Hypertext: Rules of Play
Ruleset: Babel Alpha (canonical model). This document is the authoritative
prose statement of the Hypertext game system. Where it disagrees with older
documentation, this document wins. Where it disagrees with the machine-readable
Lot rules (templates/phases.yml, hypertext.lots.rules) or the approved
template matrix, the numbers printed on approved templates win and this
document must be corrected to match them.
Overview
Hypertext is a word-study card game for 2–6 players built on Biblical vocabulary. Players write a Chapter together: they reveal Word Cards from the Tower, activate abilities, and Record exact combinations of card types that match the Lots in play. Recording the shared Chapter Lot creates a Page — a scored, face-up set in front of you. Recording a Portion Lot (your own or another player's) earns Letters instead, and scores nothing directly.
The structure of a game is:
Game → Chapters → Chapter Lot + Portion Lots → Records → Pages / Sheol → Chapter scoring → full 90-card reset
The Pages created during play collectively constitute the Chapter. When the Chapter closes, every Page is scored, all 90 Word Cards are gathered and reshuffled, and the next Chapter begins with a fresh Tower and a new Chapter Lot. The player with the highest total after the final Chapter wins.
Components
- 90 Word Cards — the Tower (5 types × 4 rarities)
- 30 Lot Cards — 5-, 6-, and 7-card recipes
- Letter tokens
- 2 Wreath tokens — Record Wreath and Empty Wreath
- Redeem markers (one per player)
- Score tracker
Card Anatomy
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Number | Collector ID (#001–#090) |
| Word | The English word |
| Gloss | Short definition |
| Type | NOUN, VERB, ADJECTIVE, NAME, or TITLE |
| Rarity | COMMON, UNCOMMON, RARE, or GLORIOUS |
| Printed cost | Cards discarded from hand to activate (shown beside the rarity) |
| Art | Thematic illustration |
| Stats | LORE, CONTEXT, COMPLEXITY (1–5 each; see Stat rubric below) |
| Ability | Effect when activated |
| Verses | OT and NT scripture references |
| Hebrew/Aramaic · Greek | Original-language forms |
| Trivia | Educational notes |
Stat rubric
The three stats are word-study measurements, not power. They are scored against these anchors and recorded with a one-line rationale per stat.
| Stat | Measures | 1 | 3 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LORE | theological weight | incidental; no teaching rests on it | a recognized theme with clear teaching | a doctrine hangs on the word (SEED, KINGDOM, election, redemption) |
| CONTEXT | frequency: occurrences of the printed Hebrew lemma plus the printed Greek lemma | 10 or fewer | 41–120 | more than 400 (2 = 11–40, 4 = 121–400) |
| COMPLEXITY | etymological history and linguistic complexity | transparent word, plain derivation, stable translation | a notable derivation or a translation choice to explain | the word's history is itself a study: contested etymology or a semantic range that changes doctrine |
Word weight is a fourth judgment, separate from LORE: how much a card of this word means in the set's story. 1 everyday vocabulary; 2 a descriptive or mechanical word with a clear place; 3 thematic vocabulary with real teaching behind it; 4 a named judgment, agent, place, patriarch, or event the era turns on - the card people look for; 5 a pillar of the set. Weight 5 must print GLORIOUS and weight 4 at least RARE. RARE and GLORIOUS are 22 of 90 slots, so a set carries at most about 22 words of weight 4-5 and 9 of weight 5.
CONTEXT is computed from counts and must match its bucket. LORE and COMPLEXITY are judgments and must cite their reason. Stats do not scale with rarity; a filled row must be earned by the word, and a COMMON or UNCOMMON card may not carry three stats of 4 or more.
Scored as this card uses the word (2026-08-29). LORE and COMPLEXITY are judged on the era's use and on the verses printed on this face; a doctrinal use elsewhere in Scripture lifts a score only when that verse is one of the printed refs. ONE printed 5/5/4 - the highest row in the set - by being scored at the Shema rather than at "the people is one" on its own face. A numeral or function word maxes the frequency count for free, so its CONTEXT caps at 3. A stat total of 13 or more requires word weight 4 or more.
