Anno Domini: Wissenschaft & Forschung
Anno Domini: Wissenschaft & Forschung Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Deal
Now deal 9 cards to each player. At random, of course; choosing is strictly forbidden. And one more thing is strictly forbidden: looking at the back sides.
Everybody lays their cards out in front of them with the black-printed event side face up. The rest of the cards is placed as a stack in the middle. Here too: events facing up, the colored solution year (back side) not visible.
Important: Leave the cards on the table during the game! When you move them, slide them; do not wave them around in the air. Otherwise your fellow players will unintentionally learn solution years that you had better keep secret.
A Chain of Unfortunate Events
The chain begins with the top card of the stack. Event 1 is read aloud and the card is laid on the table, visible to all; the back side stays secret from everyone.
The owner of the game begins. He chooses one of his cards, reads it aloud and places it above the first card if he believes his event 2 occurred before event 1; he places it below the first card if he believes his event 2 occurred after event 1.
Each player in turn adds one of his cards to the chain of events in this way. They may insert their card anywhere in the chain, including between cards already laid out, if they believe their event fits there in time.
Doubt
is often better than blind trust. Whoever is on turn and believes he has discovered errors in the existing chain of events may correct them before inserting his new card and passing the chain on.
He may also decide not to add another card and instead publicly doubt the chronological order of the events. In this case a round of play ends. All cards of the chain are turned over from top to bottom.
If the chronological order is correct, the doubter is punished by having to take four new cards from the stack (as always: without looking at the back sides).
If the chain of events contains any error, the predecessor of the doubter, who last laid down an event, takes two new cards from the stack.
Be it only a single little year, and quite independent of who laid the chronologically wrong card: the last one gets bitten by the dogs.
So whoever does not voice doubt and lays a card into the row accepts the whole chain of events thereby, and may under some circumstances have to take responsibility for it toward the suspicious next player.
After the round, the cards of the chain are set aside. They have done their duty for today and may go (after Schiller, 1783).
A New Round
begins with a new starting card from the stack. The first player is now the doubter. Then it goes nicely around the table again.
Special case: It is somewhat harder for a new start for a player who has only a single card left. Instead of one, he must take two cards from the stack, arrange them, and insert his last card.
The reversal of the direction of play takes place immediately and only once, as soon as a player has only two cards left.
Winner
is whoever first gets rid of his last card, naturally in a correct chain. Undoubtedly the successor will once more voice doubt. If an error comes to light, there are two new cards, and the game goes into overtime.
Explanations and Examples
The decisive year
is printed clearly and in bold on the back of the card. Supplementary comments, also indications of month and day, have no influence on the game. Some cards offer time spans as the solution, for example '1903 - 1907' or '5th century BC'.
Explanations:
- "Jh." means Jahrhundert (century). A century lasts from year 01 to year 00. Example: The 20th century began in 1901 and ends with the year 2000.
- "um" (around) means that the event cannot be dated exactly. For the purposes of the game, 5 years before and after are accepted as correct. Example: In the case of 'um 1900' (around 1900), the years 1895 to 1905 count as correct.
First appearance
of a thing, the beginning of an event, is decisive unless a time span is clearly asked for.
Examples:
A) 'Humans on the Moon' asks for the first moon landing of Apollo 11. An answer such as '2025' is wrong, even if it cannot be ruled out that humans will be on the Moon again at that time.
B) 'Sweetened condensed milk on the market' asks for its market introduction. That it is still available today is great, but beside the point.
Simultaneous and chronologically overlapping events
are handled according to the principle 'In dubio pro reo' (when in doubt, for the accused). The chain counts as correct.
Examples:
A) One event took place in the 8th century BC, a second in 805 BC, the third in the 1st millennium BC. No. 2 took place before No. 1, because the 8th century BC lasted from 800 - 701 BC, while No. 3 overlaps in time with the two other events and may be placed anywhere among them.
B) Two events took place in 1987, the third 'um 1990' (around 1990), a fourth in 1991. If No. 4 was placed behind No. 1 and No. 2, the order is correct. No. 3 means 'between 1985 and 1995', so it overlaps with the other three events and may be placed anywhere among them, even between the two 1987 cards. Month and day indications within the year 1987 are irrelevant; the two cards are equivalent.
Place names
without direct relation to the event are simply place names and not cryptic hints to the year sought.
Example: 'Neanderthals live in the Neandertal near Düsseldorf' does not mean that in the sought epoch of the Neanderthals the fashion center Düsseldorf already existed.
Tactical Hints
Well, self-confidence is a virtue, above all when you know nothing. Your successor will think twice about whether he wants to doubt your chain if you declare your event a sure thing and insert it quickly and resolutely in a reasonably sensible place. As a devious variant you can also play the unsure one for once, while you place a rock-solid event in a correct chain ...
Psychology and a certain feeling for sequences are much more important in ANNO DOMINI than historical expertise. Do not let your ignorance discourage you! You can safely assume that your fellow players also do not have all the dates of these strange events stored in their little gray cells and, just like you, often have to guess. Use your common sense, estimate, sell your solutions well. Never forget: What you lay down does not necessarily have to be right; above all it must seem credible to the table neighbor playing after you.
If you have completely lost the overview in view of a long chain, then go ahead and doubt. Usually a nasty surprise is hidden somewhere. If possible, keep back an event that you can place well in time as a safe closing card. Conversely, bring cards that cause you great worry, to the best of your knowledge and conscience, into short chains, which will certainly be doubted less often than the tapeworms.
Who Plays Along?
In principle the game is suitable for 2 - 10 players; the ideal number is 3 to 6. With large groups we recommend initially dealing fewer than 9 cards.
Children can join in as soon as they can read fluently. Experience shows that they soon make up for their lesser historical knowledge with clever tactics, and they learn quickly. Once the used cards are mixed back into the game, the ability to learn pays off. The group can also decide to deal fewer cards to participating children at the beginning.
Series Published So Far
Kirche & Staat / Schweiz / Sex & Crime / Lifestyle / Natur / Erfindungen / Frauen / Seefahrer & Flieger / Sport / Kunst / Flops / Deutschland (with Uwe Rosenberg) / Münzen / Im Namen des Gesetzes / VIP / Spiel des Jahres (with Bernward Thole) / Österreich / Wort, Schrift, Buch / Showbizz / America / Europa / Im Osten / Süden / Fussball (with Mämä Sykora) / Wissenschaft & Forschung / Bern / Reisen & Verkehr / Gesundheit (with Konrad Bochennek) / Essen & Trinken / Kuriositäten / Maschinen
Note on Accuracy
One thing we are aware of: even usually reliable sources can be mistaken. Facts can change, research brings new findings to light. We are open to criticism, instruction and new questions (whenever possible with source!). Where corrections are necessary, we will make them in future editions. A corrigendum to ANNO DOMINI can be found at urs.fatamorgana.ch/adpleite.html. We always keep it up to our latest state of knowledge.