Learn to Play Videtwolle

Quick Rules

Each player is dealt 5 cards and places an amount equal to the table Build Cost into the table Escrow.
Play moves around the table and each player is given a chance to Build their hand or declare that they are Ready.
When it is their turn, a player may Build their hand by exchanging an amount equal to the table Build Cost for 1 additional card. They must then discard 1 of the 6 cards so they are left with 5 again.
Play rotates around the table until all players have decided their hand is good enough and they have declared that they are Ready or they have hit the table Build Cap and may build no more.
Once all players are ready, the white cards are compared. The player with the highest number in white cards is the Dominate, the player with the second-highest number in white is the Challenger.
The Dominate player's green cards are compared against the Challenger's red cards. The player with the highest number wins all the money in the table Escrow.

Expanded Rules

While it's hard to believe that there is anyone left in the EVE galaxy that does not know how to play Videtwolle, we welcome all new players! Videtwolle is a game of chance and skill played with a deck of cards with the ultimate goal of profit. This is not unlike other games that have come before, including the game of poker from the legends of the ancient Earth, if you believe in such things. Of course, for this game we use a standard Videtwolle Deck of cards.

The Videtwolle Deck

The standard Videtwolle Deck is made up of 45 regular cards and an additional 4 special cards. No two cards in the deck are identical. Of the regular cards, there are 3 colors: white, red, and green and 3 suits: Pilot, Faction, and Resource.

Videtwolle Suits

Pilot - Faction - Resource

There are 5 cards of each color/suit combination numbered 1-5.

Videtwolle Numbering

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

The special cards are each unique and they are called The Station, The Turret, The Mercenary, and The Gate. It is important to note that while the special cards are used in many games based on the Videtwolle Deck, they are not used in standard-rules Videtwolle.

Videtwolle Specials

The Station - The Turret - The Mercenary - The Gate

Physical Videtwolle cards are square and the suits for each card can be found in the center and on the edges while the numbers are found on the corners. There have been many designs over the years as Videtwolle evolved but the current version has become the standard because they can be held and viewed in any orientation and still be easily identified.

Example of physical Videtwolle card.

The online version of Videtwolle uses a condensed representation of the cards which can be seen below.

Example of online Videtwolle card.

The full online Videtwolle deck can be seen and referenced at the Deck page

Gameplay - Standard Videtwolle

The game of Videtwolle is a glorified yet simplistic representation of the interaction between the mighty space-faring corporations of the EVE galaxy and their struggle to control space and the resources that are found there. Each player represents a single corporation and the gameplay represents the interaction between those corps as they compete for supremacy of space. Each game represents a single encounter and conflict between corporations.

The Goal

The goal of Videtwolle is to have the best hand of cards in a game compared to the other players. The best hand means you first have the highest or second-highest number total of white-colored cards. Then, the player with the highest white total compares their green cards against the second-highest white total player's red cards. The player with the highest total of that comparison wins.

Example of a hand of cards from online Videtwolle
	Strength: 6\|5\|5

A game begins with every player contributing money into a central pot or Escrow in order to be dealt in. The players are then given chances to pay more money (build) to get different cards that might make their hand better. Once everyone is satisfied with their cards, they compare them. The winner recieves all the money that was put into Escrow that game.

Table Setup

Before a game can begin a table must be setup. While some table specifications are purely for personal preference such as the turn timer and how many seats there are, two specifications are important because they can have a large impact on how the games at the table will play out. They are the Build Cost and the Build Cap. The Build Cost is the amount of Inter-Stellar Kredits (ISK) that must be paid by each player at the beginning of each game and every time they build (described below). The higher the Build Cost, the higher the stakes of the game and the more thought each player must put into how they play. The Build Cap is the limit to how many times a player may build in a given game. The lower the Build Cap, the more the players must rely on the luck of the draw to get a winning hand. In standard rules Videtwolle the Build Cap is 10. Once the table is setup, a game can begin and is comprised of 3 phases: Build-up, Encounter, and Conflict.

Build-up

As a famous Caldari once said, "You can't change your luck but you can certainly modify it, for a fee of course."

The game and the Build-up phase begins with each player contributing an amount equal to the Build Cost into the table Escrow. Each player is then dealt 5 cards from the deck that only they can see.
Play moves around the table and each player is given the opportunity to build their hand.
If a player choses to build they must deposit an amount equal to the Build Cost into the table Escrow and they are then dealt a 6th card. The player must then choose one of their cards to discard so they are left with 5. They may choose the card they just recieved.
Once a player who has chosen to build has discarded, play then moves to the next player.
At any point during the Build-up phase players can declare themselves ready when they think their hand is good enough and they no longer wish to build.
The Build-up phase continues to circulate around the table until all players have either declared that they are ready or have reached the Build Cap.