Stats are playable. An ability may read LORE, CONTEXT or COMPLEXITY the way it reads a card type: a floor filter, a binary condition, a match, a duel with a chosen player, a Pages total, or a per-point scale. The stat should rhyme with the word - LORE for weight, glory and depth; CONTEXT for multitude and gathering; COMPLEXITY for tongue, name and confusion.
Card Types
| Type | Icon | Role | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| NOUN | Closed book | Person, place, thing, or concept | 16 |
| VERB | Slanted pencil | Action or state | 20 |
| ADJECTIVE | Pencil with sparkle | Descriptive word | 20 |
| NAME | Feather quill | Proper noun (person or place) | 16 |
| TITLE | Ornate empty frame | Wild — may stand for NOUN or NAME when recording | 18 |
Total: 90 cards.
Rarity and Printed Cost
| Rarity | Diamond | Printed cost (discard from hand) |
|---|---|---|
| COMMON | White | 0 |
| UNCOMMON | Green | 0 |
| RARE | Gold | 1 |
| GLORIOUS | Orange | 2 |
The printed cost is paid every time the card is activated, regardless of how the activation was accessed (see Activation).
Lots
A Lot is a recipe: the exact type composition of a 5-, 6-, or 7-card set. The 30 Lot Cards are universal across all Hypertext sets. Every Lot Card can serve in either role:
| Role | Lifetime | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter Lot | Current Chapter | One shared recipe everyone may Record against. Recording it creates a Page worth the Lot's Chapter Value. |
| Portion Lot | Current Chapter | A personal recipe assigned to one player. Anyone may Record against it for Letters; no Page is created. |
Lot values by size
| Lot size | Chapter Value (as Chapter Lot) | Owner Letters (own Portion Lot) | Visitor Letters (another's Portion Lot) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-card | 8 points | 2 | 1 |
| 6-card | 10 points | 2 | 1 |
| 7-card | 14 points | 3 | 2 |
- Chapter Value — the points a Page is worth when the Chapter is scored. Printed on the Lot face as
CHAPTER VALUE: n POINTS. - Owner Letters — earned by Recording your own Portion Lot.
- Visitor Letters — earned by Recording another player's Portion Lot.
The Lot face prints both Letter values on one line as the visitor/owner
split: PORTION VALUE: 1/2 LETTERS on 5- and 6-card Lots and
PORTION VALUE: 2/3 LETTERS on 7-card Lots — read it as
visitor Letters / owner Letters. Canonical faces: templates/lot/v002/.
Because only Chapter Lot Records create Pages, and every player may Record the Chapter Lot once per Chapter, the points available in a Chapter are bounded by one Page per player plus Letters and Wreaths.
The 30 Lots
5-card (14): Remnant (4 of one type + 1 any) · Pentateuch (NOUN + VERB + ADJ + NAME + TITLE) · Scroll (VERB ×2 + ADJ ×2 + TITLE) · Witness (NAME ×2 + VERB ×2 + ADJ) · Epistle (NAME + VERB ×2 + NOUN ×2) · Psalm (ADJ ×3 + VERB + NOUN) · Parable (NOUN ×3 + VERB + ADJ) · Oracle (VERB ×3 + NAME + ADJ) · Covenant (NAME ×2 + NOUN ×2 + TITLE) · Benediction (TITLE ×2 + ADJ + NOUN + NAME) · Altar (NOUN ×3 + VERB + TITLE) · Foundation (NAME ×3 + NOUN + VERB) · Proverb (ADJ ×2 + VERB + NOUN + TITLE) · Lament (ADJ ×3 + NOUN + NAME)
6-card (12): Congregation (4 of one type + 2 any) · Assembly (3 of one type + 3 of another type) · Trinity (NAME ×2 + NOUN ×2 + VERB ×2) · Tabernacle (NOUN ×3 + NAME ×2 + TITLE) · Chorus (VERB ×3 + ADJ ×2 + NOUN) · Sanctuary (NOUN ×4 + NAME + TITLE) · Hymnal (ADJ ×2 + VERB ×2 + NOUN ×2) · Gospel (NAME ×2 + VERB ×2 + NOUN + TITLE) · Jubilee (VERB ×3 + ADJ ×2 + NAME) · Wisdom (ADJ ×3 + NOUN ×2 + TITLE) · Prophecy (ADJ ×2 + NAME ×2 + VERB ×2) · Selah (5 of one type + 1 any)
7-card (4): Creation (all 5 types + a pair) · Revelation (NOUN + VERB + ADJ + NAME + TITLE ×3) · Exodus (VERB ×3 + NAME ×2 + NOUN ×2) · Apocalypse (4 of one type + 3 of another type)
Canonical compositions live in templates/phases.yml (typed grammar:
fixed recipes list exact types; groups recipes name counted groups —
n of one type, n of another type, any; Creation is all 5 types +
a pair). The machine evaluator is hypertext.lots.patterns.
