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Nomic
A Game of Self-Amendment
Peter Suber, Philosophy Department, Earlham College






> Nomic is a game I invented in 1982. It's a game in which changing the rules is
> a move. The Initial Set of rules does little more than regulate the
> rule-changing process. While most of its initial rules are procedural in this
> sense, it does have one substantive rule (on how to earn points toward
> winning); but this rule is deliberately boring so that players will quickly
> amend it to please themselves. The Initial Set of rules, some commentary by
> me, and some reflections by Douglas Hofstadter, were published in Hofstadter's
> "Metamagical Themas" column in Scientific American in June of 1982. It was
> quickly translated into many European and Asian languages. Games were
> regularly played, and kicked off, the ARPANET, the Defense Department network
> which sired the Internet. Nomic has been used to stimulate artistic
> creativity, simulate the circulation of money, structure group therapy
> sessions, train managers, and to teach public speaking, legal reasoning, and
> legislative drafting. Nomic games have sent ambassadors to other Nomic games,
> formed federations, and played Meta-Nomic. Nomic games have experienced
> revolution, oppressive coups, and the restoration of popular sovereignty.
> Above all, Nomic has been fun for thousands of players around the world. For
> me, it was intended to illustrate and embody the thesis of my book, The
> Paradox of Self-Amendment, that a legal "rule of change" such as a
> constitutional amendment clause may apply to itself and authorize its own
> amendment. (Nomic is the third appendix of the book.)
> 
> Here is the game and some preliminaries from The Paradox of Self-Amendment:
> 
>  * Introduction to Nomic
>  * How to Play Nomic
>  * Initial Set of Rules
> 
> Here are three Nomic sites which do a wonderful job organizing the Nomic
> scene. Visit them to get a sense of what Nomic is and where it's going.
> 
>  * Nomic Bulletin Board. The best Nomic discussion forum. From Doug Chatham.
>  * The Nomic Ring Home Page. If you're a player, or a curious newcomer, take
>    the tour. If you maintain a Nomic page, consider joining. From Steven
>    Swiniarski. Here's another site for the same ring.
>  * Nomic Wiki. A compendium of Nomic information, games, and tools, all
>    editable by users. This mutability makes it very Nomiconomic. From Malcolm
>    Ryan. In addition to miscellaneous information, it contains two very
>    helpful sub-pages:
>    * Nomic FAQ. Clear and thorough.
>    * Net Nomic Database. A registry of web-based Nomic games. New games may
>      sign themselves up with a web-based form. It's now the best place to go
>      to learn about ongoing Nomic games on the internet. Rich Holmes has
>      created an alternate interface and an updated alternate interface to this
>      database.
> 
> Here are some of the other Nomic pages on the web. Most are games. I once
> tried to keep track of which are ongoing and which will accept new players,
> but Malcolm Ryan's Net Nomic Database now does this much better than I could.
> So I will slowly phase out my annotations with this information. I encourage
> players seeking games to check Malcolm's database.
> 
>  * A Nomic. A game by email.
>  * Ackanomic. A long-standing email game. Another URL. Part of Internomic.
>  * Ackanomic Party Chess. A Chess-Nomic blend. From Uri Bruck. Also see Nomic
>    Chess and Fourplay.
>  * Agora Nomic. One of the oldest continuing games. From Chuck Carroll. Also
>    see Don Blaheta's Agora Nomic page and Michael Norrish's Agora Nomic page.
>    Steven Swiniarski also has an Agora page. Part of Internomic.
>  * Aight. A Nomic card game. From Alex Fink.
>  * Ancient Mystical Order Nomic Crucis. Secret society Nomic. From Geoffrey B.
>    Cain.
>  * Autonomic. Players have personal rules as well as group rules. From Jay
>    Campbell.
>  * Axiom Nomic. An "unwinable" game using a variant initial set. From Tom
>    Mueller.
>  * Berserker Nomic. A game at Iowa State University. From Joel Uckelman.
