I've been wondering, how closely could a future/alien civilization recreate Magic the Gathering's rules given nothing but a collection that included every card and several (100? 1000?) valid decks for different formats.
I imagine they could get fairly close, especially thanks to reminder text. But I wonder how older/erattaed cards or old templating might hinder those efforts.
For those unfamiliar with Magic, the comprehensive rules are about 190 pages of 10-20 rules each, plus a glossary/index. On top of that, the golden rule of Magic is that if a card and the rules disagree, the card takes precedence. And there are over 20,000 unique named cards, though a small number are functionally the same card as another with a different name.
See this link for the comprehensive rules, but note that the vast, vast majority of games don't require an exhaustive understanding. You can learn enough to play in 10 minutes, though you'll probably need to learn something new each game for a little while.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-fo...
I imagine they could get fairly close, especially thanks to reminder text. But I wonder how older/erattaed cards or old templating might hinder those efforts.
For those unfamiliar with Magic, the comprehensive rules are about 190 pages of 10-20 rules each, plus a glossary/index. On top of that, the golden rule of Magic is that if a card and the rules disagree, the card takes precedence. And there are over 20,000 unique named cards, though a small number are functionally the same card as another with a different name.
See this link for the comprehensive rules, but note that the vast, vast majority of games don't require an exhaustive understanding. You can learn enough to play in 10 minutes, though you'll probably need to learn something new each game for a little while.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-fo...