Instead of Kings, Queens, Jacks and Aces etc the cards in a conventional deck are replaced by a selection of elements from the Periodic table. Each card is also assigned a number appropriate to its capacity to form compounds. So, replacing the King of clubs (for example) there would be the Mercury of clubs
The object of the game is then to play cards which form verifiable chemical compounds. For example: a Potassium card, a Manganese and four oxygens would allow a KMnO4 to be played.
Naturally some work would be needed to develop the viability of the game, re ratio of common elements to ones which only form a limited number of obscure compounds, but as the numbers remain on the cards, the ability to form viable substances would become the game winners - much like having a flush is with conventional poker.-- xenzag, Mar 26 2011 AtomMate card game http://www.webeleme.../atommate_card_game [jutta, Mar 27 2011] Oooh! I do like this a lot, a lot a lot. [+]-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 26 2011 [+] but I'd like to see it fleshed out more than just "replace cards with elements then do stuff".-- FlyingToaster, Mar 26 2011 (sp. "form" in the first para)-- hippo, Mar 26 2011 :-) fixed-- xenzag, Mar 26 2011 Cool. It would be a great learning tool.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 26 2011 "Royal Flush ... look, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of Uranium-235 ..... er ... oops ... <BANG>"-- 8th of 7, Mar 27 2011 You could use Fluorine as a widlcard - it bonds with everything! (well, mostly...) Also, you will need heaps of Hydrogen and Carbon cards, for long-chain hydrocarbons and organic molecules.-- neutrinos_shadow, Mar 27 2011 If the deck is proportioned to represent this Universe, there are going to be one hell of a lot of Hydrogen cards and bugger all of anything else ...-- 8th of 7, Mar 27 2011 //hell of alot of Hydrogen cards//
That's the "Universe" variation: each solar hand is an epoch, during which the cards change to heavier elements.-- FlyingToaster, Mar 27 2011 //the "Universe" variation// In that variation, nearly all the cards are dark matter, and it's very rare to get a hand containing anything from the periodic table at all.-- mouseposture, Mar 27 2011 "O-8." "N-7." "BINGO!"-- RayfordSteele, Mar 27 2011 Yes - could be a good game, you could sell a special "Organic Chemistry Expansion Pack" full of Hydrogen and Carbon atoms - a form of Rummy could be played - yay Benzene!-- zen_tom, Mar 28 2011 Scoring system should definitely give extra points for cyclic, and extra for resonance, so benzene ranks higher than hexane, despite the extra hydrogens in the latter.-- mouseposture, Mar 28 2011 Whoa, a buckminsterfullerine top trump!-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2011 random, halfbakery