Game Length
| Mode | Chapters | Flavor |
|---|---|---|
| Quick | 3 | "On the third day He rose" |
| Standard | 6 | "Two were proposed, that twelve be restored" |
| Epic | 12 | "Twelve apostles; twelve gates" |
Standard (6 Chapters) is the recommended default. Quick (3 Chapters) is the recommended starting point for large tables. Redeem is disabled in two-player games.
Player count and the Tower (2026-08-29). One set supports 2–6 players. Seven or more is playable, but a single 90-card Tower cannot feed that many hands for a full Chapter, so 7+ requires a second set shuffled into the Tower. Lot Cards are universal and are not doubled - one Chapter Lot and one Portion Lot per player, drawn from a single Lot deck.
Objects and Zones
| Object | Lifetime | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Word Cards | Whole game | The 90-card corpus, reconstituted into the Tower each Chapter |
| Tower | Current Chapter | Face-down draw pile |
| Hand | Current Chapter | Private Word Cards held by a player |
| Resolve | One activation | Temporary area holding the activated card and the cards paid as its cost until the ability finishes |
| Sheol | Current Chapter | Shared face-up discard pile: activated cards, activation costs, cards Recorded to any Portion Lot, End discards, ability discards, and the seeded Chapter-start card |
| Chapter Lot | Current Chapter | Shared recipe available to every player; Recording it creates a Page |
| Portion Lot | Current Chapter | Personal recipe assigned to one player, visible to all; Recording it earns Letters |
| Page | Current Chapter | Scored face-up set created by Recording the Chapter Lot |
| Used Chapters | Whole game | Completed Chapter Lots; they do not repeat during the game |
| Letters | Current Chapter | Open resource tokens; spent on activations or retained for score |
| Wreaths | Current Chapter | Chapter bonus tokens (+2 points each) |
| Redeem marker | Current Chapter | Marks a player who owes a Redeem-debt discard |
Visibility
| Location | Visibility |
|---|---|
| Hand | Hidden (yours only) |
| Tower | Hidden |
| Pages, Sheol, Resolve, Lots, Letters, Wreaths | Open |
Chapter Setup
- Gather all 90 Word Cards and shuffle them to form the Tower.
- Move the top card of the Tower face-up to Sheol. This seeded card cannot be Redeemed.
- Reveal one Chapter Lot from the Lot deck that has not been used this game.
- Deal two Lot Cards face-down to each player as Portion Lot candidates.
- Each player chooses one candidate as their Portion Lot, before receiving Word Cards.
- Reveal the chosen Portion Lots face-up in front of their owners. Return the unchosen candidates to the Lot deck.
- Deal seven Word Cards to each player.
- Reset Letters, Wreaths, Record markers, Redeem markers, and temporary effects.
- Establish the starting player. The starting player rotates clockwise after each Chapter.
Turn Structure
Each turn has four stages, in order:
- Reveal
- Activate
- Record
- End
1. Reveal
Reveal the top card of the Tower, then choose one:
Draw Activation — activate the revealed card. - Spend 0 Letters. - Pay its printed rarity cost from hand. - Place the card and its payment in Resolve, resolve the ability, then move everything in Resolve to Sheol. - The revealed card is not added to your hand, and no additional card is drawn.
