the rules require.
105
Each player is an eligible voter. Each eligible voter must vote on each rule-change.
106
A proposed rule-change must be written down before the vote. If it is adopted, it applies in the exact words of the vote.
107
A rule-change cannot take effect before the vote that adopts it is complete, even if its text says so. A rule-change cannot apply to the past.
108
Each proposed rule-change gets a number. The first proposal is 301. Each subsequent proposal gets the next number, whether or not it is adopted.
A rule that is repealed and enacted again takes the number of the proposal that enacts it again. A rule that is amended or transmuted takes the number of the proposal that amends or transmutes it. When a player amends or repeals an amendment, the full rule takes the number of that proposal.
109
A rule-change that makes an immutable rule mutable is adopted only if all eligible voters vote for it. A transmutation must be stated clearly. It cannot be implied.
110
If a mutable rule and an immutable rule conflict, the immutable rule applies and the full mutable rule is void. A proposal to transmute an immutable rule does not conflict with that rule.
111
A proposal can be unclear, ambiguous, paradoxical or bad for play. It can also be two or more rule-changes in one, or an amendment that changes nothing. In these cases, and for any other doubt, the other players can argue against it or suggest amendments before the vote. The players must have a reasonable time for this debate.
The player who proposes the rule-change decides its final text. That player also decides when the debate stops and the vote starts, unless a player asks the Judge to decide this.
112
Players win by getting n points. The rules cannot change this to a different way to win. The rules can change the value of n and the ways to get points. The players can also enact rules that select a winner when play cannot continue. While those rules are mutable, the players can amend or repeal them.
113
A player can always forfeit the game instead of playing on or taking a penalty. No penalty can be worse than losing, in the opinion of the player who takes it.
114
There must always be at least one mutable rule. It must never become fully impossible to adopt a rule-change.
115
The players can change the rules that permit or apply rule-changes, in the same way as other rules. A rule-change can amend or repeal the rule that gives it authority. A rule-change or a move is not prohibited only because a rule refers to itself or applies to itself.
116
An action that no rule prohibits or controls is permitted and has no limits. There is one exception: a player can change the rules only when a rule, or a group of rules, permits it clearly or by implication.

Mutable rules

201
The players take turns in clockwise order. Each player completes a full turn. A player cannot skip or pass a turn, or leave out a part of a turn. All players start with zero points.
In a game by mail or computer, the turn order is the alphabetical order of the players' surnames.
202
A turn has two parts, in this order:
(1) The player proposes one rule-change, and the players vote on it.
(2) The player throws one die once and adds the number on it to their score.
In a game by mail or computer, the player does not throw a die. The player subtracts 291 from the number of their proposal. Then they multiply the result by the fraction of votes for the proposal, and round to the nearest integer. The first player can get 0 to 10 points by this method. The maximum increases by one on each turn, and popular proposals get more points.
203
A rule-change is adopted only if all eligible voters vote for it. If the players do not amend this rule before the end of the second full round of turns, it changes. From then on, a simple majority is sufficient.
204
When the rules permit adoption without a unanimous vote, each player who votes against a proposal that is adopted gets 10 points.
205
An adopted rule-change takes full effect when the vote that adopts it is complete.
206
When the players defeat a proposed rule-change, the player who proposed it loses 10 points.
207
Each player always has one vote, no more and no less.
208
The first player to get 100 points wins. The points must be positive. In a game by mail or computer, the first player to get 200 points wins.
209
There can never be more than 25 mutable rules.
210
Players must not plan future rule-changes together, unless they are on the same team. This rule does not apply to a game by mail or computer.
211
If two or more mutable rules conflict, the rule with the lowest number applies. The same is true if two or more immutable rules conflict.
A rule in the conflict can say that it defers to another rule or type of rule. It can also say that it takes precedence over another rule or type of rule. These statements apply instead of the numbers. If two or more rules each say that they take precedence, or each say that they defer, the numbers apply again.
212
Players can disagree about whether a move is legal, or about what a rule means or how it applies. Then the player before the player whose turn it is becomes the Judge and decides. One player who insists is sufficient to make a disagreement. This is called "invoking Judgment".
When a player invokes Judgment, the next player can start their turn only if a majority of the other players agree. The other players can overrule the Judge only by a unanimous vote, before the next turn starts. If they overrule the Judge, the player before the Judge in the turn order becomes the new Judge for that question, and so on. A player cannot be Judge during their own turn or the turn of a team-mate.
If the players do not overrule the Judge, that Judge decides all questions about the game until the next turn starts. This includes questions about the Judge's own authority. New Judges do not have to follow the decisions of earlier Judges. A new Judge can decide only questions on which the players disagree at that time, and which affect the completion of the turn in which a player invoked Judgment.
A Judge must decide in agreement with all the rules in effect. If the rules are silent, inconsistent or unclear about the question, the Judge must first look at the customs of the game and the spirit of the game. After that, the Judge can use other standards.
213
The first player who cannot complete a turn wins if one of these occurs:
(a) A rule-change makes it impossible to continue play.
(b) Nobody can find a final answer about whether a move is legal.
(c) The Judge's best reasoning, not overruled, finds a move as legal as it is illegal.
This rule takes precedence over all other rules that select a winner.

Peter Suber invented Nomic in 1982. It first appeared in his book The Paradox of Self-Amendment (1990), and in Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas column in Scientific American (June 1982). This page is not Suber's text. It restates the rules of the game in new words. For the original text, see Peter Suber's Nomic page.