Tilt

Tilt is a somewhat viral card game that has found particular fondness within The Autonomous Diaspora . The chaotic nature of play keeps every game interesting, and the shipboard focus of the flavor helps ground it. While custom Tilt decks are often printed, it is a trivial matter to convert a standard deck of playing cards into a Tilt deck using only a marker.

Gameplay is relatively simple - at its core, it is a game of four card draw poker, played with up to six players. Players place an ante and are dealt a “hand” of four cards, one face up (the Thumb) and three face down (the Palm). They wager, and may raise or fold as they like. They may then exchange between zero and three of their Palm cards for new cards - the Thumb cannot be discarded. They then wager again, hands are revealed, and a winner is decided. This is, however, only the simplified version of play.

Two complicating factors are built in. The first is in the deck itself - hands in Tilt are drawn from a Voyage deck, which is 36 cards in size. The Voyage deck consists of cards numbered one to eight in each of four Suits (Crew, Planets, Stars, and Ships) and four all-suited ranked Command face cards (the Engineer, the Scientist, the Quartermaster, and the Captain, ranked 9-12 respectively), which are considered part of every suit for the purposes of flushes.

The second complication, and where the real fun of the game comes from, is the 23-card Void deck. Tilt is played with a second deck of special cards, and after wagers are finished in the first round of betting, a card from that deck is drawn (the Hazard) and put into play to change the rules of the game. Some Void cards can alter hand sizes, or dictate that cards become wild, or that the value of hands is reversed, or other significant changes that can significantly alter the play for the rest of the hand. Once a winner is decided, the Void card is reshuffled into the deck.

History

The real origins of Tilt are not entirely known, but it's spread among spacers of the Diaspora and Consortium alike as a game to while away long days of Stardrive and gamble their personal allotments of EC . When it was first released, it was in the form of data, under a public domain license, and this - among the game's entertaining qualities - drew Diasporan eyes. The ability to simply print one's own cards, or modifying existing game cards into Tilt cards, without having to pay a license to the ISC was a huge draw. Over the centuries since, printing houses selling designs for lavishly illustrated Tilt cards have sprung up all over, and most career spacers will have a Tilt deck somewhere in their stowage.

Execution

At the conclusion of a round of play, the player with the highest-value hand wins the pot. If a hand qualifies or multiple entries listed, use the highest that it meets. The ranking of hands is as follows, in ascending order:
High Card: The card of the highest rank of any in play, plus any three other cards.
One Pair: Two cards of the identical rank, plus any two other cards.
Flush: Four cards of the same suit.
Straight: Four cards in direct sequence of rank, i.e. a 3, a 4, a 5, and a 6.
Three of a Kind: Three cards of identical rank, plus any one other card.
Two Pair: Two cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank.
Parley: Two cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank, which also are two of one suit and two of another suit. For example, the two and six of Crew, plus the two and six of Stars.
Straight Flush: Four cards in direct sequence of rank, all of the same suit. For example, the 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Ships.
Four of a Kind: Four cards of identical rank.
Command: The Engineer, the Scientist, the Quartermaster, and the Captain.

Where the Captain's Reserve Stash card is in play, and hand sizes increase to six, the number of possible hands increase and their relative rankings are adjusted. This sequence is as follows:

High Card: The card of the highest rank of any in play, plus any five other cards.
One Pair: Two cards of the identical rank, plus any four other cards.
Two Pair: Two cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank, plus any two other cards.
Three of a Kind: Three cards of identical rank, plus any three other cards.
Parley: Two cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank, which also are two of one suit and two of another suit, plus any two other cards. For example, the two and six of Crew, plus the two and six of Stars, plus two other cards.
Station: Three cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank, plus any one other card.
Straight: Six cards in direct sequence of rank, i.e. a 3, a 4, a 5, a 6, a 7, and a 10.
Three Pair: Two cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank, plus two cards of a third identical rank. For example, two 2s, two 4s, and two 5s.
Flush: Six cards of the same suit.
Four of a Kind: Four cards of identical rank.
Colony: Three cards of identical rank, plus three cards of another identical rank.
Command: The Engineer, the Scientist, the Quartermaster, and the Captain.
Investment: Four cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank.
Convoy: Two cards of identical rank, plus two cards of another identical rank, plus two cards of a third identical rank, which also are three of one suit and three of another suit, plus any two other cards. For example, the two and six of Crew, plus the two and six of Ships, plus the two and six of Planets.
Redshirts: The Engineer, the Scientist, the Quartermaster, and the Captain, plus two cards of the same suit.
Moon: Three cards of identical rank, plus three cards of another identical rank, which also are two of one suit, two of another suit, and two of a third suit. For example, the two, three, and six of Stars, plus the two, three, and six of Planets.
Straight Flush: Four cards in direct sequence of rank, all of the same suit. For example, the 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Ships.
Bridge: A 7, a 10, the Mage, the Magist, the General, and the Emperor.
Chain of Command: A 7, a 10, the Mage, the Magist, the General, and the Emperor, where the 7 and 10 are of the same suit.