Pass — decline the activation. - Add the revealed card to your hand. - Draw one additional card into your hand. - Neither card receives a Draw Activation.
The choice is: activate the revealed card, or gain two cards.
2. Activate
After Reveal resolves, you may activate cards from your hand. Each Hand Activation costs 1 Letter plus the card's printed rarity cost. Hand Activations are repeatable as long as you can pay.
Letters earned later this turn (during Record) cannot be spent until a future turn.
Activation costs
| Access | Letter cost | Printed cost |
|---|---|---|
| Draw Activation (revealed card) | 0 | As printed (0 / 0 / 1 / 2) |
| Hand Activation (card from hand) | 1 | As printed (0 / 0 / 1 / 2) |
A zero-Letter Draw Activation does not waive the printed cost.
Cost resolution
For every activation:
- Declare the activation.
- Pay the Letter access cost, if any.
- Pay the printed discard cost from hand.
- Move the activated card and the payment cards to Resolve.
- Resolve the ability.
- Move everything in Resolve to Sheol.
Cards in Resolve cannot be targeted by the ability currently resolving, so an ability can never retrieve its own cost before that cost reaches Sheol. Activated cards and their costs cannot be Redeemed.
3. Record
You may Record exact card combinations from your hand that match any active Lot. Every player may Record each active Lot once per Chapter, and may Record several different Lots in one Record stage.
| You Record… | Matching cards go to | You gain | Page created? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Chapter Lot | Your Pages, face-up | A Page worth the Lot's Chapter Value at Chapter scoring | Yes |
| Your own Portion Lot | Sheol | Owner Letters | No |
| Another player's Portion Lot | Sheol | Visitor Letters | No |
Procedure:
- Choose the Lot.
- Reveal the required cards from your hand.
- Declare any TITLE substitution.
- Verify the recipe matches exactly.
- Mark yourself as having Recorded that Lot this Chapter.
- If you Recorded the Chapter Lot, place the cards face-up in your Pages. Otherwise move them to Sheol and take the Letters.
The first player to Record the Chapter Lot takes the Record Wreath.
A Page stays face-up in front of you for the rest of the Chapter. Abilities that refer to cards "in your Pages" see only the Pages you have created this Chapter.
TITLE wild rule
A TITLE card may stand for TITLE, NOUN, or NAME. It may not stand for VERB or ADJECTIVE. At most one TITLE substitution is allowed per Record; a TITLE occupying an explicit TITLE slot in the recipe is not a substitution. Declare the substituted role when presenting the Record.
4. End
- Discard one card from hand to Sheol, if able.
- Open the Redeem window on that discard (see Redeem).
- Resolve any Redeem.
- Check your hand. If it is empty, the Chapter closes (see Closing the Chapter). Otherwise play passes clockwise.
Only the active player can close a Chapter, and only after their complete turn has resolved.
Abilities
Ability copy uses only the rules vocabulary above. Rulings that abilities depend on:
- A player's Lot. Each player's personal recipe is "your Lot" / "another player's Lot"; the shared recipe is "the Chapter Lot". An ability may read a Lot's card types. When an ability moves a Lot between players or returns one for a new one, the Lot arrives unrecorded for everyone this Chapter.
- Pages are sealed. A Page scores its Chapter Value once created, and a card recorded into a Page never leaves it individually. No ability returns, moves, or exchanges a single card out of a Page. The two legal Page plays are to read one (its card types, a stat total, how many cards it holds) and to discard a whole Page as a cost - all or nothing, never cherry-picking.
- Activate from an ability. "Activate that chosen card" resolves the card's ability at once as if it were the revealed card: no Letter access cost, its printed rarity cost paid from the activating player's hand, and the card returns to Sheol afterwards. A card activated this way cannot activate another card.
- Record and Redeem are turn stages, not ability actions.
- Interaction by tier. A COMMON never touches another player. An UNCOMMON may target one chosen player. A RARE may do so more heavily, or reach every player with information. Only a GLORIOUS moves every player's material.
- Costs count. A discarded or buried hand card is one card of cost and a spent Letter is three; an ability's tier is judged on gain net of cost.
