Auroratide

Coding + Storytelling

Nimcard

Game

  • A matrix of several cards laid out in a grid.
    Score the most points to win, avoiding the Queen of Hearts.
  • A matrix of cards in a grid, with two cards in the player's pile and a thinking indicator for the AI.
    The AI is perfect, but that does not mean it will always win!

Nimcard is a two-player strategy game involving standard playing cards! The game is programmed with an optimal (yet beatable) AI.

  • The goal of the game is to collect cards totalling the higher score
  • Any number of cards are arranged into rows face up so the value is showing
  • The Queen of Diamonds is always the last card on the last row
  • Players take turns taking either one card or two cards from a single row
  • The game ends once all cards have been claimed

For scoring, add up the values of all the cards you claimed.

  • Numerical cards are worth their value
  • Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth 10 points
  • Aces are worth 11 points
  • The Queen of Diamonds, however, is worth -10 points!

Nimcard was a game I made as a puzzle for friends in our Dungeons and Dragons campaign. They were in a casino-based city and could only earn an audience with the so-called "King of Clubs" by winning this game.

In the meantime, from a skills point of view, I also used Nimcard to practice an immutable functional style and learn how to use Web Workers.