What is this?

Marginalia is a card game underpinning a story game about how society marginalises groups.

Comfort & Safety

The story game element might be uncomfortable to play. If you think you’re going to find it hard, don’t add the story game elements. The card game, which I know as Blob, is pretty fun anyway.

The other ways to avoid discomfort are to try switching it up. As a player, you have the agency to describe the world around the characters. Maybe the society you’re in discriminates against men, or humans, or corporeal beings. Maybe heterosexuality is frowned upon. Maybe it’s considered a boon to be born into poverty (admittedly, this is harder to see). You can describe a society that is totally different to your own. You can also describe a fantasy society, or a science fiction one.

You also get a little agency to just skirt around issues. If you don’t want to talk about certain things, just bring it up when it comes up. Everyone should respect that. If they don’t, just play Blob instead.

Setting Up

You’ll need a deck of 52 playing cards, a pen and paper, and between 2-7 players. If you want to play with more players, add another deck of cards, but it’s best with 4-5 players. The card game takes about 40-60 minutes, depending on number of players and experience.

Adding the story game could make the game significantly longer, especially if you have a large number of players. If you want to play this aspect, give at least 3 hours. It’s good if you can allow time for a plenary session at the end.

The Card Game

Gameplay is a bit like prediction whist, if you’ve ever played that. If you haven’t, and even if you have, read on – it’s slightly different in places.

Dealing

At the start of each round, shuffle the cards, and deal to each player: seven on the first round, six on the second round, and so on, decreasing by one each round. On the final round, each player gets only one card.

When you’ve dealt the cards, put aside the remainder of the cards. These don’t get used again.

Dealing rotates around the table.

Trumps

The trump suit changes each round. The order is:

Diamonds (7 cards per player)
Hearts (6 cards)
Spades (5 cards)
Clubs (4 cards)
Diamonds* (3 cards)
Hearts * (2 cards)
None (1 card)

Optionally, the trump suit in rounds 5 and 6 can be chosen by the current leader or loser.

There is no trump suit in the final round; see below.

Predictions

Once cards are dealt, each player looks at their hand (except in the final round; see below) and predicts how many tricks they will win. Start with the player to the left of the dealer, and go round after that, dealer last. Record these predictions on the paper.

Not everyone can be right. The last player can’t make a prediction which means that all the predictions add up to the number of cards dealt to each player. So, in the first round, check that the total predictions doesn’t add up to 7. It can be higher than or lower than, but not equal to, 7.

Tricks

Each player puts one card into the trick, going round the table. The first trick in the round is started by the player to the left of the dealer, with whatever card they like.

Players must follow suit if they can, or play whatever they like if they can’t. The highest card from the leading suit wins the trick, unless one or more card from the trump suit has been played, in which case the highest card from the trump suit wins. Keep track of how many tricks each player has won.

When nobody has any cards left, the round is over.

Rounds

If, by the end of the round, you have won the number of tricks you predicted at the start, add 10 to the prediction. That’s your score from the round. It accumulates each round.

Final Round

In the final round, everyone gets only one card. Don’t look at it, but show it to everyone else (putting it on your forehead is a good way to do this). Predict anyway, as usual.

Everyone puts their cards down in the usual order, and play is resolved normally.

Endgame

The winner after 7 rounds is whoever has the highest score.

The Story Game

Got all that? Good. Take a deep breath. Talk about the next bit with your fellow players. This might be uncomfortable. Read the preamble again.

Characters

Each player is roleplaying a character. All you know at the start of play is that your characters are peers in age, and that you’ll somehow be acquainted throughout life. You’re born within a few weeks of each other. Other than that, nothing is decided.

Ages

The game progresses through seven ages, one for each round of the card game. These are:

Infancy
Childhood
Adolescence
Youth
Middle age
Retirement
Old age

Make up your own mind what each age means. Remember that the characters, and the society around the characters, might be changing as you progress through the Ages. Things are never static, especially across the best part of a century.

Agendas

The four suits represent things that society thinks are important about a person. They’re split into internal (Hearts, Diamonds) and external (Spades, Clubs), i.e. things that can be hidden from others and things that can’t. They’re also split into fixed (Hearts, Spades) and fluid (Diamonds, Clubs), i.e. things that can change for an individual, and things that can’t.

As examples:

Hearts – internal, fixed – family, caste, mental aptitude, class, unseen disability, personality, past misdemeanours
Diamonds – external, fluid – sex, gender, personal wealth, social networks, job
Spades – external, fixed – ethnicity, sociability, athleticism, visible disability, family wealth, reputation
Clubs – internal, fluid – religion, philosophy, interests, hobbies, education, sexuality

Of course, some of these topics might appear in more than one category, and might change throughout the life of your characters.

Setting Agendas

At the start of each round, the player with the current highest score sets and announces the agenda, based on the trump suit for that round.

If there’s a tie, the tying players decide together. On the first round, everyone decides together.

Majorities & Minorities

After predictions have been made, the player who predicted the highest states a fact about their character, in relation to that agenda. That becomes the majority group in society.

In decreasing order of prediction, players state facts about their characters. They become minority groups of ever-decreasing size.

The players who predict 0 state last. Those are the characters in the smallest minorities.

Vignettes

At the end of the round, compare the tally to the predictions. In order of decreasing score for that round, narrate a short vignette about how the Agenda affects the character in that age. Your vignette should reflect whether or not your made your prediction, based on the below.

If you got what you predicted, the Agenda hasn’t unduly affected your character at this age. You can break out of the stereotypes attached to your character’s Agenda Fact. What does this look like?

If you won fewer tricks than predicted, the negative stereotypes society attaches to your character’s Agenda Fact have affected you badly in this age. What does this look like?

If you won more tricks than predicted, the positive stereotypes society attaches to your character’s Agenda Fact have affected you badly in this age. What does this look like?

In the final round, your vignette should focus on the final stages of your character’s life.

Eulogies

When the last round has been played, and the player with the highest score has been determined, go round each character in turn, starting with the player with the lowest score, and ending with the highest scoring player’s character.

The other players narrate a scene from that character’s funeral or legacy. The scene, the sermon, a eulogy, the wake, the reading of the will, a remembrance service. Something where that character is remembered – for better, for worse.

This is a roleplaying game. There are no winners.

Plenary

After the funerary scenes, the card game and story game are over. Breathe out.

If you have time, hold a discussion with the other players about how play made you feel. Think about how negative stereotypes affect people, and about positive stereotypes too. Did society change throughout play? Did the character’s change their perspectives? How did the characterisation of internal and external, and fixed and fluid, work out?

Finally, what can you do to promote equality, diversity and inclusivity?