>  * BiNomic. A game and meta-game combined.
>  * Blind Nomic. From Gepetto.
>  * BoardNomic. From John-Martin Lotz.
>  * Caltech Nomic. Web site of a FTF game.
>  * CharNomic. Web site of a completed game. From Harry Culpan.
>  * Chiark Nomic. An email game.
>  * Collaborative Computing. Term paper by Suresh Madhu on the use of Nomic in
>    groupware programming. For a CS course at the University of New Mexico.
>  * Common Law Nomic. "This Nomic explores whether a Nomic with a broad,
>    general 'constitution' can develop a common law tradition, where judges
>    explicitly make law when rendering decisions. This is opposed to the more
>    common civil law tradition found most other Nomics, where judges, in
>    theory, merely follow the law without creating new law."
>  * Communist Nomic. This game is the successor to Imperial Nomic.
>  * CUGC Nomic Games. From the Columbia University Games Club.
>  * The Cult of Nomic. A self-modifying form of worship.
>  * The Curvature of the Earth is Overwhelmed by Local Noise Nomic. Archive of
>    a finished game.
>  * deNomic. From Ole Anderson.
>  * DocNomic. A variation on Imperial Nomic. From Rich Holmes.
>  * DragaNomic. A variation on Nomic and Dungeons and Dragons.
>  * Dvorak. A Nomic card game. From Kevan Davis.
>  * EcoNomic. A game using Nomic to simulate a working economy.
>  * Eleusis Nomic. Rules that blend Nomic with Eleusis, a great game by Robert
>    Abbott. From Joel Ricker.
>  * Engle Matrix Games. Nomic-like games invented by Chris Engle and played for
>    fun, for therapy sessions, and for teaching creative writing.
>  * Fantasy Rules Committee. A long-running Nomic variation.
>  * Fantasy War Games Design Project. Uses a Nomic-like structure to govern the
>    evolution of war games.
>  * FNomic. A French Nomic game. From Jean-Christophe Brenier.
>  * Formal Nomic. Essays by Gerard Vreeswijk. This site seems to have
>    disappeared without a trace. Can anyone help relocate it?  Meantime see
>    Vreeswijk's essay, Formalizing Nomic.
>  * Fourplay. A variation on both Nomic and Chess. Also see Ackanomic Party
>    Chess and Nomic Chess.
>  * Future Nomic. From Greg Ritter. Archive of a finished game.
>  * Garden Nomic. Archive of a finished game.
>  * Genomic. A Nomic based on genetic and memetic processes. From Kevan Davis.
>  * Gnomic. Article about a Nomic game at the University of Waterloo in the
>    student newspaper. The link to the game itself is dead.
>  * Gnomic. Not the same as the previous entry. A game played on a discussion
>    board.
>  * Gnomic Nomic. In German.
>  * GNomic. Apparently the archive of a finished game. From Dan Marsh. This
>    game also had a Yahoo discussion list.
>  * GRINomic. A German Nomic game. From Thomas Hirsch.
>  * IgNomic. An email game. From Bryan Derksen.
>  * Imperial Nomic. From Jean-Christophe Brenier. In French. Another URL,
>    apparently for the same game. For the U.S. games that go under the same
>    name, see World Imperial Nomic, below.
>  * InterNomic. From Malenkai. A Nomic game in which the players are other
>    Nomic games.
>  * Japanese Nomic. Requires a Japanese-enabled browser.
>  * Jinx_Tigr's Nomic. A simplified rule-set.
>  * Legacy. A Nomic-inspired game using music. Anonymous.
>  * MacroNomic. Outgrowth of MicroNomic. Part of Internomic.
>  * Kautz Nomic. From Manfred Kautz. In German. Jump to the Nomic page. Willing
>    to start an online game.
>  * Malenkai's Introduction toNomic. Description and links from Randy Hall.
>  * Mega-Ultra Plus. A Nomic game, not a vitamin supplement. From Donovan.