Where the Engine Breach card is in play, and hand sizes decrease to three, the number of possible hands decrease and their relative rankings are adjusted. This sequence is as follows:

High Card: The card of the highest rank of any in play, plus any three other cards.
One Pair: Two cards of the identical rank, plus any two other cards.
Straight: Four cards in direct sequence of rank, i.e. a 3, a 4, a 5, and a 6.
Flush: Four cards of the same suit.
Three of a Kind: Three cards of identical rank, plus any one other card.
Straight Flush: Three cards in direct sequence of rank, all of the same suit. For example, the 3, 4, and 5 of Glyphs.
Command: Any three Command Cards.

Components and tools

The Void deck is 23 cards in size, as follows:

The Fine Print

Deal an additional hand, face down. When a winner is selected, reveal this hand; if it beats the winner, they must return their winnings to the pot.

Leak in the Fuel Line

The hand ends. No cards are redrawn, no further bets are made, hands are compared and a winner is decided now.

Mutinous Days

The order of hands is reversed, except Command. Someone's always gonna be running things.

Always Answer Distress Signals

A new Void card is drawn and played, face-down. It is revealed, and takes effect, after bets are finalized and hands are revealed.

Captain's Reserve Stash

Hand sizes increase to six. All players draw to six cards. New hands and their rankings are detailed.

Well-Stocked Armory

After drawing and betting, play an additional Void card, and draw and bet again.

Binary System

All twos are wild in both rank and suit for this hand.

Hull Breach

All cards of the Ships suit bear no rank or suit and may not contribute to the value of hands.

Inexorable Gravity

The winning hand must include at least one card of the Stars suit, with at least one of any other suit to form an Orbit. If no such hand exists, nobody wins, and the pot - and this card - remain in play through successive hands until this occurs.

The Value of Teamwork

Crew fly in Ships, Planets orbit Stars, Crew come from Planets, and Ships fly between the Stars. Everything is always connected. A hand consisting of one card of each suit, with no Command cards, will beat any hand except a Command.

Trust Your People

You can chart a good Star, you can have your eye on a prime Planet, you can have the nicest Ship, but if you don't have Crew worth a damn, you won't get anywhere with it. All Crew cards are considered to be of all suits.

Fine Galley

A Crew well kept will be yours for life. Cards of the Crew suit may not be discarded.

Counting the Haul

Players select one card and discard the rest of their hand. A 3 by 3 grid of cards is laid out on the table. Players form their final hands with a line of three cards, horizontal or vertical or diagonal, from that grid, plus their remaining card.

Game of Chicken

Players' Thumb cards are discarded. A single card is dealt, face-down, to be shared among all players. It is not revealed until betting is completed.

Wild Jump

The lowest card in each player's hand is wild, for that player only.

Corporate Paycheck

To tighten the belts, players may not raise, and players may not fold once a bet is made in the second round. The pot cannot more than double in size.

Always Have Another Trick

Thumb cards must be discarded and redrawn, in addition to any face-down. The redrawn card is dealt to the Palm, hidden from other players.

Expendable Ranks

All Command cards are wild, and any hand containing a Command card is considered one rank higher for each Command card in it.

Import Taxes

Before cards are discarded and drawn from players' Palms, two cards (the Tariffs) are drawn and placed face-up in the middle of the field, for shared use. Players are to form four-card hands from up to three of their cards and up to both of the center cards. A hand using no Tariffs is without value.

Vote of No Confidence

After discarding, all cards that players draw are placed face-up with the Thumb, not drawn to their Palm.

Saboteur in the Ranks

All cards that players discard are placed in a separate pile and shuffled, and cards that are drawn are drawn from that.

Dividing the Shares

Beginning with the player to make the last bet, or the dealer if no bets were made, players discard cards not to a discard pile, but directly into the Palm of the player to their left. Any player with more than three cards in their Palm at the end of this cycle must discard down to three, and any player with less than three draws new cards.

Engine Breach

All players discard their Thumb. Three-card Hands are formed from the Palm. The new ranking of hands is detailed.