Remember, the more you build the more you risk and there is no gaurantee that you will end up with the winning hand so choose your builds carefully.

Encounter

"Space is anything but. The only thing you will find out in the black is others with the same plans as you. If you aren't the one on the offensive, you damn well better be ready to defend youself because someone always wants what you want." -- Unnamed Gallente University Professor

The Encounter phase begins immediately following the end of Build-Up.
First the strength of each player's infrastructure is evaluated simply by summing together the number values of all the white-colored cards in their hand.
The player with the highest white strength is deemed the Dominate and the player with the second-highest white strength is deemed the Challenger.
After this has been determined only those two players move on to the Conflict phase as the others are deemed too weak to compete.

Encounter Comparison Example
Player 1 is Challenger white total: 6		Strength: 6\|5\|5
Player 2 is Dominate white total: 8		Strength: 8\|3\|2

Conflict

"It's not the patrolling that grinds the soul. The real waiting game is combat." -- unidentified Amarr Fleet Commander

Once the Encounter has ended and the Dominate and Challenger have been determined, Conflict begins.
The Dominate player's green card total is used to defend (compared) against the total of the Challenger's red cards which they use to attack with.
The scoring is simple and the higher number wins the game and all money that was deposited into Escrow.

Conflict Resolution Example
Player 1 is Challenger and winner red total: 5		Strength: 6\|5\|5
Player 2 is Dominate and loser green total: 2		Strength: 8\|3\|2

NOTE:In this online version of Videtwolle, the Encounter and Conflict phases appear to happen at the same time as everything is calculated automatically by the system when the last player is ready.

Tie-Breaking and Special Situations

In the event of a numerical tie between two or more players in either the Encounter or Conflict phase, the suits of the cards are used for tie-breaking.
In Videtwolle, the suits are valued in the following order: Pilots have the highest value, Factions have the second-highest value, and Resources are worth the least.
Tie-breaking is straightforward and involves simply comparing the number of cards of a particular suit between tied players. At this point the numerical value of the cards is not considered.
Because of their value, Pilots are compared first. If two or more players have a numerical tie for white cards during Encounter or red/green during Conflict, a count is done to see who has more cards with a Pilot suit in the respective color. The player that has more is the winner of the tie and/or the game.
If both players have the same amount of Pilots or they have none, then the number of cards with a Faction suit are compared.
If both players have the same amount of Factions or they have none, then the number of cards with a Resource suit are compared.

Encounter Tie-Break Example #1
Player 1 is Dominate white total: 5 Pilot count: 1		Strength: 5\|8\|0
Player 2 is Challenger white total: 5 Pilot count: 0		Strength: 5\|2\|5
Encounter Tie-Break Example #2
Player 1 is Challenger white total: 3 Pilot count: 0 Faction count: 0 Resource count: 1		Strength: 3\|8\|5
Player 2 is Dominate white total: 3 Pilot count: 0 Faction count: 0 Resource count: 2		Strength: 3\|2\|5
Conflict Tie-Break Example #1
Player 1 is Dominate and loser green total: 5 Pilot count: 0		Strength: 7\|4\|5
Player 2 is Challenger and winner red total: 5 Pilot count: 1		Strength: 3\|5\|5
Conflict Tie-Break Example #2
Player 1 is Challenger and loser red total: 5 red Pilot count: 0 red Faction count: 1		Strength: 3\|5\|4 and
Player 2 is Dominate winner green total: 5 green Pilot count: 0 green Faction count: 2		Strength: 7\|2\|5

While situations where a winner can not be determined are rare, they do happen. In these situations no one is credited with a win and the ISK in Escrow remains there to be claimed by the winner of the next game at the table. The situations in which a winner can not be determined are the following:

A true tie between the two top contenders that makes it impossible for a Dominate to be determined.
A true tie between the Dominate and Challenger.
No player at the table has any white-colored cards when the Encounter phase begins.
The player deemed the Dominate has no green cards and the player deemed the Challenger has no red cards.

There are also a few situations where a winner can be automatically determined without complete card comparisons:

Only one player has any white cards when the Encounter phase begins, at which point they win automatically.
There is a true tie for the Challenger position, in which case the Dominate automatically wins.

Tips

Because of the way the game is scored, Videtwolle pros will tell you that the key to the game, just like in life, is to prepare accordingly. Of course there is no way to know for sure what your opponent will throw at you. However, you can improve your odds by either trying balance your hand or to estimate whether you will end up the Dominate or Challenger and build accordingly. The real pros will tell you that success doesn't come in a single hand and that maintaining a positive overall cashflow is the real goal, even if you have to throw away a hand now and again. Pay attention to what your opponents are doing with their builds and make sure you aren't taking unnecessary risks for small gains. Good luck players!

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Videtwolle Deck - Goal of Videtwolle - Table Setup - Build-Up - Encounter - Conflict - Tie-Breaking - Tips