>  * Michael's Nomic page. From Michael Norrish.
>  * MicroNomic II. Non-voting member of Internomic.
>  * Minic. Apparently a finished game.
>  * Minty Nomic. From J.
>  * Misty's Nomic. From Misty.
>  * Moderated Nomic. An email game.
>  * Mornington Nomic. British variant blending Nomic with the radio game,
>    Mornington Crescent. From Kevan Davis.
>  * Murphy's Introduction to Nomic. Description and links from Ed Murphy.
>  * N_omic. Also see this unofficial but more up-to-date page. A game from Jon
>    Grimm
>  * NeoNomicon. An email game. From Mikael Johansson.
>  * Net Waste of Time Nomic. An email game. From Michael Farebrother.
>  * New Rishonnomic. From Klaus Herrmanns. Dan has a separate New Rishnomic
>    page. The Local of Koljiana has its own page. Part of Internomic.
>  * .Nomic. An game that uses alt.games.nomic for its announcements. From
>    Graeme Jefferis.
>  * Nomic. Douglas Hofstadter's original article on Nomic (from Scientific
>    American, June 1982), trafnslated into German.
>  * Nomic. An introduction to the game, in German, from Thomas Voigtmann.
>  * Nomic!. A newer, email game. From Mike Lugo.
>  * Nomic.net. Joel Uckelman bought this domain name and is using it to host
>    Nomic games and useful Nomic tools.
>  * Nomic at Horizon. Moderated by Jim Callahan.
>  * Nomic-Game on WWW. Apparently a dormant game.
>  * NomiCam. An game from Cambridge University. From Jack Rudd. Now there is
>    also a NomiCam2.
>  * NomicICQ. A game using the internet paging service.
>  * Nomic Chess. A Nomic variation on chess, or chess variation on Nomic. From
>    David Howe. Also see Ackanomic Party Chess and Fourplay.
>  * Nomic im Klokken. A German Nomic game. From Stefan Heyd.
>  * Nomic in French. My introduction to Nomic, and the iniitial set of rules,
>    translated into French by Jean-Christophe Brenier.
>  * Nomic in Swedish. The initial rules plus an invitation to join an email
>    game.
>  * Nomiclature. An ongoing game that accepts new players. From Mark Simpson.
>  * Nomic mit Tens. Apparently a finished game. From Dan Marsh.
>  * Nomic MUD. Archive of a finished game. The same game is remembered at
>    Michael Norrish's Nomic World page. This game gave birth to the Fantasy
>    Rules Committee and was succeeded by Agora Nomic.
>  * The Nomic Page. From Geoff Wong.
>  * Nomic:  The Masquerade. A variation on Imperial Nomic and Vampire: The
>    Masquerade. Anonymous.
>  * Nomic Rule Sets. A compendium of Initial Rule Sets, for study and comment.
>    Part of Malcolm Ryan's NomicWiki.
>  * No Name Nomic. A Nomic game played on an email discussion forum.
>  * Nomopoly I. From Brian Tivol. Archive of a finished game.
>  * Nomopoly II. From Brian Tivol.
>  * Nomopoly III. From Joel Ricker.
>  * NPP Nomic. Anonymous.
>  * Omeganomic. From Brex.
>  * Our Nomic. From Chuck Henry.
>  * OxNomic. Nomic at Oxford University. From Terry Boon. The Oxford game is at
>    a separate site.
>  * Palermo Nomic. From Carlos A. Peña. Used for teaching law at Universidad de
>    Palermo, Buenos Aires. Now there is also a Palermo Nomic 2.
>  * PandeNomic. From Adam Dray. An email game.
>  * Paranomic. Archive of a finished game. From David Kenning.
>  * The People's Republic of MacroNomic. From Lambda.
>  * Phish-Nomic. From William Fretts-Saxton.
>  * Pnomic. The ruleset of a finished game. From Dan Marsh.
