Lost Cities is a new event at the Mind Sports Olympiad for 2001. It is a 2 player card game with straightforward rules yet with hidden depth.
The deck of cards is divided into five suits. Each suit represents an area into which you can send an expedition: Underwater, Desert, Volcano, Jungle and Tundra. Within each suit the cards are numbered 2-10 together with three handshakes for each colour. On your go, you either discard a card from your hand or play a card from your hand. You then replenish either from the deck or a face up discard.
When playing a card you must play it so that each of your 5 expeditions is played in ascending sequence (with handshakes going before numbers). At the end of the hand (when the deck runs out) you will score for every expedition you have started. Each will score the value of the cards played in that expedition less 20 (& thus may be negative). A handshake will double the score, 2 handshakes triple it and three quadruple it. In addition there is a 20 point bonus for playing 8 or more cards in a given expedition.
When discarding there is a separate discard pile for each suit. Thus there is plenty of possibility for your opponent to pick up one of your discarded cards and use it effectively. Lost Cities has an element of bluff involved as a result of the above mechanics and has surprising depth as a result.
As with other card games, a single hand can be skewed by the luck of the cards. So generally several hands are played with the aggregate result being used to determine the winner.
If you have any queries about the event, then please feel free to contact the tournament organiser, Mark Stretch, postally at 34, Dart Drive, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 7XX, by phone at +44 1235 519 720, by e-mail, or visit the MSO website at http://www.msoworld.com/.
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