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Matrix Games Wiki: What is a Matrix Game?

Matrix Games live in the space between boardgames and roleplaying games. They are neither fish nor fowl, but man, do they taste good!

Matrix Games are a simple kind of game engine that enables you to play through scenarios not easily simulated by other games. The power and flexibility of Matrix Games come from how turns are resolved. Rather than try to make up rules for every instance, players make arguments for what they want to happen next in the game. Another player sets a "to happen" threshold for each argument, and a die roll later, you know which actions became facts in the game world and which didn’t happen at all. It might sound too simple (or too complicated) to work, but it does. Matrix Games are a low-tech way to game events that make supercomputers twitch.

What can you game with them? What about

• a murder mystery where no one knows who done it at the start of the game, that plays in two hours, and that never ends the same way twice?
• a horror game in which the players discover a different evil plot each time and then save the world (or don't)?
• a literary game about a classic story like Pride and Prejudice that enables you to explore a universe of "what if" scenarios?

Of course there are wargames and political campaigns too. There are even serious games for education, psychotherapy, and planning. They are especially good for solo games. Whenever situations are fluid and up in the air, Matrix Games are there.

Chris Engle with Ron Hale-Evans

Traditional RPG rules support physical confrontation among individuals. The argument mechanism of Matrix Games applies whether the conflict is physical, social, or intellectual. More interestingly, it is also applies regardless of the scale... You might resolve a boxing match using the same mechanism as an intercontinental war.

Neal Durando in The Matrix Games Handbook

Sample Matrix Game rules

• Short Rules: Start here. Various short MG rulesets and rule summaries
• MatrixRules.pdf: basic Matrix Game rules in comic book form
  • Classical Matrix Game: nearly identical ruleset as text PDF
• PoliticsByOtherMeans.pdf: basic rules for matrix game miniatures wargaming in comic book form
  • Similar but simpler ruleset as text PDF
• Consensus Fantasy: Matrix Game rules adapted to the piecepack game system
• Tom Mouat's version at mapsymbs.com
• The Open-Ended Machine (TOEM): An attempt to make Matrix Games more rigorous (latest ruleset)

Other Matrix Games Wiki pages

• Session reports: Descriptions of actual matrix game sessions
• Links: Links to Matrix Game material on the Web
• The Matrix Games Handbook: all about MGs, co-edited by Chris Engle
• Matrix Game Chess: a thought experiment about playing Chess by Matrix Game rules

Engle Matrix Games License

Engle Matrix Games are copyright Chris Engle and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. If you create derivative works, please include the sentence, "Matrix Games were invented by Chris Engle."

What is a wiki?

A wiki is a web site built collaboratively by a community of users. Anyone can edit a wiki. This means you!

Feel free to add your own content to this wiki. Anything related to matrix games is fair game. Here are some pages to help you get started.

• What is a wiki?
• Wiki social norms
• Creole -- The main markup language used on this wiki
• Creole markup additions (unofficial)
• How to upload files to the wiki (and embed images)
• SandBox -- If you're just experimenting, please do it here
• Index of all pages

The Matrix Games Wiki is powered by Oddmuse, and hosted by the Center for Ludic Synergy. Site administrator: Ron Hale-Evans.