- Stats on cards. "LORE three or more", "the higher COMPLEXITY", "total LORE twelve or more in your Pages", and "one card for each point of CONTEXT" all read the printed pips of the card named. A card in Sheol or a Page keeps its printed stats; a face-down card has none until revealed.
- Waiting in front of you (COVENANT, 2026-08-29). A card may direct itself to be put in front of you instead of resolving at once. It waits there in the open: it is not in hand, not in Sheol, and it is not a Page, and it is not counted by anything that reads those zones. It waits until its printed trigger fires - for COVENANT, when any player records a Page - and then its effect resolves once and the waiting card goes to Sheol.
- Activating a card inside a Page. COVENANT lets you activate one card in the Page that was just recorded. That card resolves in place and stays in that Page: it is not moved, not sent to Sheol, and the Page still scores in full. This is the one exception to "an activated card goes to Sheol", and it does not breach the sealed-Page rule, because no card leaves the Page. The Page belongs to whoever recorded it, which may be an opponent. This is deliberate foreshadowing of a mechanic the next set builds on.
- Discarding a Page. An ability may name "discard one of your Pages" as its cost: every card in that Page goes to Sheol, the Page no longer exists, and it scores nothing. The cost is worth the Page's card count.
Redeem
When a player makes their normal End discard, other players may Redeem it — take it into hand.
- Redeem is disabled in two-player games.
- Only the normal End discard can be Redeemed. Activated cards, activation costs, Recorded cards, ability discards, the seeded Chapter-start card, and Redeem-debt discards can never be Redeemed.
- Priority starts with the next player clockwise from the discarding player and proceeds clockwise. The first eligible player who accepts becomes the redeemer.
- Each player may Redeem once per Chapter.
- The redeemer takes a Redeem marker. At the start of their next turn, before Reveal, they discard one card to Sheol. That debt discard cannot be Redeemed.
- Redeem debt expires at Chapter reset.
Closing the Chapter
When the active player's hand is empty at the end of their turn:
- Award the Empty Wreath to that player.
- Grace period: each other player, in clockwise order, receives one final Record stage. They may Record any active Lot they have not already Recorded this Chapter. There is no Reveal, no activation, no Redeem, and no End discard during Grace. Pages and Letters earned during Grace count for scoring.
- A player who empties their hand during Grace receives no Empty Wreath, but suffers no hand penalty.
- Proceed to Chapter Scoring.
Wreaths
| Wreath | Awarded to | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Record Wreath | First player to Record the Chapter Lot | +2 points |
| Empty Wreath | The player who closes the Chapter | +2 points |
A player may earn both in the same Chapter.
Chapter Scoring
Each player's Chapter score is:
Chapter Value of each Page created this Chapter + remaining Letters × 3 + Wreath points − 1 per card remaining in hand
- Spent Letters score nothing.
- Records to Portion Lots do not score directly; their value is the Letters they earned.
- Negative Chapter scores are permitted.
- Score exactly once, then add the result to the running total before reset.
Chapter Reset
After scoring:
- Move the completed Chapter Lot to Used Chapters. It does not repeat this game.
- Return all Portion Lots to the Lot deck.
- Gather all 90 Word Cards from every hand, the Tower, Sheol, Resolve, and every player's Pages.
- Confirm all 90 cards are present.
- Shuffle them into a fresh Tower.
- Clear all Pages.
- Reset Letters, Wreaths, Record markers, and Redeem markers.
- End all temporary effects.
- Rotate the starting player clockwise.
- Begin the next Chapter Setup: reveal the next unused Chapter Lot and deal new Portion Lot candidates.
Because Pages exist only within a Chapter, any Page-dependent ability accumulates during the current Chapter only and resets automatically.
Tower Exhaustion
When the Tower is empty and a draw is required:
- Shuffle the eligible cards in Sheol into a new Tower.
- Exclude cards in Resolve.
- Exclude an End discard whose Redeem window is still open.
- Continue drawing.
If fewer cards exist than required, draw as many as possible.
Ability Resolution Principles
Card text may create explicit exceptions to these rules. Otherwise:
- Costs are paid before effects.
- "Cannot" overrides "can".