>  * Pokey Nomic Page. From Ed McGuire. This site hosts several email games.
>  * Pokey 2. From Ed McGuire. Uses a minimal initial set of rules.
>  * Polish Nomic. If you read Polish, visit the site for more details.
>  * Polynomic. A game played on a threaded discussion board.
>  * Prism BBS Nomic. From Michael Murphy.
>  * Pumpkin Patch Nomic. Part of Internomic.
>  * Pure Nomic. A variation with a minimal set of initial rules. From Jake.
>  * Radio Free Nomic. Maintained by the Speaker, Uncle Psychosis. Also see the
>    RFN Rebellion page.
>  * RepoNomic. "Quasi-Republican Nomic, as opposed to Communist and Fascist
>    styles." From Geiger.
>  * Rishonomic. A long-running game.
>  * Royal Assasination Nomic. An email game.
>  * Rules for N. A simplified rule-set.
>  * Self-Modifying Games Centre. Nomic and its variants. From Lisa Dusseault.
>  * Shattered World. A long-running MUD using Nomic to govern social
>    interactions.
>  * Simplex Nomic. A game that is "dead" but "technically running". From Jeff
>    Reinecke.
>  * SocialNomic. A game played on an eGroups discussion forum.
>  * SloNomic. From Craig Brunson.
>  * Solitaire Nomic. Rule-set for a solitaire variation. From Doug Chatham.
>  * Svenska Kommitten för Kreativt Kaos. A Swedish Nomic, played on an eGroup
>    discussion forum. From J. Blomberg.
>  * Swedish Nomic. If you read Swedish, visit the site for more details.
>  * Swedish Version of Nomic. The initial rules in Swedish. From Andreas
>    Kähäri.
>  * Tabula Nomic. From Michael Norrish. Apparently a dormant game.
>  * Terra Nomic. Archive of a finished game.
>  * Three Rivers Nomic. From Carrie Schutrick.
>  * Thring Nomic. A long-running game. Accepts new players. Part of Internomic.
>  * Unanomic. Archive of a finished game.
>  * The United Nomics Project. From Jason Orendorf. An effort to connect the
>    many Nomics on the internet.
>  * The Unplugged Nomic Game at Stack. An email game.
>  * Utopia. A game whose rules aspire to be utopian.
>  * Valparaiso Nomic game. This link is dead, but I leave it up in case it
>    revives. Meantime, see Michael Norrish's description of this game.
>  * WikiNomic. Nomic played on a Wiki. From Malcolm Ryan. This has spawned an
>    unusual descendant called Wikit, a graphical ball game in which all the
>    rules are mutable.
>  * World Imperial Nomic Association. The home-page of the fascist variation on
>    the theme. Contains links to the many completed Imperial Nomic games
>    archived on the web.
>  * Yahoo Nomic Page.
>  * You Don't Know (Bluesmobile Nomic). From Berry Renken. Part of Internomic.
> 
> Unfortunately, I'm too busy with other projects, including other web pages, to
> update this page as often as I'd like. But I do update it when I can and I'm
> always happy to hear about new Nomic sites. May I suggest that all game sites
> register with Malcolm Ryan's Net Nomic Database? This will help players
> discover which games are ongoing and which games will accept new players.
> 
> On usenet, Nomic announcements and discussions are posted chiefly to
> rec.games.abstract and somewhat less often to rec.games.pbm. There are two
> Nomic-specific newsgroups, alt.games.nomic, and alt.games.nomic.unomic, but
> many sites do not receive them; consequently, the traffic in them is so sparse
> that Nomic comments are usually outnumbered by spams. For a spam-free Nomic
> discussion, use Doug Chatham's Nomic Bulletin Board.
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> This Nomic Ring site is owned by Peter Suber. Want to join the Nomic Ring? 
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> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Artwork credits

Peter Suber, Department of Philosophy, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana,
47374, U.S.A.
peters@earlham.edu. Copyright © 1996-2003, Peter Suber.