This game evolved out of a conversation between myself and Matthew Philip about teaching people to design and run experiments and has become part of a workshop we created called “No (lab) Jacket Required”. Eleusis Expedition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Materials
The only materials needed are a pack or playing cards per table or group. Groups of 4-7 work well.
You can also download the slides which contain the following information and instructions.
Idea
This is a variation on Eleusis Express; a card game of inductive reasoning which itself is a modification of Robert Abbott’s game Eleusis. Our variation is even simpler, and hence quicker, with more of a focus on collabration rather than competition.
One player has a secret rule for which cards can be played. For example: each card has to be a different colour from the card before it. Other players lay down cards to discover the pattern. If a player lays down a card correctly, they can try to guess the rule.
The original Eleusis Express instructions, on which these are based, can be found at http://www.logicmazes.com/games/eleusis/express.html
Object
A game consists of one or more rounds. A different player is chosen as the oracle for each new round, and it is the oracle who knows the secret rule. The oracle does not play any cards that round.
All plays are made to a central layout that grows as the round progresses. A layout consists of a horizontal mainline of correct cards that follow the secret rule. Below the mainline are vertical sidelines of incorrect cards that do not follow the rule. These sideline cards can be overlapped to save space.
Oracle
The oracle knows a secret rule.
They place the shuffled pile of cards face down, turn over the top card, and put it on the table. This will be the start of the mainline. Before play starts, the oracle may give a hint about the rule. The player to the left of the oracle goes first, then the play continues around to the left.
Players
A player turns the top card from the deck and lays it on the table. They assert whether it is correct or not, and the oracle confirms or rejects.
If correct, the card goes to the right of the last card on the mainline.
If incorrect, the card goes below the last correct card (it either starts a sideline or it adds to a sideline).
Guessing
Whenever a player makes a correct assertion they are given the right to guess the rule. Everyone must hear the guess. The oracle then says whether the player is right or wrong. If they are wrong, the game continues. If they are right, the round ends.
Facilitation Tips
- Have each rule written on a separate index card.
- Work through the rules in order. They start easy and get harder.
- Encourage oracles to take a photo of the rule which they can use to reference during the round.
- Allow teams to swap oracles and get a new rule as soon as they have finished the previous one.
- Wander round the room to check the rules are being interpreted correctly.
- Keep going until you run out of rules or decide its time to move on. At that point allow teams to finish their current rule.
Debrief Learnings
The following points usually come up in conversation:
- The need for both success (mainline cards) and failure (sideline cards).
- The need for visibility of both success and failure.
- Too much success (long mainlines) or failure (long sidelines) leads to reduced learning.
- Biases exposed by the drawn cards (e.g. confirmation bias when the cards happen to indicate 1 form of rule such as alternating colours).
Rules
Download the slides to see some example rules. We don’t want to spoil anyones experience by posting them here!