- Required targets must exist; resolve the legal portions of an ability in written order.
- Draw means move a card from the Tower to hand. Draws caused by abilities never create a Draw Activation.
- Discard means move a card to Sheol. Only the normal End discard opens a Redeem window.
- Cards in Resolve cannot be targeted by the ability currently resolving.
- Temporary effects end at their stated duration or at Chapter reset, whichever comes first.
- Abilities that refer to Pages see only Pages created this Chapter.
Game End
The game ends after the number of Chapters for the chosen mode. The player with the highest total score wins.
The Matthias Rule (tiebreaker)
"And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias." — Acts 1:26
If players are tied for the highest score after the final Chapter:
- Only the tied players play a tiebreaker Chapter.
- Shuffle the 90 Word Cards, seed Sheol, and deal seven cards to each tied player.
- Reveal a new unused Chapter Lot. No Portion Lots are dealt.
- Play proceeds normally (Reveal, Activate, Record, End).
- The first player to Record the Chapter Lot wins the game. Nothing else is scored.
Quick Reference
Turn
| Stage | Actions |
|---|---|
| 1. Reveal | Reveal top card: Draw-Activate it (0 Letters + printed cost) or Pass (keep it and draw 1 more) |
| 2. Activate | Hand Activations: 1 Letter + printed cost each, repeatable |
| 3. Record | Chapter Lot → Page (Chapter Value points) · Own Portion Lot → Sheol, Owner Letters · Other's Portion Lot → Sheol, Visitor Letters |
| 4. End | Discard 1 (Redeem window) · empty hand closes the Chapter |
Values
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Printed cost | COMMON 0 · UNCOMMON 0 · RARE 1 · GLORIOUS 2 |
| Hand Activation access | 1 Letter |
| Chapter Value (5 / 6 / 7-card Page) | 8 / 10 / 14 points |
| Owner Letters (5 / 6 / 7-card) | 2 / 2 / 3 |
| Visitor Letters (5 / 6 / 7-card) | 1 / 1 / 2 |
| Record Wreath · Empty Wreath | +2 · +2 |
| Retained Letter | 3 points |
| Card left in hand | −1 point |
Alpha hypotheses
The Letter values and Chapter Values above are Babel Alpha hypotheses and are instrumented during playtesting. Individual Lots may eventually justify ±1 Letter adjustments. The printed cost matrix and the 20-template Word Card matrix are locked.
Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Chapter | One complete round of play, from a fresh Tower to full reset; the Pages created during it constitute the Chapter |
| Chapter Lot | The shared Lot for the current Chapter; Recording it creates a Page |
| Chapter Value | The points a Page scores (8 / 10 / 14 by Lot size) |
| Portion Lot | The Lot that falls to one player for the current Chapter (their portion); Recording it earns Owner Letters (owner) or Visitor Letters (anyone else) and scores nothing directly |
| Page | A face-up set created by Recording the Chapter Lot; worth its Chapter Value at Chapter scoring; cleared at reset |
| Lot | A 5-, 6-, or 7-card recipe of card types |
| Record | Play an exact match for a Lot from your hand |
| Tower | The face-down draw pile — language dispersed from Babel |
| Sheol | The shared face-up discard pile — the grave |
| Resolve | Where an activated card and its cost sit while the ability resolves |
| Used Chapters | Chapter Lots already completed this game |
| Letter | Resource token; spend 1 to activate from hand, or keep for 3 points each |
| Draw Activation | Activating the card you just revealed for 0 Letters |
| Hand Activation | Activating a card from hand for 1 Letter |
| Printed cost | Cards discarded from hand to activate: 0 / 0 / 1 / 2 by rarity |
| Wreath | +2-point bonus token: Record Wreath (first to Record the Chapter Lot) or Empty Wreath (closing the Chapter) |
| Redeem | Take another player's End discard into hand; owe a discard before your next Reveal; once per Chapter; disabled with 2 players |
| Grace | The final Record stage each other player receives after the Chapter closes |
| Matthias Rule | Tiebreaker Chapter with no Portion Lots; first to Record the Chapter Lot wins |
Hypertext — Word by word, line upon line.