XOR - Binary Bridge

XOR – A Binary Bridge

XOR is a small playable prototype of a new cybernetic card strategy game.

The idea began with an old-fashioned science fiction scene: four humanoid cleaning robots working in a shopping center — North, South, East, and West. By day, they clean the mall. At night, they secretly meet in the central hall and play bridge. And what else would robots use for cards, if not punch cards?

That is how the idea of binary bridge was born.

In XOR, the cards are not traditional playing cards. They are four-bit binary numbers, such as 1010 or 0111. The player is South, North is the machine partner, and East and West are the opposing pair.

The game is called XOR because each round is not only about who plays the highest card. It is also about what kind of machine state the four played binary numbers create together. The machine adds the cards. If the result no longer fits into four bits, a carry occurs. The machine also calculates the XOR result of the four cards. XOR is a logical operation in which identical bits cancel each other out, while different bits remain.

Because of this, the highest card is not always the best card. Sometimes a smaller binary number creates a better state, leaves more 1-bits in the XOR result, or prevents the opposing pair from gaining strong state points.

This is a game about bridge-like partnership, binary numbers, carry, XOR, and state control — a little retro, a little mathematical, and hopefully playful enough to enjoy.

XOR – A Binary Bridge 

A game by Gábor Képes / Gabor Kepes / Képes Gábor

AI-assisted prototype based on an original idea by Gábor Képes, created with ChatGPT.

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).